How to Troubleshooting Printer General Problems

General Printer Troubleshooting

There are number of reasons why a printer stops functioning. The computer may not recognize the printer or the printer settings may be incorrect. 

1. if the printer is displaying flashing lights, refer to the printer manual. The problem that is causing the flashing lights will be explained in the manual.

2. Check if the printer is getting power supply by checking the power LED on the Control Panel.

3. Check the paper that is loaded in the printer is properly placed and is not jammed. If necessary, adjust the edge guides of the printer.

4. Find out if the cartridge in the printer is new or used. If the cartridge is new, ensure that the protective plastic layer on the cartridge has been removed.

5. Check the cable connections of the printer.

6. Check if the print head is moving. A stationary print head could be the result of a failed carriage stepper motor.

7. Run the printer self-test. If the printer fails the self-test, the printer has a problem.

8. If the printer passes the self-test, print a test page from computer. If the test page does not print properly, the problem is due to an improper connection between the computer and printer.

9. If there is no problem with the connectivity and windows test page is not coming, then the problem may be caused due to improper configuration.

10. Reinstall the printer driver and check for the windows test page again.

11.Check the computer port, the output may be directed to a wrong port.

12. Connect the printer to another computer to see if it works.

13. If there are any other parallel or USB devices connected to the computer, turn off those devices, to find out if they are causing the problem.

14. Restart the printer and try to operate it. This step can help repair the mistakes in internal settings of the printer.

15. Go to the CMOS settings of the computer and verify that the parallel port and USB port is enabled and configured properly.

16. In the BIOS settings of the computer, check the parallel port mode. Ensure that the printer is not set to ECP mode. This is because the ECP mode is not suitable for the working of many printers.

17. Printers that require bi-directional communication need to have the parallel pod enabled accordingly. This can be done by setting the parallel port mode to EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port) in the BIOS settings.

18. Check the DIP switches available on logic board of the printer.

So these are the general troubleshooting of a Printer