Printer Issues

Home Newsletter General Printer Issues....

Having a Printer Problem? There are many reasons why your printer might not be working. Here is a sample checklist we recommend you walk through before calling for service:

  1. Is it out of ink? Make sure you check ink levels
  2. If it’s an inkjet printer and there are more than 1 cartridge, then all of those cartridges must be at an acceptable level. IF just 1 is low/empty many printers will not print till all cartridges are at acceptable levels
  3. Have you tried a new set of cartridges? I have found MANY times the cartridges are not working and replacing with new cartridges solved the issue. This is frustrating (and expensive) but I can count at least 10x in which that was the issue. In fact, there have been many times where BRAND NEW cartridges were opened and did not work. A SECOND new set was purchased and this 2nd new set worked fine. So it did not pay for me to come and visit since it was just a defective set of cartridges, that happened to be new.
  4. Is it a wifi printer? If so, you will want to confirm both the printer and laptop are setup on the same wifi network. If Comcast is your provider, I have often found the laptop might move to the Xfinity wifi that is pushed out from the Comcast router and therefore the computer was connected to wifi, but it is not going to communicate to a printer on the other wifi network.
  5. Is there an issue with the software drivers? IF the above are confirmed as not issues, then remove the printer from the computer and re-add it and re-install the drivers.

These are some of the common issues with printers. If you get through this whole list and still have an issue, the problem could actually be the printer has just gone bad (techy term there!!).

I am happy to make a house call to take a further look, however, I like to caution folks that printers are not the highest quality item and if the printer was less than $100, it sometimes does not make sense to for me to make a house call and charge you when buying a new printer will almost always resolve the issue. I like to be upfront on printer issues and I often feel bad servicing and charging when sometimes it’s almost best to just buy a new one. It’s such a shame we have those situations, but printers are not the most well-built items.