Diagnose and solve printer problems

Testing your printer
Most printers can produce a test page without having to be connected to a computer. Usually, this involves holding down one of the printer’s control buttons while switching it on ­ refer to its manual for the exact method.

If your printer cannot produce a test page in this way, and you have already checked the mains connection, paper and ink or toner supply, the printer may have developed a mechanical fault. If so, a call to its manufacturer’s helpline or a visit to the manufacturer’s support pages is in order.

If the printer can manage a test page, the problem might lie in the connection between printer and computer, which is usually a USB cable.

Check that the cable is firmly attached at both ends. If it is, and if the printer still doesn’t respond to print jobs sent from Windows, check that the computer’s USB port is not faulty by disconnecting the printer and connecting any other USB device to the same port.

If the port works fine for a different device, there is a remote possibility that the cable itself is faulty. This can be checked by printing again using a different cable that is known to be good.

Software problems
If the printer can produce a test page and you know its USB connection is working, the problem lies with the computer, or more likely with Windows and its supporting software. The first item to check is the print queue, which is where documents wait their turn to be printed.

If there are documents ahead of yours, and especially if one of them has stalled, this could account for the problem. In this case examine the print queue and cancel all pending jobs, then restart your computer and printer.

Start Wor dpad or Notepad (found in the Start menu under All Programs and then Accessories), type in a few lines of text and print this. This is to check whether the problem lies with a particular program or a particular document.

If printing now succeeds, try printing from other programs, and if the problem is only with one program, re-install it from its original discs.

If printing is not possible from any program the problem may lie in a corrupted printer driver, which is the control software supplied with every printer. In this case re-install the driver from its original disc or download the latest version from the printer manufacturer’s website.

Microsoft has put together a detailed guide to downloading and installing printer drivers. This is written with Windows XP in mind, but also applies to Windows Vista.

The procedures discussed so far will solve the majority of problems where the printer fails to respond. If not, there is extensive help available by running the printing troubleshooters for Windows XP and Vista.

Using these you can test a wider range of problems, including connections with wireless printers and networked printers that use Ethernet instead of USB cables.

To start the XP troubleshooter, open the Start menu and click Help and Support. Click the Printing and faxing link and then select Fixing a printing problem, followed by Printing Troubleshooter.

However, the printing troubleshooter for Windows Vista is only accessible online. Even the cheapest of printers is capable of producing clear text and realistic snapshots, so there is no excuse for accepting anything less.