Printer issues form a sizable bulk of calls to the Technical Service Desk.
Let’s take a look at some of the basic troubleshooting steps:
- Confirm the type of the printer – is it ‘wired’ or ‘wireless’?
- Confirm if it is a local printer or a network printer.
- Confirm the make and model of the printer.
- Check in Device Manager and see if it is listed there – check the driver for the printer. Check the ‘Device Status‘. It has to say ‘This device is working properly‘. Check for any driver updates.
- Check the physical connections of the printer.
- Is it the ‘Default Printer‘? If it is not, make it the default printer.
- Clear all the documents from the print queue – but before that ensure that the printer is powered off and disconnected from the computer.
- Drain the ‘Flea Power‘ from the printer – by disconnecting it from power and the computer, removing the printer cartridges and pressing and holding down the printer’s power button for 3 – 5 minutes.
- Are there any other printers that are listed in the ‘Printers & Faxes‘ window? If they are not being used, uninstall them.
- Stop and Start the Spooler service using the Run commands ‘NET STOP SPOOL‘ and ‘NET START SPOOL‘ respectively.
- Uninstall and reinstall the printer if necessary.
- If it is a network printer, ping the printer’s IP address to check connectivity.
- If it is a local printer, check connectivity by using the ‘Run‘ command DIR >> LPT1 or DIR >> PRN
- If it is a HP printer, try to manually add the printer and use the printer driver that shows up as ‘HP Deskjet Printer 990C‘ . This is a generic driver and works with most of the HP single function printers.
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