4 Simple Fixes For 90% of All Printing Problems

If you’re like me, you hate troubleshooting issues with printers. That is why it is important to have simple ways to eliminate printing issues and avoid the headache and time wasted working on them. In this article I will outline 4 simple things you can do that in my experience have eliminated most common printing issues users have.

1. Reboot The Printer – While you probably grow tired of hearing tech support tell you to turn it off and back on, a reboot will often fix many common problems. With most printer models you can power it completely down by holding down the power button or using the display, but if all else fails you can simply pull out the power cable and plug it back in.
2. Restart The Print Spooler Service or Your Computer – The print spooler service handles the jobs that have been sent to your printer. Restarting this service is especially helpful if you have an issue with a stubborn print job that won’t leave the queue. Please keep in mind that restarting your computer will also restart this service. You can find a guide on how to restart the Print Spooler here.
3. Delete The Printer from Your Computer and Reinstall It – Many printing issues are caused by problems with the printer driver, so simply removing the device from your machine and reinstalling the driver will give your printer a fresh start and get you printing again. A guide on how to remove the printer from your computer can be found here.
4. Perform Maintenance/Cleaning on your printer – This is helpful if your problem is with the quality of the actual printout. On most printers you will find a cleaning or maintenance option within the settings menu, but it varies depending on the model. Make note that cleaning does just that, it cleans. If you notice diminishing print quality (lines faded, missing, etc.), it may just be time to replace your ink or toner cartridge.