Network Printer Troubleshooting

Common printer troubleshooting steps to take before putting in a service request.

Printer is not responding or is printing streaks.

Symptom 

The Printer is not printing 

Diagnosis 

Check to see if the printer getting power 

• If there are no lights or no display on the front of the printer, the printer is not getting electricity or power. Check to make sure the power cord is plugged in both to the wall or power strip and to the back of the printer. Wiggle the power cord where it plugs into the back of the printer to make sure it is not loose. Some models of desk jets have a two part power cord. In this case, check along the length of the power cord to make sure both parts are plugged in together.  

Check to see if you can print a Windows test page . The windows test page is a basic communication test between your computer and the printer. To print a Windows test page:  

• Left mouse-click on the Start button. 

• Go to Settings and then select Printers. Inside the printer window, you should see a small printer icon with the name of printer you are trying to print to.  

• Place your mouse arrow on the small printer icon and right mouse-click. A small gray window should appear and the last choice in the box is Properties.  

• Left mouse-click on Properties. A printer window with several tabs should appear. 

• On the General tab, there is a Print Test Page button in the lower right corner. Left mouse-click on the button. You may click on the "Yes" button on your screen, but the real question is: Did anything print from the printer?  

Check to see if there is paper in printer. Is there a paper jam? 

• If the printer has paper in the paper tray, the paper may be jammed or not feeding properly. Take the paper out of the paper tray and check to see that the top piece of paper is not crinkled or bent.  

Check to see if the computer getting a signal from the printer. 

• The computer and the printer must be communicating before the printer will print. When you send a document to print, does a small printer appear on the Windows taskbar (down by the time)? If this printer appears on the taskbar, the computer thinks the printer is receiving communication. If the printer is not receiving the communication from the computer, try restarting the computer. After you have logged in, see if you can print now.  

Check to see if Printer offline or Paused.

• If the printer is off-line or paused, the print jobs will just stack up in the print queue but nothing prints.  

• Left mouse-click on the Start button 

• Go to Settings 

• Then choose Printers 

• The Printer folder should open and display the printers installed on this PC. 

• Place your mouse arrow on the printer you are checking and right mouse click. A dialog box should open.  

• If the printer is paused or offline you will see a black check mark next to the words "Pause Printing" or "Printer Offline."  

• Left mouse-click on the black check mark and see if you can "uncheck" it. 

• If the check mark will not go away, try restarting the PC (Start – Shutdown – Restart). 

• Then repeat steps 1 through 7 again. 

Check to see if there are multiple jobs in the Print queue. 

If a network printer is showing as Offline for multiple end users after a power outage, this is usually caused by the printer coming back on before the network switch comes back online. When this happens, the printer does not get its fixed internet protocol (IP) address. The easiest way to reset the printer's network settings back to default and reconnect, is to completely unplug the printer from the outlet or surge protector for 30 seconds. Unplugging the surge protector if used is also recommended. Reconnect the power supply and turn on the printer and let it power up and connect to the network correctly.

Symptom 

The printer is printing streaks on the page 

Diagnosis 

• Try changing the toner cartridge. If the new toner cartridge does not improve the streaking problem, return old cartridge to the printer and place the new toner cartridge back in its original packaging for later use.