Printer Troubleshooting

Question 1

Streaks in a Laser Printer

Answer 1

Malfunctioning fuser. Replace the Fuser

Question 2

Streaks in an Ink Jet Printer

Answer 2

Caused by a malfunctioning ink cartridge or dirty print head. Replace the cartridge, or clean the print head

Question 3

Streaks in a Dot Matrix Printer

Answer 3

Caused by a dirty print head. Clean the print head

Question 4

Faded print

Answer 4

Caused when a toner cartridge, ink cartridge, or ribbon is close to empty. You should replace the cartridge or ribbon with a new unit.

Question 5

Ghost Images

Answer 5

Caused by the erasure lamp or cleaning blade. The cleaning blade is part of the toner cartridge and is easier to replace than the erasure lamp. Try replacing it first. If it does not fix the problem, you will need to replace the erasure lamp.

Question 6

Toner not fused to the paper

Answer 6

Caused by a malfunctioning fuser. Replace the fuser.

Question 7

Creased paper

Answer 7

Caused by a paper jam. Check the printer internally to ensure that no paper jams or small scraps of paper are obscuring the paper path. Creased paper can also be caused by worn pickup rollers. Replace the pickup rollers. Pickup rollers are part of printer maintenance kits.

Question 8

Paper not feeding

Answer 8

Caused by worn pickup rollers. Replace the pickup rollers. Pickup rollers are part of printer maintenance kits.

Question 9

Paper jam

Answer 9

Use paper that is approved for the printer. High humidity can cause the paper to stick together. Caused by worn rollers or broken drive gears. If the paper jams after reaching the corona assembly, the problem could be caused by the static eliminator strip.

Question 10

No connectivity

Answer 10

Check cable and see if you can ping the printer; if ping is successful, you probably have an incorrect setting or driver.

Question 11

Garbled characters on paper

Answer 11

Caused by an incorrect printer driver

Question 12

Vertical black lines on page of a Laser Printer

Answer 12

Caused by scratches on the drum or dirty corona wire. Try cleaning it first, then replace the toner cartridge if problem persist

Question 13

Vertical black lines on page of a Inkjet Printer

Answer 13

Try cleaning the print head or replacing the ink cartridge

Question 14

Vertical white lines on a Laser Printer

Answer 14

Caused by a dirty transfer corona wire. Clean the corona wires. The corona wire is part of the toner cartridge and can be cleaned using a brush. Replace toner cartridge if problem persist.

Question 15

Vertical white lines on a Inkjet Printer

Answer 15

Clean the print head. Replace ink cartridge if problem persist.

Question 16

Backed up print queue

Answer 16

Delete the print job from the print queue that you suspect is causing the problem. If this does not fix the problem, you will need to stop and restart the print queue.

Question 17

Low memory errors

Answer 17

Turn the printer off and back on will fix this problem. If the problem persists, you could print the page at a lower resolution or change the print page so that it is less complex. If this does not fix the problem, you may try installing a different driver for the printer. You could also add more memory to the printer.

Question 18

Access denied

Answer 18

Caused by the access control list (ACL) for the printer. Make sure that the user has been granted print permission.

Question 19

Printer will not print

Answer 19

Check printer has power and paper. If the test page is unsuccessful, you probably have a connection issue. Replace the cabling if it is a local printer or troubleshoot networking problem.

Question 20

Color prints in wrong print color

Answer 20

Dirty print head. Clean the print head first. If the problem persists, replace the toner cartridge or ink cartridge. Calibrating the cartridge may also help.

Question 21

Unable to install printer

Answer 21

The account used to install the printer probably does not have permissions to install the printer. Use an administrative-level account to install the printer.

Question 22

Error codes

Answer 22

Consult the manufacturer’s documentation or website to get details on the error

Question 23

Printing blank pages

Answer 23

Printer is out of ink or toner. It can also be caused by clogged print nozzles in an inkjet printer. For a laser printer, the toner cartridge has sealant tape over the toner dispenser. If this tape is not removed, pages will be blank.

Question 24

No image on printer display

Answer 24

Caused because the printer is unplugged or in standby mode.