Printer Problems

1) Printer refuses to print and the printer makes no motion – Apart from checking the obvious cable and power connections it is quite possible that the printer has been set to off-line. Check the printer in control panel to see if it is showing off-line. There is normally a tick next to a menu item saying ‘set printer off-line’ however the exact location of this menu item may depend on the operating system used. Lastly most printers have an ‘on line’ button which needs to be illuminated in order for the printer to receive any information from the printer.

2) The printer constantly jams when feeding paper – this can be caused by a small scrap of paper becoming stuck inside the printer, or even a label. Ideally a good quality paper should always be used that is also designed for the type of printer concerned i.e. inkjet or laser. In many laser printers only one side of the paper should be used, to avoid problems, unless the printer concerned is particularly designed for double sided ‘duplex’ printing. Also care needs to taken when using labels and apart from using the correct type, ideally only complete sheets of labels should be used, especially with laser printers.

3) Printer goes through the motions of printing but nothing comes out – Usually this is due to the printer being out of ink or toner, even if the computers printer monitor says there is still ink / toner remaining! If a new cartridge has just been installed it is possible that some of the protective clear tape has not been removed, or that the cartridge has not been pushed in firmly enough. Sometimes ink cartridges can become clogged up especially if they have not been used for a while and refill kits often seem not to work properly. Sometimes you can revive a clogged ink cartridge by leaving it in a saucer of shallow warm water overnight.

4) Printer prints but the print out is faint - Usually this is a sign that the cartridge is running out, but can also be due to the printer being set to draft poor quality printing. In the application you are trying to print from go to the File Menu and choose Print Setup. Check through the options available for a print quality setting and then check that this is set to normal or high. The exact location of these options will vary from printer to printer. To apply default settings for all applications the change will need to be made from within Control Panel.

5) Printer prints but the print out is garbled – usually this is due to the wrong printer driver being selected. When you go to the Print Menu in the application you are using, it shows which printer the program is expecting to print to. By clicking on this name there is usually a drop down list of different printers available. Select the name of the printer that matches exactly the one you are printing to. If there is no exact match you will probably need to install the printer again from the original disks or CD’s that came with the printer, or alternatively download one from the company’s web-site. If there are printers listed on your computer that are not used these can be deleted within Control Panel to avoid similar problems in the future.

6) I can’t print out photo quality pictures on my printer – This is a common problem and there are many factors affecting the quality of your print outs. Firstly ensure that your display adapter is set to 32 bit or True Colour. Next ensure that the digital camera, or scanning software is set to capture / import the picture at a high quality setting. Thirdly ensure that the printer settings are changed to print at photo quality and not normal or draft. Fourthly it is well worth investing in photo or premium quality paper as this can make all the difference to the final quality print out. However remember to change the printers paper settings from the normal plain paper settings to whatever type of paper you are actually using, as this does maximise the print quality for the type of paper you are using.

Please email support@ITCroydon.co.uk for questions or support on printer issues.