Sending digital documents to a desktop printer appears simple: deceptively so, as you’ll discover if your office output device stops communicating with the computer to which it’s connected. A problem prevents the process from reaching its natural conclusion somewhere between your application software and the tray where you expect to see completed pages emerge. Follow your output from computer to printer to diagnose and remove the bottleneck.
Connections
Data cables may appear to be as strong as power cords, but damage that is not visible can prevent them from functioning properly. You can fill your print queue with documents without the integrity of a reliable data connection. To rule out a bad cable as the source of your communication issues, turn off your printer and computer and replace the cable. When you restart your system, you should be able to print again.
Driver
Along with the physical connection between your computer and printer, your hardware is controlled by a software driver to process data and print page information. If you use the incorrect driver for your hardware and operating system, or if your driver becomes corrupted due to a hard-drive crash, the output process is halted because the printer no longer receives data that it can process. Visit the manufacturer’s website and look for version-appropriate drivers to download.
Consumables
When printers run out of paper, ink, or toner, they stop processing new output until you replenish their supplies. An inkjet printer may stop communicating if only one of its ink tanks runs dry, providing self-protection against printhead damage caused by attempting to supply ink for heated or micro-piezo ink nozzles from a dry cartridge. Similarly, a laser printer will halt its output cycles if its toner runs out. Check the front panel of your hardware for indicator-light signals that indicate an empty consumable, and replenish supplies to put your device back in service.
Media Jam
Paper misfeeds or jams, like an empty paper input tray, prevent printers from processing documents. With a stray sheet caught in its mechanism, a printer cannot process more pages without exacerbating the situation. Removing jammed sheets requires a deft touch to extricate the misfeed in one piece, because leftover scraps from a torn sheet will cause another jam. To ensure that you’ve extracted the entire sheet, flatten it out on a desktop and look for missing corners..
Output Queue
When you pause or stop your computer’s output queue, you also stop your printer from processing new jobs. Because the same software you use to hold the print queue also gives you access to print jobs so you can delete them, it’s easy to press the wrong button in the printer management module and stop the entire queue instead of just removing one extraneous project. Examine your print management software for indications that someone — you or another user, if the printer is networked — pressed the pause button.
