Easy to solve printer issues

Owned by Marc Miller
Last updated: Oct 13, 2020 by Marc Miller

The most common issues with printing that often happens will be the following:

Paper Jams

The common issue with paper jams is often times people overstuff the paper trays, worn out rollers, multiple sheets of paper getting pulled, or something trapped in the printer which causes the paper to jam up.

For the most part, you can pull the paper out, just be gentle.

Pulling too hard will often times tear the paper and makes it worse.

If the paper wrinkles up, there is a likely chance the printer will need service, such as a maintenance kit to replace the rollers or fuser assembly that is no longer working properly.

Printer says 'Load Paper' even though there is paper in the tray

Check the paper size

This is the most common mistake issue of printing.

Most printers are setup to use a particular paper size, in this case, majority of the Labs and Offices uses 'Letter' sized paper (8.5" x 11").

However, the 'Letter' sized paper is used mostly in the US.

Other countries, such as Europe, Japan, and China, will use a similar paper size called 'A4' (8.27" x 11.69") in their documents.

By default, the printer will ask to use the Manual Tray (Tray 1) to load the appropriate paper to print the document.

This also affects users trying to print 'Legal' (8.5" x 14") documents or other documents that are not Letter.

Please be sure to change your document's page setup is for 'Letter' to not cause this problem.

Tray 1 isn't necessarily "Tray 1"

The other most common mistake in printing that causes this is when you actually play with the printer settings, believing the only paper tray is 'Tray 1'.

Majority of the printers treat 'Tray 1' as the 'Manual Feed' tray, where you feed different kinds of paper in.

It is recommended to use the system defaults at all times, only changing whether or not to print single sided or double sided when the need is there and the printer is capable of supporting that function.

Printer seems to be 'Offline', even though it is on.

Firewall issues

Printers with an ethernet connection often has a small little network server.

We have found that printers configured with a firewall will sometimes block certain communication back to computers on their 'Ready' state, which will then seem like they are not 'Online' for the computer.

We can fix this by disabling that problem with the firewall.

When in doubt... Reboot

Other times, certain brand of Printers will sometimes 'stall' on how they handle communication.

As an example, a known issue with HP printers, is that their Jetdirect server built into the printer will be non-responsive or give errors.

The most common fix for this is simply turn the printer off and back on and it should be fine.

Is it connected?

The last most common issue is that sometimes, the printer's network connection has been disconnected.

Be it human or other creature, the best thing to do is check the connection on the printer to be sure.

Note: some printers are restricted to a specific network or a specific printing protocol. You might have better luck if you connect to the wired network or campus VPN and/or add the printer via its IP address instead of hostname.

VPN FAQ

Windows 10 Computer says Printer is Offline