The printer does not print and is inaccessible - what to do. What to do if the printer refuses to print normally The printer does not print via a local network

Your local printer does not print.
Why won't my local printer print? The reasons for this can be very different, and now we will try to sort out most of them. And also answer the question of what to do if the printer stops printing. Although just recently everything was working fine.

Why did the printer stop printing and what should I do?

So, let's start with one important point. It doesn’t matter what brand your printer is, be it HP (Hewlett-Packard), Canon (Canon), Samsung (Samsung), Epson (Epson), Ricoh (Rikosh), Lexmark (Lexmark) or any other brand. The printing technology can be inkjet or laser; there is no fundamental difference - we will try to talk about common faults. That is why this publication can be useful to you in solving your problem. Let's start with Windows errors, and continue with problems with the printer driver and print service. Now we will only talk about software errors and let’s hope that your printer does not have any mechanical failures.

The printer does not print from the computer

It also doesn’t matter what version of the Windows operating system you have installed, the procedure for checking the printer’s operation is universal. If there is a printing error when you send a document for printing, a printer icon with a question mark appears in the system tray. And also a message pops up: “This document could not be printed.”

First of all, you need to check the operation of the printer itself. Check whether there is paper, whether it is inserted all the way; some printers have a paper presence sensor, and if it does not work, then printing does not start. Is it turned on, is the error indicator blinking? Print a test page using the button on the printer (if it doesn’t print, then the problem is in the printer itself). Different printers activate test page printing differently. To do this, you need to press two buttons on the printer (as a rule, these are the continue and cancel buttons or cancel and the power button, mostly on inkjet printers) and hold for a few seconds, 3-5 seconds, and release the buttons. After this, the test page should begin printing. Example of a test page printed by an HP LaserJet 2200 printer.

Remove and replace the cartridge, turn off and turn on the printer again.
After switching on, it should work a little and pass an internal test (make some noise). If everything is fine, the ready indicator (usually green) should be constantly on. If these steps do not help and the printer does not print a test page, or does not respond to any actions at all, you should check the power cord and its connection to the printer. If possible, test the power cord on another device to ensure that the cord is not faulty.
If it prints a test page, then the printer itself is working. But it does not print documents sent from the computer, then you need to do the following to get the printer working again:
— Check if your USB is working (for example, a flash drive is detected normally in the system and allows you to work with it). If there are problems, then you need to reinstall the motherboard chipset driver.
— Check the USB cable, it could have moved away from the printer or computer system unit, or it could have just been chewed by your favorite cat. Therefore, it is better to test the USB cable on another device. For example, connect a scanner or try connecting another USB cable. HP printers are very picky about the length of the USB cable, you can try a shorter cable.
— Check which printer the documents are sent to for printing from the program. If there is more than one printer installed on the system and you are sending to another printer that is not connected. Select the default printer that you want to print on at the moment. And pay attention to which printer you send to print from the program.

Check if the “Pause printing” or “Work offline” checkbox is unchecked.

Canceling a print pause is done as follows.

Start → Devices and Printers (In Windows 7), and in Windows XP Start → Printers and Faxes

If you have one printer icon, and not several. Right-click on the printer on which you want to print, go to the “Printer” menu and uncheck (uncheck) “Pause printing”, if there is one.

If the print job contains any unnecessary documents, you need to clear the print queue.

Printer → “Clear print queue”

If clearing the print queue does not help or does not clear, you should delete the contents in the folder where the print jobs are located.

To do this, open the folder C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete the contents. After that, restart Print Manager.

How to do this: On “My Computer,” right-click and select “Manage” from the menu that opens.

After that, in the window that opens, click on “Services and Applications”. Then go to “Services” and find the “Print Manager” service. We select it and restart it (if it was not running, then this was the reason that the printer did not print from the computer).

Then in the Printers and Faxes window, refresh the window, press the F5 button on your keyboard. After this, the print queue will be cleared.

The local printer still does not print.

Let's move on to more stringent measures. Remove the printer via the menu. Right-click on the printer icon and select “Delete” or “Delete device” depending on the version of Windows and delete the printer. Disconnect the USB cable from the system unit and restart the computer. After booting the computer, connect the USB cable to another USB connector. The installation wizard should appear. If it does not appear, then open the menu:

Start → Settings → Printers and Faxes

And check if the printer is installed automatically. If not, install it manually using the installation wizard. To do this, on the “Printers and Faxes” tab, click “Add a printer” → “Add a local printer”

select the interface through which your printer is connected, most often it is “USB001 (Virtual Printer Port for USB)”, click “Next”,

In the next window, select the driver for our printer. On the left side of the window, select the printer manufacturer, and on the right side, select the printer model and click next.

In the next window, you can change the name of the printer, for example to “My Printer,” but you can leave it as is and click Next.

The driver is being installed.

The next final window allows you to print a test page. And all that remains is to click “Done”.

Your printer should then print. I wish you not to say any more words to me .

This usually happens at the most inopportune time - when you urgently need to print an important document. Just yesterday, a printer that was working properly suddenly refuses to fulfill its duties: instead of a document, it throws out blank sheets of paper or stupidly blinks the lights, as if not understanding what you want from it.

Almost everyone who uses a printer regularly encounters printing problems. The most extensive group of such problems are various defects in the printed image; in second place is the complete lack of printing. There are many reasons why a printer does not print at all or prints poorly - from incorrect settings in the operating system to a malfunction of the device itself.

Why doesn't the printer print?

All reasons that lead to failures and complete failure of the printing system are conventionally divided into 3 large groups:

Problems with installing and configuring the printing device in the operating system. Other types of software problems.
Problems with cartridges or continuous ink supply system (CISS).
Problems with the hardware of the printer itself.

The first group is the easiest for the user to diagnose and eliminate. It is possible to cope with it in approximately 90% of cases. A group of problems associated with cartridges cannot always be solved at home, but if funds allow, it is enough to simply buy a new cartridge. The third group is solved only in case of simple and typical problems, such as a paper jam, a broken connecting cable, etc. Problems associated with a malfunction of the device require contacting service.

Problems with printer installation and printing in Windows

Fortunately, the majority of problems in the printing system related to software operation are very easy to resolve. These include:

There is no printer driver in the operating system or the driver has failed.
Disable the print service.
The default print device is incorrect.
User pauses printing.
Switch the printer to offline mode.
Problems with the document in the print queue (too large, not recognized, etc.). The printer still prints, but extremely slowly. Or instead of text it displays something similar to hieroglyphs.
Denying access to the printing system by security policies.

More complex cases include damage to OS components, driver conflicts, and virus infection. Unlike the previous ones, it is not always possible to deal with them with a couple of mouse clicks.

Reasons why a network printer does not print:

The printer port on the remote computer is blocked.
The network path to the printer is incorrect.
Sharing settings are incorrectly set.

To separate problems with the printer itself from problems with your computer, try printing the document from another PC or mobile device. If it (the printer) is connected via USB, if possible, connect it wirelessly and vice versa. Your task is to find out whether the print function works anywhere.

After making sure that the source of the failure is not in the printing device, but is connected to the computer, look at the device manager (the printer must be connected to the computer and plugged in). The absence of the “Printers” group in the list of devices and the presence of unknown equipment marked with an exclamation or question mark indicate that the system does not have the necessary driver. To solve the problem, just download it from the device manufacturer’s website (for example, HP, Epson, Samsung, Canon, Brother) and install it.

If the PC sees the printer, but it still does not print, look at the “Services” application (it’s most convenient to open it through the task manager tab of the same name).

Find Print Spooler in the list of services and make sure it is running. If not, right-click its properties. In the “Startup type” drop-down list, set “Automatic”, then click the “Run” button below.

Is the problem still there? Go ahead. Launch the “Settings” system application, go to the “Devices” - “Printers and Scanners” section (this and further instructions are discussed using Windows 10 as an example). The right half of the window displays a list of all installed printers, among which should be the one with which problems occurred. If it is not there, check the physical connection of the device to the PC. If there is, click "Open Queue".

Is the default printer used (if not, perhaps the default printing device is a virtual printer, which instead of printing, for example, converts the file to another format).
Is there a checkmark next to the “Pause printing” and “Work offline” items? If the printer goes offline on its own, it indicates a poor connection to the computer, a power problem, or a malfunction.
If there are documents in the print queue, click Clear Queue and try printing a test page.

If the printer does not print only over the network, click "Sharing" and check if it is allowed to this device.

Next, look at the “Security” tab and make sure that your account is not prohibited from using the printing function.

The reason the printer is not queuing files could be one of the following:

The paper is out or jammed.
The toner or ink is low.
A non-original cartridge is installed in the device.
The print counter has reached its limit - printing is blocked.
The user account does not have permission to print files.
The device is faulty.
There was a failure in the operating system.

Devices from different manufacturers block printing in different situations. So, when a cartridge runs out of ink, one machine stops processing documents and resets the print queue, while the other simply spits out empty sheets. The same is true in other situations. The specific problems that lead to blocking are usually described in the printer instructions.

Many printer problems are well recognized by their self-diagnosis system. If the device is equipped with a display, the cause of the failure is most often displayed on it. Diagnosis of simpler devices is carried out using their proprietary application. It is usually present on the disk that came with the device, as well as on the manufacturer’s website.

Below is an example of the troubleshooting function in the proprietary application of the HP Deskjet 1050 printer.

A stop when sending a specific document for printing is most often associated with the document itself. So, if the printer does not print a pdf file, perhaps the author has protected it from printing (pdf supports such functions). In such cases, the easiest way is to take screenshots of the pages of the problematic file, paste them, for example, into a Word document and easily print them out as pictures.

If hieroglyphs, “crazy words” or spaces appear on the printed copy instead of text, try replacing the font in the document with one of the ones preinstalled in Windows (all printers recognize them).

Problems with cartridges, dye, CISS

Any dye - toner or ink - runs out sooner or later. But this does not happen suddenly. The idea that there is little paint left is suggested by a decrease in the quality of the print - pale colors, whitish stripes, partial unprinting. It happens that the printer stops printing even when the dye level is normal. This is due to:

A drop of ink dries in the print head or becomes clogged with an air lock.
Incorrect installation of the cartridge (for example, when the protective films are not removed, the cover is not completely closed).
Contamination of cartridge air ducts.
Clamping or blockage of the CISS ink plume.
Blocking a non-original cartridge.
The limit on the number of printouts has been reached.
Cartridge malfunction.

Clogging the head with dried ink is a common occurrence when an inkjet printer is not used for a long time. If the plug is relatively small, cleaning the nozzles (outlet holes) helps solve the problem. This is also done using the printer’s proprietary utility, and each manufacturer has a different name for this function:

HP has cartridge cleaning.

Epson has print head cleaning.
Canon has cleaning and deep cleaning (the second is an enhanced option when the first doesn’t help), etc.

During cleaning, a special pump installed inside the printer forces some ink through the nozzles under high pressure. This causes a clot of paint or an air lock to come out.

The most budget printer models are not equipped with a pump, and the nozzle cleaning function does not work on them (despite the driver supporting it). If clogged, the print heads of such devices must be soaked and washed in a cleaning fluid.

On modern Epson inkjet printers, the print head is built not into the cartridges, but into the device itself, and it is quite expensive. Its failure is equivalent to the failure of the entire printer, which in such cases can only be thrown away. To prevent ink from drying out, it is important for owners of Epson printers to clean the nozzles at least once every 2 weeks if the device is idle.

If you removed cartridges from the printer, make sure that they are installed correctly and that their air ducts are not blocked.

When using CISS, first of all you should also check whether the ink plume is passable and whether the air holes of the tanks are free.

Spots and streaks (sometimes almost black sheets) when printing on a laser or LED printer are a consequence of cartridge leaks (toner spills out), overfilling of the waste bin, foreign small objects getting into the device, damage, improper installation or wear of cartridge parts.

Problems after refueling when:

the printer prints in only one shade, for example, red;
the print looks too pale when the cartridge is full;
instead of an image there are multi-colored spots, etc.,

As a rule, they arise due to contamination, improper installation of the cartridge in place, or a violation of the refilling technology.

The complete absence of an image (white sheets) or printing defects after replacing the original cartridge or ink with a conditionally suitable one is precisely the result of the incompatibility of the latter with your printer model. In some cases, it can be solved by reflashing the cartridges or the device, in others - only by purchasing original components and consumables.

Printer problems

A breakdown of a printing device does not always manifest itself as a complete failure, when the device does not turn on or does not perform its functions at all. In some cases it looks like this:

The printer does not print in one of the colors, for example, black. The cartridge is in good working order, compatible, and there is paint. Replacing the cartridge and toner does not help.
Only part of the document is printed.
The toner does not adhere to the paper.
Paper does not pick up from the tray.
The printer does not print or incorrectly transfers the text of any documents onto paper, and does not reproduce standard commonly used fonts.
The print is not positioned correctly on the sheet.
Instead of one document, several are printed and vice versa.

The majority of such problems cannot be solved at home without special training. The user can independently see if the device has jammed the paper; if yes, try to extract it; check whether the cartridge is installed correctly; remove foreign objects that have entered the device if they are easily accessible; clean visible dirt. In other cases, all that remains is to contact the service or buy a new device, if it is from a series of disposable ones, which are very cheap.

Office equipment users often face a problem related to the fact that the network printer does not work. To solve it you will need to consider two different cases. In the first case, you actually have a network device installed and connected, for example, via Ethernet, in the second, you have a regular printing MFP, which is connected via a USB cable and for which, in turn, the sharing settings have been made.

To ensure that your printer works normally over the network again, please carefully read the recommendations listed below. If they do not help, then it is worth calling a specialist to your home or a friend who is more experienced in matters relating to office equipment.

First case: network printer

If your device is connected to a common network, but when you try to send certain documents for printing, an error constantly appears on the screen, then first of all you need to look at its current IP address in the settings of the printing device. You can find out more about how to do this in this article:.

The next step is to check the availability of this network address on the PC from which the printing process is not running. To do this, press the Win+R key combination, then enter “CMD” in the window that opens called “Run a program.” Press the enter key. In the black command line that appears, you need to enter “ping” followed by a space the IP address of the device, then press “Enter”. If you have “ping”, then continue the setup by moving on to the next steps described below. Otherwise, check the condition of the patch cord with which the device and PC are connected to the network. But the best way to get the seal working again is to create a new patch cord.

Check the settings of the office equipment that is connected to your PC if your ping continues to go.

For this purpose, open the section with devices and printers.
Find the icon and name of your device and right-click on it to open its menu. From the list that opens, click on “Printer properties” (in the English version of the OS: “Printer properties”).
Click on the ports tab and select “Add port”.
Now a new window should open in front of you, where you need to click on “Standard TCP/IP port”, and then click on the button that implies adding a new port.
Now you have to set the IP address, and the one that you set or looked at on the network MFP. Having solved this small task, click on “Next”.
After the settings have been made, the printing device should connect to the PC. Those. the computer will begin to see it and you just have to do a test print to make sure that the problem when the computer does not see the network printer is resolved successfully.

Second case: regular printer

If a regular printer does not print, although it is connected to the PC via a USB cable and configured as “shared”, then follow all of the following recommendations:

First, make sure that you are printing from a personal computer, to which, in turn, your printer is connected. For example, try reconnecting the USB cable to a different port. Also check if the selected device is set as the default device and if offline mode is enabled. Also, make sure that printing is not paused. All this can be viewed in the device properties.
If these steps do not help and the problem that the network printer does not print is still not resolved, then check the availability of the PC to which the printing device is connected from the computer on which you need to print certain documents. This can be done by entering “ping” into the command line - a similar action was described in the first section of this article.
The next step is to check your device's sharing settings. To do this, open its properties and open the access tab. Find there an item called “Sharing” and check the box next to it, then set the network name - you can choose any, the main thing is that later it will be clear to everyone what kind of device it is. To save the changes made, click on “OK”.

If the printer is still not visible to the computer, then try:

Go to the “Devices and Printers” section and select the item that allows you to add new printing equipment.
Click on install and wait for the system to complete the search. Select the device you need from the list and click “Next”.
If the driver installed on the PC to which the printing device is connected is suitable, a window will open in front of you where you will be asked whether you trust this printer. If special software is not suitable, then you need to either specify the path to install the driver corresponding to the device model or install it in advance.
At the end, you just have to set a name if necessary and click on “Next”.
Thus, the printing device has been successfully installed and is now ready for use.

Here I see two options. You really have a network printer, which is connected, for example, via Ethernet, and you have a regular printing unit connected via USB, and shared access is configured for it.

Let's look at these cases in more detail.

1. Look in the settings on the printing device to see what IP address is set.

2. On a computer from which printing is not taking place, check the availability of this IP.

This can be done using the command: ping.

If you have “ping” (shown in the figure above), we will configure it further. Otherwise, you need to check the patch cord that connects the computer and printer to the network. You can take (or make) a new patch cord and try.

That is, we must have stable contact with the printing device. There should be no missing packets.

3. Check the settings of the printer installed on the computer.

Open the menu

Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers

Right-click on the icon of the printing unit (if the latter is not installed, install a local one) and select “Printer properties”.

Go to the “Ports” tab and click “Add port...”

In the window that opens, select “Standard TCP/IP port” and click “New port...”

Check that the network printer is turned on. We set up the network in the previous paragraph. Click “Next >” or “Next >”

Set the IP address (the one we looked at or set on the network device). Click “Next >”

The network printer should connect and print normally.

If it didn’t work, I would remove the printing devices, install a local one and configure it in the manner described above.

Ordinary

If you have a regular printer that connects to your computer via USB and it is configured as shared, then you need to:

1. Make sure that printing comes from the computer to which the printing unit itself is connected.

2. Check the availability of the computer to which the printer is connected from the computer on which you want to print. This can be done with the “ping” command described in the first section of this article.

3. Check your sharing settings.

Let's go to properties.

On the “Sharing” tab, check the “Share this printer” checkbox and set the network name (any name can be used, but to make it clear what device it is). Click “OK”.

4. Install a network printer on the desired computer on the network.

Go to the menu

Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers

Select “Add printing unit”.

Select to install a network printer.

We wait until the search ends and select the one we need. Click “Next”.

If the driver installed on the computer to which the printer is connected is suitable, a window similar to the one in the figure below will appear. If the driver is not suitable, you must either install the driver in advance or show where to install the driver. Click “Install driver”