How do I fix a printer that will not print?

Printers rarely fail mechanically. What usually breaks is the chain between the document and the machine — a stuck queue, a lost network connection, or the computer sending to a printer that no longer exists at that address.

What you'll need

• Printer
• Computer or phone
• Paper and ink or toner (optional)

Step by step

1. Check the obvious physical things first.Paper loaded, no jam, ink or toner present, lid closed, no error light. It takes twenty seconds and catches a fair proportion of cases.
2. Open the print queue and delete every pending job.One stuck job blocks everything behind it. Windows: Settings, Bluetooth and devices, Printers. Mac: System Settings, Printers and Scanners.
3. Power cycle the printer at the mains.Off at the wall, wait thirty seconds, back on. Not standby — a full power-off clears the internal state, and this is the single most effective step.
4. Check the printer and computer are on the same network.A very common failure: the printer joined the 2.4GHz network and the laptop is on the 5GHz guest one, so they cannot see each other.
5. Print the printer's own test page from its control panel.If that works, the printer and its ink are fine and the fault is entirely in the connection or the computer.
6. Remove the printer from your computer and add it again.This rebuilds the connection with a current address. It fixes cases where the printer's IP has changed since it was set up.
7. Update or reinstall the driver.Get it from the manufacturer's site rather than a search result. After a major OS update an old driver often stops working.
8. Try printing from a phone as a test.If the phone prints and the computer does not, the printer is entirely fine and the problem is on that computer.

Tips

• Give the printer a fixed IP address in your router settings if it keeps disappearing. Changing addresses is the most common cause of a printer that works one week and not the next.
• Inkjets that sit unused clog. Printing one colour page a week is genuinely cheaper than a deep clean cycle or new cartridges.
• If print quality is the problem rather than printing at all, run the printer's own head-cleaning routine before buying anything.

Common mistakes

• Sending the document again when nothing happens — It queues behind the stuck job and adds to the blockage. Clear the queue first.
• Using standby instead of a full power-off — Standby keeps the confused internal state. Off at the mains is what clears it.
• Installing driver software from a search result — Printer driver searches are heavily targeted by fake download sites. Always use the manufacturer's own domain.

Questions people ask