How to troubleshoot your printer
Printers often frustrate even the most patient of us. Fortunately, many printer issues are easy to resolve. With little information, you can improve the speed, quality, and cost-effectiveness of your printer. Here are our three easy steps of how to troubleshoot your printer.
How to troubleshoot:
- When the printer doesn’t respond, try to print a document, make sure it’s turned on and that a cable hasn’t come loose.
- For both USB and network-connected computers, the printer driver may become corrupted and have to be re-installed.
- If you are not sure if your computer already has a driver installed for the printer you want to use, Windows has an easy way to check.
A 3-step Windows Check:
- Open the printer folder from the Start menu or Control Panel.
- If your printer shows that it is offline, make sure that it is properly connected to your PC or network.
- The default printer has a green check next to it and you can set another printer as default by right-clicking on it and following the prompts.
Most new printers include a quick-start sheet, and many include a user manual. Be sure to keep the installation disk and user manual in a convenient place. Many printers include a user manual as a PDF file on the installation disk or it is available on their website. It’s a good idea to download it to your PC to have all the information handy.