Printer Faults - Never Prints

If the printer neither prints nor gives a busy indication then:

• is it powered up (lights can be difficult to see in a brightly lit room)
• is it properly connected?
  • Using USB
  • Or via a network.
  • There are still Parallel and RS-232 Serial connections but they are uncommon

No Power

If the power plug is in and the switch is on but nothing happens:

• Check the "kettle lead" Properly called an "IEC 13" cable -the one that goes in the back of the printer) is firmly home in its socket. They don't lock into position very positively and some aren't very well made
• Check that the BS1363 plug (or whatever for your region) is properly in the socket and the socket turned on.
• The BS1363 plug has a built in fuse. Most laser printers will normally need a fuse rated 13 Amps in the UK. Make sure the cable is rated appropriately as well. Some computers are supplied with thinner IEC cables and a smaller fuse so check the cable rating - it's usually printed along the side.
• Unplug the cable and check it for damage. There should be no kinks, bumps or grazes in its surface. Businesses need to periodically check that cabling is safe, correctly rated for the job and that that earthing is functional.
• Don't plug laser printers into UPSs. Most UPSs do not have sufficient power for the fuser in a laser printer which only operates intermittently but can impose a large load.
• Don't plug laser printers into extension leads. The high current drawn by the fuser may interfere with other equipment and blow the fuse in the wall-plug.
• If the printer is plugged in with a known good cable and fuse and still gives no response then the internal fuse may have gone. In a laser printer the internal fuses are usually on the low-voltage power supply board and the printer will need partly dismantling to change them. Changing the fuse implies the power supply should be examined by someone with technical knowledge and experience

USB

If the cable is USB try reseating each end. Examine the plugs and sockets for damage. Try a different socket at the computer end. The cable should be shorter than 5 metres or a repeater or hub needs to be inserted into the line (a network connection might be preferable). On Linux systems have a look at the kernel ring buffer with the "dmesg" command. There should be some information there concerning the printer connecting. With "Windoze" try the events viewer.

USB devices have unique identifiers for each device. If the formatter is changed the ID will change as well and the printer will no longer work with the old drivers. It may be possible to change the identifier from service mode. The simplest way to correct this is to reinstall the drivers.

Parallel

If the printer cable is Parallel / IEEE-1284 then power off before reseating each end. Parallel cables are not designed to hot-plug. Examine the cable pins for damage. Although the connector at the computer end has retaining screws and retaining clips at the printer end they are often missing or not closed - check that the plugs are correctly pushed home. The 25 way "D" plugs used at the computer end were also used for serial communication - they are rare now but make sure the printer is not using one.

Network

If the connection is via a network the switch it connects to could be anything up to 100 metres away and the route from your computer to the printer could go round the room - or round the building.

First check the link lights. Most physically wired network devices have link lights, often immediately next to the port. A green light usually means there is a connection and flashing means it is receiving some data. Unfortunately the link light on a printer is usually on the rear - which is a bit inconvenient.

Ideally you need to know that there is a link-light at each end. That is easy if the switch (or whatever) is in your own room, just follow the cable and check for another blinking green light. However it can be difficult to find the switch in some premises - it's often locked in the coms room (in the UK a broom cupboard under the stairs). It would be quite rare to have a link light at one end but not the other so if it isn't easy to see it's unlikely to be the problem.

Just because a device is physically connected doesn't mean it can talk to other devices on the network. Most networks use a protocol called TCP/IP and need an IP address. The address can usually be found through the control panel menus, but on most printers a configuration page gives more information - not just what the IP address is but what served it. The address can be given to the printer at setup or provided by a DHCP server or suchlike autoconfiguration device somewhere on the network.

When a new printer is added to a network it will generally attempt to get an address by DHCP and on modern networks the Internet router will serve one.

A frequent problem is that the printer has been set to get a DHCP address but the router has issued that address to something else newly plugged in. Tell the router to give the printer a fixed IP address - normally you will need the printer's MAC address to do this. Log into the routers web server and find the relevant entry - for instance on a Draytek 2910 its "LAN > Bind IP to MAC".

Older printers often have a fixed IP address set by hand. This can be changed from the printer control panel. Cold-reset will clear down the flash memory on devices like JetDirects and they will then default to using DHCP.

Try pinging the printer. For instance:

At a command line

ping 192.168.0.11

replace the dotted quad number with that found in your printer driver.

If there is a reply then the computer and printer seem to be connected. Try connecting to the printer using a web-browser.

If there is no reply then check the network cables and the link lights. Possibly a firewall is blocking communication of the print protocols?

If the printer responds to ping, but still won't print is there a policy on use set in the printer? Colour printers intended for office use can often block some users from printing some kinds of job.

Policy controls are often available via the printers web browser interface but they can also be set by utility programs like ToolboxFX.