Owning a printer makes life easy. But it can be a frustrating experience when it stops working as it’s intended to.
The good news is that you can resolve most of these issues at home and don’t always need to run to a service center. Here are the seven most common printer-related problems you can face and how to fix them quickly.
- Frequent Paper Jams
Paper Jams are one of the most annoying problems a printer user might come across. These are most commonly caused by either overfilling the tray or improperly inserting pages in it. At times, the shredded paper residue may get stuck into the tray, causing the machine to get jammed.
To solve the mystery of paper jams, ensure that the sheets are correctly stacked, and the tray is not overfilled. Also, use good quality sheets as substandard ones get stuck together and jam the printer. Even after these precautions, if the jamming issue persists, unplug your printer and reset the sensors.
- Poor Printing Quality
If the quality of your printed pages is not up to the mark, it may happen either due to substandard printing paper or having your printer in the draft mode. When in draft mode, the printer uses less ink and prints the material quickly. However, this leads to a decline in quality. This problem can arise in both inkjet and laser A3 printers.
To improve the quality of your printouts, check the setting and turn off the draft mode. You can also take the cartridge out, shake it and refit it. If the cartridge has lost colour, it’s time to replace it.
Finally, clean the nozzle and check if the printer operates fine.
Remember always to use the correct type of paper for each purpose. For example, for printing photos, opt for thick paper. However, for standard text printing, the regular quality paper will do.
- Slow Printing Speed
Sometimes your printer may go irritatingly slow due to a software update issue, or you may be printing high-resolution output of images and texts.
To fasten the print time, change the settings to draft mode or low-resolution printing. It would help if you also avoided duplex or double sizing since that slows down the printing machine as it takes time to flip the documents.
- The Printer is Running Out of Ink
In homes or offices where printers are in heavy use, the ink cartridge will empty pretty fast as you take out more prints. You know this is happening when the printed text looks faded.
Modern-day printers have warning level signs indicating that ink is getting exhausted. So, you don’t need to rush to refill the cartridge immediately till you are sure it needs a replacement.
At times, faded prints could also be a result of blockages in the nozzle. So watch for that too.
- Unable to Print from Mobile Phones
Printing from phones or tabs is quick and convenient. Nearly all modern printers support it. For example, Airprint allows iPhone and iPad users to print directly from their devices using the same Wi-Fi network. However, to do so, you must have a Wi-Fi printer. Other apps like Google Cloud Print allow Windows and Android phones to print and scan directly from the installed Wi-Fi.
- The Appearance of White Spots, White Lines, or Black Smudges
If your printed page has white spots, it could be that the paper has absorbed moisture from the air. Put in a fresh stack of paper, and your problem is solved.
White lines on the print document means some debris is lying between the cartridge and the drum. Just remove the toner cartridge and drum, wipe away the debris and reset them again. The irritating white lines are gone.
If you encounter black spots or streaks while printing your documents, print a few sheets of blank paper. The dirt will fade off and the marks will disappear. It would be best if you clean the nozzle and print head regularly to avoid such unwanted issues.
- The Printer Isn’t Connecting to Wi-Fi
This is one of the most common problems that you encounter while trying to get some quick prints. Often printers don’t connect directly to Wi-Fi after changing the network security settings like passwords, etc. So you need to go to the settings and reconnect your printer to the Wi-Fi.
Another reason could be the distance from the router, which can hamper the connection. If both issues are addressed and the printer still refuses to connect, go for a power cycle. For this, turn the printer off and restart it. Then, try connecting again, and you should be there.
These are the common printing problems you may encounter in everyday usage. We hope that after reading this article, you can fix them quickly and conveniently on your own.
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