A Thorough Guide to Fixing That Printer That is Not Working

By David Gaines

When your printer is not working, workflow can be seriously interrupted. Most PC users are dependent on printers to create important documents that are indispensable. As a result, a malfunctioning printer can cause all sorts of problems.

However, you can repair your printer with relative ease if you follow a few simple steps. Let's go over common printer error symptoms and how you can fix a broken printer.

Repairing The Print Spooler

One of the most common errors is related to the print spooler. The print spooler is a very important component that stores data on your print logs. In other words, the print spooler saves all assigned print jobs so that you can print things sequentially.

If it takes a ridiculously long time to print a document, or you see error messages related to the print spooler, then you need to take proactive steps to repair the print spooler. This does require restarting your computer and then making adjustments to the Print Spooler service. We can go over these basics here.

1. You'll need to access Administrative Tools, so click "Start."
2. Go to "Control Panel."
3. Open "System and Maintenance."
4. Then, open "Administrative Tools."
5. Open "Services."
6. Then, right-click on the service labeled "Print Spooler."
7. Click "Properties."
8. Select the tab labeled "General", and look next to the "Startup type" box. Ensure that you've selected "Automatic."
9. You might need to click "Service status", then "Start", then "OK", if the service isn't running already. Otherwise, you're done.

Attacking Common Printer Issues

This process should quickly resolve your issues related to the Print Spooler. If it doesn't then you may need to reinstall drivers and check your hardware. If your printer is only printing blurry or faded documents, that's a sure sign that you need to replace your ink or toner cartridges.

Normally, the print queue will display messages related to low ink and toner. You should check the Devices and Printers menu if you're dealing with poor output documents.

This menu will also inform you if the printer is out of paper, or if there's a paper jam. If you don't see any of these messages, but your printer still isn't working, then it's very likely that you need to replace your printer drivers.

Updating Printer Drivers

Outdated printing drivers make it impossible for your operating system to process print jobs. As a result, you need to update drivers rapidly. One easy way to update drivers is to use Windows Update.

Windows Update will apply automatic updates to your system. However, sometimes it doesn't replace printer drivers. You can also try manually installing drivers by visiting the printer manufacturer website and downloading drivers there.

Finally, it's possible to find strong driver update software to replace all of your old drivers. The right kind of driver update program will do all the work for you. In other words, it'll search your system for old drivers and then find the new ones. It will then do a complete installation of these new drivers.

One of the easiest ways to fix a printer that is not working is by using driver update software. With over 100,000+ unique devices and over 3,000+ manufacturers, DriverBoost is guaranteed to repair all of those printer issues with the correct and most up-to-date drivers for your PC in mere minutes.

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