9 Common Printer Printing Issues (Solved)

Printer printing issues are very common and can happen to anyone and any time. It is not possible to give a solution to every type of printing issue. 

But in this article, I gave the accurate solution of 9 common printer printing issues. These issues have been faced by nearly all printer users.

So, if you are also facing any of these issues then you just need to follow the steps that I provided and I promise they will be resolved fully.

Printer Printing Blank Pages

It is frustrating when your printer prints blank pages when you want to print an important document or file. 

Fortunately, there are multiple ways to fix such issues during an urgency. But before knowing about the solution, let us look at why your printer is printing blank pages.

There are plenty of possible reasons why this could occur to your printer, but the most common of them are:

• Empty ink cartridge
• Incorrect cartridge installation
• Blocked nozzle
• Incorrect drivers
• Drivers not up-to-date

Printer Printing Blank Page Solution

Restart the printer:

1. Restart your printer.
2. Remove the power cord and USB for 1 minute.
3. Connect it back and try giving print commands.

Fix Ink/Toner Cartridge:

1. Check the link or toner level if it is sufficient or not.
2. If there is not enough ink, then replace the cartridge with the new ones.
3. Make sure the ink cartridge is installed properly.
4. Try installing them properly.

Clogged Print Heads:

1. Inkjet printers can be unclogged with automatic cleaning.
2. Go to the Control Panel on your PC.
3. Go to printer properties.
4. Click on “Auto Nozzle Check” or “Clean Nozzle”, or there can be other specified cleaning options depending upon the printer.
5. The printer will perform a cleaning cycle.

Manual Cleaning of Print Heads:

If all the above-given solutions didn’t work for you, try this last solution out:

1. Uninstall all the ink cartridges from the printer.
2. Now, wipe out any dried ink on the print head. You can use a clean cloth or cleaning paper along with a cleaning alcohol solution.
3. Dip the cloth into cleaning alcohol.
4. Clean the prints gently.
5. Now, put the print head in a bowl full of warm water for 10-20 minutes.
6. Remove any moisture from the print head after taking it out.
7. Reinstall the print head properly.
8. Try giving the print command for a test print.

Printer Not Printing in Colour

Missing colour or no colour print issues are very common among the printers. 

If you use your printer very infrequently, then such issues are highly likely to occur. 

These are some of the main reasons your printer is not printing in colour or misprinting the colour.

• Colour printing is disabled.
• Print head not working.
• The cartridge doesn’t have enough colour ink.

Besides this, make sure that the ink cartridges are installed properly. And you can try reinstalling them to ensure proper installation.

Colour printing is disabled:

This is one of the most common issues which occurs due to the false configuration of your printer. 

You have to enable the colour print option from the settings of your printer. Here is how to do that:

1. Go to the settings of your PC.
2. Now, go to Printers.
3. Select Printer Properties.
4. Now, click on Printing Preferences.
5. Click on Paper/Quality and choose Choose Colour.
6. Click OK and perform a print test.

Print Head not working:

1. Go to the Control Panel and click on Driver and Printers.
2. Select the printer and go to Printer Properties.
3. Now, click on the Hardware tab and click on the “Clean Ink” option.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Not enough ink in cartridge:

1. Check the ink level of your ink cartridge.
2. If there is not enough ink, install a new cartridge.
3. If the cartridge has enough ink, then reinstall the cartridge and give a test print command.
4. If it is still not working, most likely, your cartridge has expired, so install a new one.

Printer Not Printer in Black

If your printer is not printing in black colour, there are multiple solutions you can try out.

Check the Ink Cartridge:

1. Ensure the ink cartridge has enough ink.
2. Make sure the cartridges are installed properly in the appropriate slot.
3. Check the cartridge vents if they are clogged. Try to clean them with an alcohol cleaning solution.
4. Try to check with another cartridge to determine if the printer is still causing the problem.

Check the Printhead:

• Ensure print heads are not clogged.
• Use the automatic print head cleaning feature.
• Try realigning the printer. Go to settings and tools. Here you will find an option to realign the printer.

Changing some settings:

• Try to change the printer settings to “Glossy Photo Paper” as it may help print the black again. You can only use this option if your printer has 2 black cartridges. One of them must be dye-based, and the other should be pigment.

Printer Not Printing in Queue

If your printer is not printing in the queue, there is no other reason than your printer drivers. 

You must be using an incorrect printer driver, or maybe your printer drivers are outdated, causing the issue.

Clearing the print queue: 

1. To restart the print spooler, Press the Windows button + R, the run dialogue will pop up.
2. Type services.msc and hit enter.
3. Find out “Print Spooler” from the list.
4. Right-click on it and choose Stop.
5. Now go to this path: C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete all files available in the folder.
6. Now go back to the services tab, and right-click to start the Print Spooler.

Updating the printer drivers (Automatically):

1. Go to device manager and select your printer.
2. Right-click and click on Update drivers.
3. Now a dialogue box will pop up. Click on Search automatically for drivers.

Updating the printer drivers (Manually):

1. Visit the official website of your printer’s manufacturer.
2. Download the drivers from there and install them.

Reinstalling the printer drivers:

• Uninstall the old drivers by going to the Device Manager.
• Download the printer drivers manually from the manufacturer’s official website.

Printer Not Printing in Order

The printer never prints a page out of order, and if this is happening, it is not common. 

But it is highly likely to be a software issue that can be resolved by trying multiple solutions.

You should first try restarting the printer by detaching all the cables, including the power cord and USB cable. 

If this doesn’t work, try checking your printer’s settings by going into the properties panel. 

Incorrect printing queue occurs due to incorrect driver of your printer. 

Furthermore, you can try reinstalling the drivers from the official website. If this doesn’t work for you, try contacting the customer service of your printer.

Printer Printing Faded Text

If your printer starts printing faded, then it is highly likely to be because of the dried ink particles, causing a blockage in the printer. 

The ink cartridge or even the print heads of your printer becomes dry if you sit idle for a long period of time. 

So it is advised to print a couple of pages every few weeks, which will maintain the print quality, and the text will not fade.

Moreover, print quality can be affected because of the paper quality. 

If you are using plain paper sheets, which is lightweight compared to the normal paper sheets. 

Colour may not appear as appealing as it would on the original paper sheets. 

Here are some of the possible solutions which you can try to fix the print quality issues:

• Perform a cleaning cycle
• Cleaning the print heads manually.

Perform a cleaning cycle:

Printing quality issues can occur due to the clogged print head or nozzles. 

And most of the modern printers have the inbuilt function of cleaning them automatically. 

This solution can be tried via accessing the printer menu from your desktop or laptop. 

However, these steps can vary depending upon the brand, so please follow the quick start manual of your printer.

1. Go to the menu of your printer.
2. Find out the cleaning option and hit OK.
3. You can choose the printhead you want to clean in some printers like Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, or All. Clicking on All will be ideal to choose from.
4. When cleaning is finished, the printer will be ready to print.
5. You can try these steps 3-4 times if they don’t work for the first time.

Moreover, you can go to the control panel and Printer Properties, where you can find the cleaning option, most common for all brand printers.

Cleaning the print heads:

1. Take a cleaning cloth or cotton swab.
2. Dip it into warm water or alcohol cleaning solution.
3. Wipe the printheads gently.
4. After that, ensure there is no moisture present on the print head.
5. Install them back into the printer.

Printer Is Printing Half Page

Partial printing is a common issue in printers, and here are some of the main reasons why printer prints half page occurs.

• Incompatible USB cord.
• Incompatible USB port.
• Problems in the printer spooler.
• Unreliable wireless connection.

Incompatible USB cord or Port

This is one of the most common reasons why your printer is only printing half of the page. 

If the USB port or cord is not connected to the laptop or desktop properly, it may disconnect in between while the printing process is going on, leading to half-page printing. 

So make sure to use a reliable USB cord that doesn’t disconnect from the printer at all.

Printer Spooler Problems

Sometimes, there is data leftover in your printer spooler, which may cause the half-page printing and other such issues to your printer. 

Here is how to fix the printer spooler issues:

1. To restart the print spooler, Press the Windows button + R, the run dialogue will pop up.
2. Type services.msc and hit enter.
3. Find out “Print Spooler” from the list.
4. Right-click on it and choose Stop. Don’t close the Services tab now, and else you will need to open this later.
5. Now go to this path: C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete all files available in the folder.
6. Now go back to the services tab, and right-click to start the Print Spooler.

Printer Not Printing in Center Of Page

If your printer is not printing in the middle of the page, it is highly likely to be an alignment problem. An inaccurate printing issue occurs due to misalignment. 

The misalignment occurs if a sheet of paper is stuck in the printer or printer cartridges are dirty or clogged. 

The cartridge is not installed properly and using an ink cartridge with insufficient ink.

Align the Print Cartridge:

1. Go to Devices and Printer.
2. Right-click on the Printer Properties and then choose Printing Preferences.
3. Now, click on Services and then choose “Align the Print Cartridges”.
4. After that, you have to follow the on-screen instructions and click on Finish.

The printer cartridges will then be aligned properly.

Printer Drivers:

1. Go to your printer software.
2. Find out Maintenance, Tools, or Utility options. The option name can be different depending upon the printer. 
3. Click on the “Alignment” or “Calibrate Printer” option, which will also align the printer properly.

Additional Solutions:

• Try replacing the ink cartridge with a fresh one and check if it is working or not.
• Remove the clogged or dried cartridge.
• Reinstall the drivers.

Printer Keeps Printing Too Small

The small font printing issue occurs due to misconfiguration of the printer software. 

You can fix it by changing the font size or page scale settings from your printer’s software. 

Moreover, the font size can be small in the file or document you are printing. 

So, make sure you scale the size of the file or document, depending upon your requirement, and then give print command.

For instance, if you are printing a Word document, you will find the Font Size option on the top bar, change the font size, and make it a little bigger. Confirm the change and give it a print.