Laser Printer Troubleshooting
Light or faded print: low toner (remove toner cartridge, shake gently to redistribute — temporary fix). Dirty primary corona wire (clean with included cleaning tool or IPA-dampened cotton swab). Toner cartridge defective. Transfer roller contaminated. Incorrect paper type (glossy paper resists toner adhesion).
Toner not fusing (smears, rubs off): fuser failure or not reaching temperature. Check fuser warmup time. Replace fuser assembly. Check that paper type is correct — heavy cardstock may require slower print speed to allow fuser time.
Ghosting (faint repeated image at regular intervals): image repeats at the drum circumference. Dirty or worn drum (replace drum or drum unit). Fuser problem (ghost from previous fused image). Check cleaning blade — may not be removing residual toner.
Vertical lines or streaks: dirty laser mirror or lens (inside unit — careful cleaning). Scratched drum (if scratch runs along the drum length, affects every printed page — replace drum). Toner cartridge leak — black vertical streaks from toner spillage.
Horizontal lines: dirty corona wire. Low toner. Defective toner cartridge. Worn drum showing band wear patterns.
Paper jams: most common laser printer problem. Causes: wrong paper type/size, humidity-warped paper, worn paper pickup rollers, paper not aligned in tray, debris in paper path. Remove jammed paper by following the printer manual's jam clearance path — never pull paper backward against the feed direction (tears paper and leaves fragments). Clean and replace pickup rollers if jams recur regularly.
Inkjet and Network Printer Troubleshooting
Inkjet: clogged nozzles — most common issue. Fix: run printhead cleaning utility from printer software (uses extra ink). Horizontal gaps in print: clogged nozzles. Banding (alternating light/dark bands): printhead alignment issue — run alignment utility. Colors incorrect: wrong ink cartridge installed, air bubble in ink line, ink low. Print comes out blank: check ink levels, remove protective tape from new cartridges, run nozzle check.
Network printer not found: verify printer is on the same network segment (IP address in same subnet). Can ping the printer IP? If not — check IP configuration on printer (static vs DHCP), verify cable/Wi-Fi. Print a configuration page from the printer (usually hold button during startup) to see current IP. Add printer by IP address directly (not by auto-discovery) to bypass discovery issues.
Driver issues: install the correct driver for the exact printer model and OS version (32-bit vs 64-bit). Wrong driver: printer appears in list but prints garbage or nothing. Corrupted driver: print jobs appear to send but nothing prints — delete print jobs from the queue, remove and reinstall the driver. Print spooler stuck: 'net stop spooler', delete files from C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, 'net start spooler'.
Print queue stuck: jobs pile up and don't print. Clear the queue: Services → Print Spooler → Stop. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete all files. Start Print Spooler service. Test print.