I almost named this article “how to cheat your printer during emergency printing situations?”, because we have all been there when we suddenly remember to print an important document for next day’s early morning presentation at 11 in the night and our printer senses that urgency and decides to stop working properly. 

But besides having a mind of their own, printers also have a complex mechanism which falls prey to some common problems that can delay your work. Faded text, jammed paper, streaked images, there is a lot which can go wrong with a printer. And you do not know how to get your printer working and print perfectly. 

Troubleshooting some of these problems might be specific to the model you are using but with regular use, you sure can identify some common (and frequent) issues that you can correct in a better way than smashing the top of your printer in frustration. Let us see how.

Ghost Jamming

There is a lot that can go wrong with a printer but one of the worst issues is ghost jamming of the machine. When your printer is telling you there is a jam but there is not, it is really difficult to figure out what to do. But chances are that the last real paper jam has left a residue of small bits of shredded paper in your printed which is causing this issue. 

So check all the mechanical parts of your printer where the jam can be and clean them up. For instance,

• Detach the hind duplexer and check any of the rollers if they are moving freely. 
• Examine the plastic gears at the side if they are moving freely. 
• Clean the parts which are jammed, switch off your printer to reset the system and your printer will be ready to run. 

New cartridge not printing

Occasionally, your printer might refuse to print with a brand new genuine cartridge. This is a pretty common issue and you can try to correct it by taking the following steps:

• If you still have your old cartridge with you, do a quick swap and try printing. Often times, the printer will accept it right away and start working and then you can swap it back with the new one. 
• This way, one of two things will happen, your printer will be convinced to print with the new cartridge and you might even find out that there was some ink left in the old one. 
• Check once more, whether you have removed the protective seal from the new cartridge or not. 
• Clean up the entire machine for any ink blockages which might not be allowing the ink to flow smoothly. 

Ugly prints

This is the issue that plagues printer-users across the globe. To correct this issue, check your print driver and ensure that you are using the correct paper and printing the correct media file.

Also, check the toner cartridges with the help of your user manual. And if you are getting smudge marks over your paper, keep printing blank sheets until the marks fade out. 

Clogged Printhead

It happens when you leave your printer for long durations without using it often. The cartridge ink in the printhead dries and causes clogging. This problem may even prompt the “change cartridge” message to pop up on your screen and cause hindrance in printing. 

This can be easily rectified by cleaning the printhead. In order to clean it follow these steps:

• Take a damp paper towel and a dry paper towel. 
• Dab the printhead with the damp towel. Ink should start blotting the paper after dabbing a couple of times. 
• After this, hold the dry paper towel against the printhead for up to a minute. 
• Slide it back in place and try printing again. 
• If you are still not getting any print then try repeating the process. 

If your printhead is built into the machine which uses individual colored cartridges, get on with a full machine cleaning with the help of your user’s manual. 

Let us hope, the next time you face an issue with your beloved printer during an emergency or otherwise, these solutions will help you to find your way out and print your documents perfectly.