If you are a Windows XP or Vista user who occasionally has trouble printing a document there are a few simple steps that could help troubleshoot the problem. First we need to qualify the issue.

If you tried to print a document but nothing was printed, check the printer status. Is it out of paper? Is the ink running low?  The status can be checked either by physically walking up to the printer to see if any warning/error lights are blinking or by viewing the status of the print job on your PC.  To view the status of the print job on your PC with Windows XP click on Start > Printers and Faxes. If you are running Vista click on Start > Control Panel > Printers (if you do not see Printers listed, click “Classic View” located at the top left of the screen. ) At the top of the printers screen there is a View menu, click it and make sure “Details” is selected.

You will now see a Status column with information on the printers current status. Common status messages are “Toner Low” or “Out of Paper”, these messages can be alleviated manually. Other status messages are “Ready” or “Offline” – If you see the printer status as Offline, check to make sure the printer is connected properly and powered on. If the printer is turned on yet the status is still “Offline” call our CTN helpdesk for help.

If the status is “Ready” and still nothing has printed check the Documents column. Do you see a number that is greater than zero? If so the printer could be busy printing someone elses document that either includes images or is lengthy. To check on the printer queue simply double click the printer name, a box will appear that will display each item in the queue. If your document is the only one that is listed and it isn’t a large document yet still hasn’t printed try right clicking the document and click Cancel. You can click F5 on your keyboard to refresh the page, does the job disappear? If it does, try printing again.

If it does not disappear after a minute, click on Start > Run and type: cmd and click OK. (If you are running Vista, click Start and in the search bar type: cmd and hit Enter.) When the black box appears type: net stop spooler and hit Enter. It will stop your printing service. Now type: net start spooler and hit Enter. This will start the printing service.  The canceled job should have disappeared, try and print again. If you still can not print, call our CTN helpdesk.