So your printer stopped working. The printer jobs start to mount up but nothing comes out of the printer. The following guide will help you to get the printer working again.

HAS THE PRINTER STOPPED WORKING

1. Is the printer low on ink/toner?

• First check your printer for unusual lights. Is the power light blinking (proceed to step 2)? If you have lights indicating low ink are they blinking or on solid.
• If you are unsure of how the lights should be or what some of the lights indicate, check your printer manual or search the manufacturers web site for the specific model.
• Very often when inkjet printers get low on ink the printer will stop working.

2. Is there a paper jam?

• Again checks the lights or display.  A blinking power light very often indicates that there is a paper jam.  The smallest piece of paper can stop your printer.
• To clear a paper jam take out the paper from the paper tray and look for small or large pieces of paper.  Open the top cover and look throughout your printer removing any extraneous paper you find.

3. Perhaps windows is having trouble with a print job in the printer queue.

• In XP:  Open the printer queue
  • Start
  • Control Panel
  • Make sure you are in classic view.  In the upper left does it say switch to classic view or switch to category view.  If it says switch to category view you are in the correct mode.  If it says switch to classic view click on that button.
  • Select printers and faxes
  • Double click on the printer you are having problems which will bring up the printer queue
  • Click on the printer menu item and select Cancel Alll Documents
  • Wait a few moments (15 seconds or so) to give the compuer a chance to delete the print jobs and restart your computer (this is not optional)
  • After the computer restart go back into the queue (follow instructions above) and make sure all of the jobs have been deleted
  • If there is even one print job left in the queue proceed to the manually deleting print jobs article
• In Windows 7: Open the printer queue
  • Windows logo/orb (replaced start button)
  • Control Panel
  • Devices and Printers
  • Double click on printer having problems
  • Click on the link that says X document(s) in queue
  • Click on the printer menu item and select Cancel Alll Documents
  • Wait a few moments (15 seconds or so) to give the compuer a chance to delete the print jobs and restart your computer (this is not optional)
  • After the computer restart go back into the queue (follow instructions above) and make sure all of the jobs have been deleted
  • If there is even one print job left in the queue proceed to the manually deleting print jobs article