How to troubleshoot problems that you may experience when you try to print to a local printer by using Office programs in Windows XP

• How to troubleshoot your printer hardware
• How to troubleshoot your printer driver
• How to troubleshoot printing in Windows XP
• How to troubleshoot program printing
• How to troubleshoot in Selective Startup mode

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Check your printer hardware

• Verify that your printer is connected to a working power source.
• Verify that your printer is correctly connected to your printer port. The cable must be seated correctly in the appropriate port on your computer and at the printer.
• Verify that your printer has paper available (or other appropriate printing media available), and that the paper is not jamming the printer.
• Verify that your printer contains a sufficient supply of ink or toner to work correctly.
• If your printer has an online-offline setting or an online-offline button, verify that your printer is online.
• Reset your printer by turning it off and then turning it back on after 5 to 10 seconds. Many printing problems can be the result of a full printer buffer.
• Verify that you followed all the installation instructions that were provided by your printer manufacturer.
• If your printer documentation includes any troubleshooting steps, follow those steps.
• If you can, perform a self-test on the printer. These "self-diagnostic" tools can frequently resolve or diagnose basic problems with your hardware. The method for performing a self-test is different for each printer. For instructions about how to perform a self-test, see your printer documentation.
  
  Note If the self-test does not work, your printer may be damaged or it may require servicing. Contact your printer manufacturer for more assistance.
• If another computer is available, verify that your printer works correctly when it is connected to another computer. If your printer does not work correctly when it is connected to another computer, your printer may be damaged and may require servicing.

Verify printer properties

• Poor output
• Incomplete output

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the printer that you want to view, and then click Properties.
3. Verify that all your printer properties are configured as recommended by your printer manufacturer.
   
   To do this, view the documentation that is included with your printer or contact your printer manufacturer.

Print a test page

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the printer that you want to test, and then click Properties.
3. On the General tab, click Print Test Page.
4. Click OK if the test page prints correctly.

• A printer driver problem
• A Windows problem
• A hardware problem
• A connectivity problem

Test the printer driver

1. Restart your computer.
2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Notepad or click WordPad.
3. Type some text, and then try to print the text.

• If you are using a PostScript printer, load the Apple LaserWriter NT driver. This is a basic PostScript driver. The Apple LaserWriter NT driver can show you if the problem is related to the particular PostScript Printer Description (PPD) file for the printer.
• If the printer is not a PostScript printer, load the Generic/Text Only printer driver. This is a basic printer driver. The Generic/Text Only printer driver can show you if the basic printing stack is working correctly.
• If you are using a plotter, load the Hewlett-Packard HP-GL/2 plotter driver. For more information about the plotter driver, visit the following Hewlett-Packard (HP) Web site:
  http://www.hp.com

  (http://www.hp.com)
  Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the printer that you want to change drivers for, and then click Properties.
3. To install a new or an updated version of the printer driver by using the Add Printer Driver Wizard, click New Driver on the Advanced tab.
4. Click Next, and then use one of the following methods:
   • Click the appropriate printer manufacturer and printer model if the new or the updated driver is on the list.
   • Click Have Disk if the printer driver is not included in the list, or if you have received a new or an updated driver on CD or disk from the printer manufacturer. Type the path where the driver is located, and then click OK.
5. Click Next, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen to finish installing the printer driver.

Check the printing stack

1. Remove and then reinstall the printer driver. To replace a damaged printer driver, follow these steps:
   1. Quit all the Windows programs that are running.
   2. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
   3. Right-click your default printer, and then click Delete. If you are prompted to remove extra files that are left on the computer, click Yes.
   4. Double-click Add Printer, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen to reinstall your printer driver.
      
      Note If you are on a network, you may have to install the correct printer driver from a network printer share. Contact your network administrator for instructions.
      
      If you are using a service pack, reinstall the service pack after you reinstall the printers.
2. Check the available space on the hard disk.

Print at a command prompt

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Click the icon that represents the printer that you want to use, click the File menu, and then click Properties.
3. On the Ports tab, look in the Print to the following port area, and then make a note of the port that your printer is connected to.

1. Click Start, click All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
2. If your printer is connected to the LPT1 port, type copy con lpt1 at the command prompt. If your printer is connected to a port other than the LPT1 port, replace lpt1 with the correct port.
3. Press ENTER.
4. At the command prompt, type showpage, and then press ENTER.
5. Press CTRL+Z, and then press ENTER.

1. Click Start, click More Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
2. At the command prompt, type echo hello, press CTRL+L, and then type dir > lpt1. If your printer is connected to a port other than the LPT1 port, replace lpt1 with the correct port. After you type the line, it appears as echo hello ^L > lpt1.
3. Press ENTER.

Test the fonts

Print a font sample

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Fonts.
2. Double-click the font that you want to print.
3. On the sample page, click Print.

Print TrueType fonts as graphics

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the icon for the printer that you are using, and then click Printing Preferences.
3. Click Advanced.
4. Under Document Options, click to select the Print Text as Graphics check box.
   
   Note The Print Text as Graphics check box appears in the Advanced dialog box only if your printer supports this feature.
5. Click Enabled.

Decrease your printer resolution

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the printer that you want to use, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab, and then click Printing Preferences.
4. Click a lower resolution (or dots per inch) for your printer in the Resolution box, and then click OK.
5. Test to determine if your problem is resolved, and if not, return your printer resolution to the original setting.

Check the program

• Print a different, simpler file. Create a new document that contains less information. This test determines if the cause is the program or if the cause is something in the document.
• Check the available disk space on the system drive by seeing if a small print job prints successfully.
• See if you can print from another operating system. If printing succeeds, the problem is related to the output file.

Check memory and disk space

• Quit any other programs that you are running.
• Close all the documents except the one that you are trying to print.
• Quit all the programs that are running, and then restart your computer.
• Make sure that you have sufficient free disk space on your hard disk. It is best to have at least 120 megabytes (MB) of free space.

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the icon of the hard disk where Windows is installed, and then click Properties. The General tab shows the total free space on your hard disk. 1 gigabyte (GB) of space equals 1024 MB.

• Empty the Recycle Bin.
• Use the Disk Cleanup tool to free disk space. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.
  2. In the Drives box, click your hard disk, and then click OK.
  3. In the Files to delete list, select one or more of the options.
  4. You can also click the More Options tab to see other options for freeing disk space.
• Delete any documents or data files that are no longer used, or move them to another location for archiving.
• Use the Add/Remove Programs tool to remove any programs that you do not want. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
  2. Click the program that you want to remove, and then click Change/Remove.
  3. Click Yes to remove the program.

Determine if printing is paused

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click your printer.
3. Click Resume Printing or click Use Printer Online if either option appears on the menu.
4. Try to print again.

Check the printer port

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the printer that you want to use, and then click Properties.
3. On the Ports tab, in the Print to the following ports list, click the correct port.

Verify the shared printer path for a network printer

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the printer that you want to use, and then click Properties.
3. On the General tab, make sure that the correct printer name appears at the top of the page.

Change the spooler settings

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Double-click the printer that you are trying to use. The print queue for that printer appears.
3. If any documents appear in the print queue, click Print, click Cancel All Documents, and then click OK.
4. Right-click the printer that you want to use, and then click Properties.
5. Click the Advanced tab.
   • If the Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster option is selected, print spooling is turned on.
   • If the Print directly to the printer option is selected, print spooling is turned off, and you are printing directly to the printer.
6. Change the setting to see if this speeds up printing. To change the setting, click one of the options that are listed in step 5.
   • If you are printing to a network printer, you might not be able to change your spooler settings.
   • For some printers, the printing speed can be much slower when it prints graphics than when it prints text.

Look for resource conflicts

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.
2. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager.
3. Double-click Ports.
4. Right-click the appropriate port for your printer, and then click Properties.
5. Click the Resources tab, and then verify that there are no conflicts listed in the Conflicting device list.

Start Windows in Selective Startup mode

1. Click Start, click Run, type msconfig in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup, and then click to clear all the subsequent check boxes.
   
   Note You cannot click to clear the Use Original BOOT.INI check box.
3. Click OK, and then click Restart to restart your computer.

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