Printer Problems and How to Fix Them

With many of us working from home, we often find ourselves struggling with our printers. Even those in the office sometimes issues. Whether they’re running too slow or just won’t turn on, there are many common problems that arise when using printers.

Getting printers repaired is often more costly than getting a new one, which is why it’s highly recommended for offices to take advantage of managed print services, which saves them time and money.

If you don’t have managed print services, don’t worry, we’re here to help with some easy fixes to common printer problems.

You have the perfect image or document,  you want to print it, simple right? Sometimes, it’s not.

If your document is coming out less than perfect, there could be a few reasons that are causing these printing problems but don’t worry, there are also fixes.

Before we get into the specific printer problems and solutions we have to ask, have you turned it off and on again? Yes, we’re really asking that. Many problems can be solved by this simple trick. If you’re still having issues, however, read on!

1. My prints are coming out warped and blurry
   Print speed doesn’t only refer to how fast the printer spits out pages, it can affect the quality of your prints as well. If the ink is bleeding and the page you’ve printed is warped, the print speed could be too low. This causes an oversaturation of ink making the paper warp and the ink bleed. To fix it try increasing the print speed, which can be done in advanced properties on your computer. On the other hand, if your image is desaturated your print speed could be too high, meaning less ink is landing on the page, so try and lower it.
2. My print quality isn’t good enough
   We often save and send images in lower quality to decrease the file size. If you’re printing out logos etc. and the image is coming out blurry or pixelated, try printing the highest quality of the image you have instead. Though be aware that this could affect the speed of the print! A more common issue with quality can be found with scanning. Higher compression can be used to speed up scanning and create smaller file sizes. But if you want higher quality scanned images you will want to change the scan settings to reflect 
3. Printer Maintenance
   Inkjets face common problems such as nozzles becoming clogged, causing print quality issues, which require regular maintenance. Some printers have a head-cleaning feature built-in, so you can give that a try. This actually requires using ink to clean the nozzles which ends up costing you more, which is why we recommend a managed print service where we provide high-quality laser printers and copiers which are more reliable and cost-effective.
4. There are lines on my printed scanned documents
   If you’re finding that you’re having issues with the quality of printed scanned documents with lines on your scanned documents only, it could be that there is a speck of dirt on your slit glass. This can easily be solved by cleaning the slit glass!
5. Issues with your printer drivers
   Having the wrong drivers installed can impact the quality of your print. There are different print drivers for different purposes, having the latest ones aren’t always the right one for you. We always ensure that we install the most relevant drivers to your printing needs when we install printers. You can do a quick search to find out if the ones you have installed are the most relevant for your printing needs.
6. If all else fails, call an expert
   Sometimes it’s just not possible to fix printer issues yourself, or you might not have the time to spend figuring out what’s wrong. If our clients have issues with their printers, they can call us for support. So if you have a managed print provider, give them a call and see if they can help.

If you don’t have any managed print support, consider us to manage your printing needs. 

Get in touch for your printer needs!

Our team of experts are always on hand to help! Contact Us today