Printer not working — what to try first
Printers are the most-reported fault in every venue we look after, and a good half of them are fixed by three or four things you can do yourself in under five minutes. Here they are, in the order worth trying — plus the ones to stop and call us about.
On this page
On this page
Almost every printer fault falls into one of four buckets: it's offline, it's got a queue jammed with old jobs, it's out of something, or the computer is talking to the wrong printer. None of those need us — and working through them takes less time than writing the support request does.
The five-minute version
- Check the printer itself — powered on, no error light, no flashing panel, paper in the tray, no jam, lid closed properly.
- Check you're sending to the right printer. Venues have several, and Windows loves picking a different default.
- Clear the queue. One stuck job blocks everything behind it, including the job you just sent.
- Turn the printer off, wait 15 seconds, turn it on. Then restart the computer if it's still not going.
- Find out whether anyone else can print to it. That one answer tells us whether it's the printer or the PC.
01 — Narrow it downWhich printer, and is it just you?
Two questions before anything else. They take thirty seconds and they halve the problem.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which printer, exactly? | "The printer" could be reception, admin, the bistro till, the kitchen, the motel office, a label printer or the membership card printer. Name it the way your staff name it, and note any label on the front. |
| Can anyone else print to it? | If a colleague can, the printer is fine and it's something on your computer. If nobody can, it's the printer or its connection. This single answer changes what we do entirely. |
| Can you print to a different printer? | If yes, your computer is fine. If no, it's your computer, not the printer. |
| Did it ever work from here? | "It's never printed from this machine" is a setup job. "It worked yesterday" is a fault. Very different jobs. |
02 — Work through itThe five-minute run-through
Look at the printer, physically
Powered on at the wall and at the printer. Any orange or red light, any message on the little screen — read it and note it down. Paper in the tray. No jammed sheet. All doors, lids and trays fully closed; a tray not quite pushed home is a classic.
Check for a paper jam properly
Open it up and look. A torn scrap left behind after someone cleared a jam will stop it again immediately. Pull paper gently in the direction it was travelling, never backwards, and never yank.
Check you've selected the right printer
In the print dialog, look at the printer name before you hit print. If there are two entries with similar names — one might be a copy Windows created — try the other one.
Clear the queue
Open the printer's queue from the taskbar or Settings, and cancel everything in it — including the six copies someone sent this morning in frustration. A single failed job at the front blocks the whole line.
Power-cycle the printer
Off at the printer's own switch, wait fifteen seconds, back on. Give it a minute to warm up and settle before you try again. For a network printer, this is genuinely the most effective single step.
Restart the computer
A proper restart, not just a screen lock or sleep. This clears most of what remains.
Try one test page
One. If it works, great. If it doesn't, don't send another twelve — that just fills the queue for whoever fixes it next. Log it with what you tried.
Even if none of it worked, you've just eliminated the four most likely causes — and telling us that in the request means we skip straight past them. "Power cycled the printer, cleared the queue, restarted the PC, still shows offline, nobody else can print either" is a report we can act on immediately.
03 — The usual suspect"Offline" — the most common one
An offline printer that's plainly switched on and happy is the fault we see most. It means the computer has stopped being able to reach it — not that the printer is broken.
- Power-cycle the printer first. It usually comes straight back.
- Check the network cable is seated at the printer end — a firm push until it clicks. If it's a Wi-Fi printer, check its screen still shows it connected.
- Look for "Use Printer Offline" being ticked in the printer's menu on the computer. Windows sometimes sets this itself after a failed job and then never unsets it.
- If several printers went offline at once, it's almost certainly not the printers — that's a network or server issue. Stop here and tell us, mentioning that it's more than one.
- Don't remove and re-add the printer, and don't install a driver you've downloaded. On a venue network, printers are usually set up centrally, and a hand-installed copy causes a longer, more confusing fault than the one you started with.
04 — OutputIt prints, but badly
| What you see | Usually |
|---|---|
| Faded or streaky | Toner or ink getting low, or a cartridge needing a firm reseat. Note the exact cartridge name from the printer's screen when you report it so we order the right one. |
| Lines or smudges down every page | Something on the drum or rollers. Worth reporting rather than living with — it gets worse. |
| Blank pages coming out | Out of toner, protective tape still on a new cartridge, or the wrong document sent. |
| Wrong size or cut off | The document is set to a different paper size, or the wrong tray is selected. Check the print dialog before assuming it's the printer. |
| Gibberish characters | Driver problem. Cancel everything in the queue and tell us — don't keep retrying. |
| Prints very slowly | Often a huge file or a heavy photo rather than the printer. Try a plain one-page document to compare. |
| Double-sided when you didn't want it | A default setting on the printer or in the document. Ask us to change the default if it's the wrong way round for how you work. |
05 — Not all printersTills, kitchen, label and card printers
The office printer is the easy one. The others behave differently and are worth treating with a bit more care.
Till and kitchen docket printers
These sit on the venue network alongside the POS, so a docket printer that's stopped is often a network or POS issue rather than a printer one. Worth checking: is the printer powered and has it got a roll in, is the lid clicked shut, and are the other tills printing? If dockets have stopped at more than one station, don't work through them one at a time — that's an upstream fault. Same if orders stop reaching the kitchen entirely: report it as a POS problem, and mention every station affected. Our internet and tills guide covers that side.
Label printers
Usually plugged into one specific computer by USB. If it's stopped, check the cable at both ends, then power-cycle the printer, then restart that computer. Labels loaded the wrong way round or a roll that's run out mid-job are common. Don't move a label printer between computers — it'll need setting up again.
Membership card printers
These are the fussiest thing in the building and the most expensive to get wrong. Check there are blank cards loaded and the hopper is seated, then power-cycle it. Beyond that, please stop and call us — card printers have consumables and calibration that are easy to waste, and a jam cleared roughly can damage the print head. Note the exact message on its display before you ring.
Third-party and supplier equipment
Some printers belong to a system that isn't ours — delivery-platform tablets, gaming or membership systems, TAB and keno equipment. We'll happily help work out what's going on, but the fix may need their support team, and sometimes we don't have the access to do it ourselves. Tell us which system it's attached to and we'll tell you who needs to be involved.
06 — EscalateWhen to stop and call us
- Several printers or several tills are affected at once
- Dockets have stopped reaching the kitchen — that's service, ring us
- The card printer needs anything beyond cards and a restart
- It's never printed from that computer — that's a setup, not a fault
- Scanning to email or to a folder has stopped — that's usually a server or mail issue, not the printer
- You'd have to install something to go further. Stop there.
- Anything smells hot, or there's smoke. Switch it off at the wall and ring immediately.
When you do log it, include what you tried and the answers to those two narrowing questions. Our guide to reporting a fault has the full list, but for printers: which printer, what it says, can anyone else print, what you've already done.
07 — QuestionsQuick answers
Should we keep spare toner?
Yes — one spare for each printer you'd be stuck without, especially reception and the card printer. Ask us for the exact part numbers so you're not guessing, and tell us when you use a spare so we can replace it before you need it.
Can we buy cheaper generic cartridges?
You can, and for a low-volume office printer it's often fine. On anything doing high volume, or anything that produces something a member sees — cards, tickets — the failure rate and print quality aren't usually worth the saving. Ask us before you switch a critical printer.
Nobody can print and the internet is fine. How?
Perfectly possible — printers on a venue network are often shared from a server, so the print service can stop while your internet keeps working. That one's ours. Tell us "nobody can print to anything" and we'll go straight to the right place.
Can I move a printer to a different desk?
Ask us first. Moving it may put it on a different network point or out of range, and network printers often have a fixed address tied to where they are. It's usually easy — it's just not always as easy as carrying it.
How long should a printer last?
Depends entirely on volume. If you're calling us about the same printer every few weeks and it's had a hard life behind a bar, we'll tell you honestly when replacing is cheaper than repairing. We'd rather say that than keep charging you to nurse it along.
08 — Print thisStick it on the printer
Print it now, while the printer's working. Tape it to the side of the machine or inside the office door.
Printer not working? — try this first
Cyberry Know-How · cyberry.com.au/know-how
Work through in order
- Printer on? Any error light or message?
- Paper in the tray, tray pushed fully home
- No jam — check inside for torn scraps
- All lids and doors properly closed
- Right printer selected in the print box
- Cancel everything in the print queue
- Printer off, 15 seconds, back on
- Restart the computer
- Send ONE test page — not twelve
Then answer these
- Which printer, exactly?
- Can anyone else print to it?
- Can you print to a different one?
- Did it ever work from this computer?
- What exactly does it say?
Stop and ring us
- Several printers or tills at once
- Kitchen dockets have stopped
- Membership card printer
- Anything hot or smoking — off at the wall
Last reviewed 25 July 2026. Everything on this page is safe for any staff member to do. If a step needs software installed, a driver downloaded or a network cable moved, that's ours — stop and log it.
Tried it all?
Send it to us with what you've done.
Half of these we can fix remotely in minutes — especially when the request already tells us what's been ruled out.