Thread: How to troubleshoot problems that you may experience

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

SUMMARY

This explains how to troubleshoot Microsoft Office printing problems in Windows XP and talk about the following topics:

• 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

INTRODUCTION

This explains how to troubleshoot problems that you may incident when you attempt to print to a local printer by using Microsoft Office programs in Windows XP.

MORE INFORMATION

This object does not provide in-depth information about how to troubleshoot printing problems over a network, but it does provide many main basic troubleshooting steps that you can use to help diagnose your printing problems. The troubleshooting steps which are explained here also help you check that your network printing problem is not being caused by a local problem.

Check your printer hardware

Several printing problems can be happened by hardware related issues. Before you continue to extra correction techniques, check that the listed below hardware related issues are not causing printing problem:

• Check that printer is attached to a working power source.
• Check that printer is properly attached to printer port. The cable should be seated properly in the proper port on your PC and at the printer.
• Check that printer has paper available or other proper printing media available, and that the paper is not jamming the printer.
• Check that printer has sufficient supply of ink or toner to work properly.
• If printer has an online-offline setting or an online-offline button, check that printer is online.
• Reset your printer by switch off it and then switch it on back after 5 to 10 seconds. Several printing problems can be result of a full printer buffer.
• Check that you followed all the installation commands that were provided by your printer company.
• If printer documentation adds any troubleshooting steps, follow those steps.
• If you can, do a self-test on the printer. These "self-diagnostic" tools can frequently resolve or diagnose basic problems with your hardware. The technique for doing a self-test is different for every printer.
• If another PC is available, check that printer works properly when it is attached to another PC. If your printer does not work properly when it is attached to other PC, your printer may be harmed and may require servicing.

Wrong printer property settings can cause the problems given below:

• Poor output
• Incomplete output

Additionally, wrong printer property settings can cause your printer not to print at all. Check that printer property settings are configured as suggested by your printer manufacturer.

To view the printer property settings, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the printer that you would like to view, and then click Properties.
3. Check that all your printer properties are configured as suggested by your printer manufacturer.

To print a test page, you should have print permissions. You can also print a test page when you first install a printer. To print a test page, follow these steps:

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.

Test page did not print properly; you should take help to solve this problem. If test page can not be printed or if you can not print in several or all your windows programs, you have any one of the following problems:

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

Test the printer driver

To check the printer driver, test if you can print from WordPad or Notepad.
To print from WordPad or Notepad, follow these steps:

1. Restart your PC.
2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Notepad or click WordPad.
3. Type some text, and try to print the text.
To install a printer driver, follow these steps:
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 latest 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 any one method given below:
o Click the proper printer company and printer model if the new or the updated driver is on the list.
o Click Have Disk if the printer driver is not added in the list, or if you have received a new or an updated driver on CD or disk from the printer company. Type the path where the driver is situated, and then click OK.
5. Click Next, and then follow the commands that shows on the screen to end installing the printer driver.

1. Uninstall and then reinstall the printer driver. To replace a harmed printer driver, follow steps given below:
a. Close all running Windows programs.
b. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
c. Right-click your default printer, and then click Delete. If you are prompted to remove extra files that are left on the PC, click Yes.
d. Double-click Add Printer, and then follow commands that show on the screen to reinstall printer driver.

2. Verify the available space on the hard disk.
Print at a command prompt
When you print at a command prompt, it checks the connection between your PC and printer. This process is separated into two sections, depending on printer type: PostScript or non-PostScript. For either process, you should know the printer port where your printer is attached.

To resolve the port where your printer is attached, follow these steps:
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 attached to.
To print at a command prompt by using a PostScript printer, follow the steps given below:
1. Click Start, click All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
2. If printer is attached to the LPT1 port, type copy con lpt1 at the command prompt. If printer is attached 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.
If your printer ejects a sheet of paper, the connection between your PC and printer is okay. If you cannot print at the command prompt, see the "Start Windows in Selective Startup Mode" section.

To print at a command prompt by using a non-PostScript printer, follow the steps given below:

1. Click Start, click More Programs, 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 attached to a port other than the LPT1 port, replace lpt1 with the correct port. After you type the line, it shows as echo hello ^L > lpt1.
3. Press ENTER.
If your printer prints a page that has a listing, the connection between your PC and printer is okay. If you cannot print at the command prompt, see the "Start Windows in Selective Startup Mode" section.

Test the fonts

An injured font may be the cause of the printing problems that you are experiencing. The following section will help you troubleshoot font problems.
Print a font sample
The text can be shown on screen and in print by using fonts. They have styles like as italic, bold, and bold italic. If certain font is causing a problem
While printing then try to print a font sample.

To print a font sample, follow these steps:
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
If problems are related to font, turn on Print TrueType as Graphics characteristic if printer supported to it, and check if your problem is solved.

To print TrueType fonts as graphics, follow these steps.
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.
5. Click Enabled.
Decrease your printer resolution
You get printing issues, if printer is orgnized to print at a high resolution. To determine if this is the cause of your printing problem, decrease your printer resolution, and then test to determine if your problem is resolved.

To decrease your printer resolution, follow the steps given below:
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.

If there is enough disk space but still there is problem in printing, attempt to change the spooler settings. When you print any information is generally written to your hard disk then sent to the printer. This technique is known as print spooling. With print spooling programs can be used while document prints. Print spooling is generally faster than printing directly to printer. Though, if you are low on disk space, turning off print spooling might increase printing speed.

To check or change your spooler settings, follow the steps given below:
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 shows.
3. If any documents show 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.
o If the Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster option is selected, print spooling is turned on.
o 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.
o If you are printing to a network printer, you might not be able to modify spooler settings.
o For some printers, the printing speed can be much slower when it prints graphics than when it prints text.
Look for resource conflicts
Your printer hardware should be organized so that it does not clash with other hardware that is installed.
To look for resource clash, follow the steps given below:
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 proper port for your printer, and then click Properties.
5. Click the Resources tab, and then check that there are no clash listed in the Conflicting device list.
Start Windows in Selective Startup mode
For device drivers or memory-resident programs that interfere witn print function of program which you are using, run in Windows mode and check test printing to file in that program.
To start Windows in Selective Startup mode, follow these steps:
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.
3. Click OK, and then click Restart to restart your PC.