General printer troubleshooting

• Make sure the printer has power and is on-line. If you are using a manual printer sharing device, make sure the switch is set to activate the correct printer.

• Turn it off and on again to reinitialize any internal settings that may have gone astray.

• Use the printer's own self-test, according to the manufacturer's recommendation. If it fails, you have verified that the problem is within the printer. If the print head is not moving at all, the transport motor may have failed.

• If the printer passes the self-test, try a test print using the Print Screen capability within DOS. If the Print Screen fails, you know the problem is in the relationship between the printer and the computer. Inspect the cable and the cable connections. Replacing the cable with a known good cable is worth trying since cables are so frequently the source of printer problems. Cables can fail with broken wires, loose or broken pins, or incorrect pin-outs.

• The message ``out of paper'' is sometimes erroneously reported when there is plenty of paper, and can indicate a physical problem with the printer.

• If the Print Screen succeeds, the problem may be with your application or its configuration. For example, your application may be set up to direct output to a file instead of the printer, or you might be directing the output to the wrong communications port.

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  WARNING: Some printers differ from computers in that they do not have shielded power supplies. That means that a plugged-in printer can expose you to full outlet power, which is enough to kill you. Never open a printer case unless it is unplugged!

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