Because no two printers are exactly alike,
printing is more a matter of knowing your printer rather than knowing
your computer or Windows. The best I can do here is to provide some
general pointers that apply to most printers. But for specifics on your
printer, the manual that came with the printer, or the main Web page
for the product, will be your best bet.
1. First aid for printing problems
Before you start digging around the computer for solutions to a printing problem, check the most common physical problems:
Make sure that the printer is plugged in and turned on.
If the printer has an Online/Offline switch, make sure that it's online.
Make sure that the printer cable is connected snugly at both the printer and computer ends.
Make sure that the printer has paper.
Make sure that the printer has ink or toner.
Check for, and clear, a paper jam.
If none of the preceding help, take a look at the Help topics for printing, as described next.
2. Document appears to print, but nothing comes out of the printer
You may have selected a printer that produces files (like the Microsoft XPS Document Writer). After you choose File =>
Print to print a document, make sure you choose an appropriate printer
from the Print dialog box. To avoid making the mistake in the printer,
make the printer you use most often the default printer.
3. Problem with a network printer
If your computer is a member of a network and your
printing problems start right after installing or upgrading to Windows
7, the most likely problem is that the firewall has blocked
communication with the printer. You'll need administrative privileges
to unblock the firewall port. Follow these steps on each computer
involved to enable them to share their printers:
Open the Windows Firewall applet from the Control Panel and click the link Allow a Program or Feature through Windows Firewall.
Click
Change Settings, enter a password if prompted, and in the Allowed
Programs and Features list, make sure that File and Printer Sharing is
selected (checked) as shown in Figure 1.
Click OK and close Control Panel.
4. Printer prints garbage
If the printer used to print properly, turn off the
printer. Then, close all open program windows and turn off the computer
(click Start =>
Shut Down). Make sure that there is no paper jam in the printer, turn
the printer back on, and wait a few seconds. Then, restart the computer
normally.
If the trouble persists, delete all documents in the
print queue and repeat the preceding procedure. If it still persists,
consider updating the printer driver.
5. Advanced printing features are disabled
To use all the capabilities of a printer, you need
to make sure that you have the most current printer drivers installed.
Also, make sure that the printer's advanced features are enabled by
following these steps:
Click Start => Devices and Printers to open the Devices and Printers window.
Right-click the icon for the printer, and choose Printing Preferences.
If you see Disabled next to Advanced Printing Features under Document Options, click that word and choose Enabled, as shown in Figure 2.
Click OK in all open dialog boxes.
6. Printed colors don't match screen colors
On some Hewlett Packard and Canon BubbleJet
printers, ICM (Image Color Management) may incorrectly color the
printed page. To fix the problem, go to the Advanced Options and choose
Disable ICM.
7. Error message "Problem communicating with printer"
This error occurs on some Lexmark printers that
connect through a USB port. Getting the latest driver for the printer
should resolve the problem. Optionally, you can turn off the USB hub's
ability to turn off the device as follows:
Right-click the Computer link from the Start menu and choose Manage.
Click the Device Manager link on the left side of the window.
Click the arrow next to Universal Serial Bus controllers in the right pane.
Right-click USB Root Hub and choose Properties.
Click the Power Management tab.
Deselect the Allow the Computer to Turn Off This Device to Save Power check box.
Click OK in the Properties dialog box.
NOTE
If you have multiple USB root hubs, you'll need to repeat steps 4 through 7 for each one.
8. Updating your printer driver
A printer driver that's not specifically
designed for Windows 7 can cause problems ranging from the printer not
printing at all to garbled printer output. Most printer manufacturers
submit updated drivers to Microsoft, so you may be able to update your
printer driver right from Microsoft's Update Web site. You'll need to
sign into a user account that has administrative privileges. Also, make
sure your computer is online. Then open the Windows Update applet from
the Control Panel and check for new updates. If there are no new
updates for the printer, navigate to the printer manufacturer's Web
site and search for a new driver. If you can't find a Windows 7 driver,
you can probably use the Windows Vista version of the driver.
