Why is the printer printing blank sheets and what should I do?

Printer owners are sometimes faced with the fact that their technique begins to print blank sheets instead of text. There can be many reasons for this: from technical malfunctions to software failures. In our review, we will look at the main ones and tell you what needs to be done in this situation.

All the reasons why the printer starts printing blank sheets can be roughly divided into several groups.

1. Wrong paper selection. In this case, check the default print format in the device settings. If paper of a different size than the one specified in the machine settings is placed in the tray, the machine will not print text.
2. Causes of malfunction may be technical... These include malfunctions of the print head and cartridge, as well as the failure of some components of the device or their clogging.
3. Most often, blank sheets appear if ink cartridge has run out. In this case, you should refuel it as soon as possible, if it belongs to the refillable group, or replace it.
4. If the printer has not been used for a long time, it is possible drying ink inside the print head nozzle... If this happens, you will need to soak the cartridge or rinse it.

Inattentiveness of the user can cause the ink in the print head to dry out completely.... For example, if during the operation of the device, the power supply was unexpectedly turned off, then the carriage may not find its parking space and stop in some other part of the device. In this case, air acts on the ink located in the nozzles of the print head for a long time and dries them. After the paint is completely dry, it will begin to clog the capillaries.

In the event of such an unforeseen situation, very it is important to inspect the carriage and, if necessary, wrap it with a gauze cloth moistened with water for injection (saline is not suitable in this case). This napkin should be lightly "run over" by the carriage, while the thickness of the cloth should be sufficient for the print head to come into contact with it. These measures will prevent the ink from drying out, and after the electricity supply resumes - just remove the napkin, plug the cable into an outlet, and then start the printer itself and wait for it to perform self-diagnostics and park the head in place.

Blank sheets can come out and when the document is formatted incorrectly in a graphic or text editor - it happens that they already have skipped pages in advance. To avoid problems before activating the printer, you must select the preview function in the file menu - in the window that opens, each user can preview the printed materials. If you find blank pages, you need to delete them.

Incorrect settings are also a common cause of white sheets. The fact is that the vast majority of modern printers are connected to a stationary or laptop computer via a USB port.However, there are software failures, and then the previously specified settings simply "fly off", and the device either produces white sheets, or stands and does not respond to commands, although the print program window displays information that printing is in progress.

Some interruptions in the communication between the computer and the printer may cause flown drivers... If this happens, you need to update the printer software by removing the old one first.

Common user mistakes also contribute to the appearance of white sheets.

1. If you replaced the cartridge yourself and forgot to remove the protective film from it, it will prevent ink from getting on the paper. Because of this, the cartridge is not recognized by the system. To fix this problem, you just need to remove the cartridge and remove the film.
2. Using unsuitable or poor quality paper. As a rule, the instructions for the printer necessarily state what type of paper it is compatible with - the sheets must have a certain thickness and density.
3. Incompatibility between cartridge and printer. Another common situation - before buying, study the user manual and make sure that both models can work with each other, especially often problems are with inkjet devices.
4. Finally, the reason may be incorrect connection. Any wires tend to fail over time or you could accidentally disconnect the connection during cleaning - in this case, the printer will not start.

If you think the printer is producing white pages due to an incompatibility between the cartridge and the printer, there are certain steps you need to take.

1. Print any test page offline. However, not all printer models have this option. As a rule, this is spelled out in the operating instructions that come with any device.
2. Try restarting your printer. This can be done not only with the on / off button, but also by disconnecting the cable from the network. The same must be done with the computer itself, which is sending the file to print. It is possible that there is a software failure.
3. If the print head is overheated, it needs to be allowed to rest for a couple of hours, during which time it will have time to cool down completely.
4. Try removing the cartridge and then reinserting it. If you see that it is dirty, then gently wipe it with a damp cloth, let it dry completely, and then put it back in place - you should hear a characteristic click. Often these steps are sufficient to get the printer back on line.
5. While the cartridge is drying, you can also clean the inside of the printer itself - perhaps dust, ink marks and some other types of dirt remain on it. This can be done with a special liquid that is sold in an office equipment store.

Most often, print queue failures prevent new files from being sent to print, but sometimes it can also lead to a situation with blank sheets. In order to clean it, you need to follow these steps:

• go to the "Control Panel" (Win + R - control) and select "Devices and Printers";
• right-click on the required printer and select "View print queue";
• click "Clear Queue".

If it still does not clear, then you can try to do it in another way:

• go to the "Services" item (Win + R - services. msc) and start the "Print Manager";
• simultaneously press the Win + R keys and write% windir% \ System32 \ spool \ PRINTERS, after that a folder will open that stores all the temporary files of the print queue - you just have to clear it.

In order to update the printer software, you need to download the drivers. This can be done from the disk that came with the printer, or from the official website of the device manufacturer; before starting work, you should remove the old driver. In general, the sequence of actions for reinstalling the drivers is as follows:

• turn off the device, disconnect the cable from the computer and unplug the cable from the outlet;
• go to the "Control Panel" option, select "Device Manager" from the proposed list;
• several printers will be listed in the pop-up window - select the one you need, then right-click on it and mark the "Delete" item;
• after that, the OS will start installing new drivers, everything is simple here - you just need to follow the instructions of the installation wizard;
• the same action can be performed through the "Device Manager", in this case, in the menu you need to select "Update hardware configuration";
• do not forget to first connect the printer and turn it on, in the pop-up window you will see unknown equipment that appears - right-click on it and click "Install";
• the system will automatically prompt you to select a driver from the disk of a personal computer or download from the Internet.

It so happens that after updating the operating system, the printer stops printing documents from any application. In this situation, you can do the following:

• try to print the document from any alternative application, if available;
• make sure the correct printer is selected by default.

To detect system errors in the operation of the printer, you can use built-in search. To do this, find your printer in the devices, right-click on it and run the "Troubleshooting" item. At the end of the search, the system itself will detect and fix all failures that can be diagnosed.

After that, you should use a special utility from the manufacturer of the equipment. If you did not install it along with the drivers, you can find it yourself on the manufacturer's website.

When the utility completes the diagnostics, select the "Fix errors" item. If the printer continues to spit out sheets and further, then the reason lies in something else, for example, errors may be of a hardware nature.

In this case, you need to remove the cartridge, carefully examine it - it should not show any signs of oxidation, all contacts should be clean and free of rust.

Pay attention to the behavior of the device as a whole. The presence of internal errors can be indicated not only by printing blank sheets - related problems can be:

• the printer turns off spontaneously after printing several sheets;
• LEDs flicker atypically;
• technique copies sheets without stopping;
• letters are superimposed on one another, the text is skewed.

The problem of printing blank sheets often occurs when if the printer is old, and the operating system on the computer is the latest version... In this case, even though the drivers are correctly installed, the system does not work properly. In such a situation, you can try using a special emulator program, which makes it possible to install an older operating system in the current operating system, while the outdated one will function on a so-called virtual machine and will not be able to affect the operation of the main one in any way. Such a program was called VirtualBox, it is freely available on the Internet. After that, you will have to additionally download the distributive of the outdated OS, with which your printer is compatible, and place it on the virtual device.

For information on what to do if the printer prints blank sheets, see the following video.