Most of you might have gone through the trouble of ‘printer is printing blank pages.’ Even I have suffered from it. After that day, I decided to share the solution steps that helped me to get through this bizarre situation.
So, my dear answer hunters, please take a deep breath as you will get all your answers regarding ‘printer printing blank pages in this article. Hence, keep on reading the article to get a stepwise guide on making your printer work like before.
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Why is my printer printing Blank Pages?
Imagine you have brought a printer just a few months back, and suddenly it starts printing blank pages.
Or you are in need of some important printouts, and your printer misbehaves. What will you do?
The answer is really simple. The first thought that we will have if the printer is printing blank pages is- there will be insufficient ink in the cartridge.
Yes, you are correct most of the time. But it is not the only reason that your printer is printing empty papers.
There are several reasons that are playing the role. Here are some of them:
- You might have run out of ink.
- Improper installation of cartridges
- Nozzles have remained congested.
- Printing driver or software issues.
- Your document itself might be having blank pages, and you forgot to skip them while printing.
These are some common causes that happen in the printer. So, we will look at all these situations one by one and read how to solve them.
Checking for empty pages in the printing document!
If you are not sure that your document or the material you are printing consists of a blank page. Or you already know that there are blank pages in the material that you have to print, follow the following steps to skip the blank pages from printing.
These steps will allow you to carry on the process of skipping blank pages.
- Open settings.
- Search for Devices and Printers & Scanners option.
- Open it and then select the name of your printer.
- Click the Manage option.
- Then select the Printing Preferences option.
- Select the option of Skip Blank Page
- Click on OK and save your settings.
After completing these steps, print a sample page again. If still, the printer is printing blank pages, the trouble is something else. Let’s check on it.
Try by restarting your printer!
I mostly prefer this step when my printer misbehaves. All humans have a common mentality that if a machine is not working well, they try restarting it.
And many times, this solution works as well. So, why not try restarting your printer? Here are the steps that I follow while performing this solution:
- Shutting down the printer by pressing the power button and wait for the device to shut down completely.
- Unplug the power cord from the electrical supply and wait for about 3-5 minutes.
- Now, reconnect the power cord and push the power button on the printer to switch it on.
- Conduct a print test and see whether the issue is solved or not.
- If the error prevails, try the next solution.
Ink Cartridges level checking/replacing!
The most common reason behind printer printing blank pages can be insufficient ink left in the ink cartridges.
Hence, here are the steps to check the ink level and replace it if necessary.
- Checking the Ink / Toner level in the cartridge to determine whether it is insufficient and needs a replacement or the matter lies somewhere else.
- If you find that ink cartridge is near about getting empty, you have to replace them with new ones.
- Gently take the ink cartridges out and check whether they are damaged. If you find even a slight fault, replace it with a new one.
- Make sure that cartridges installation is done correctly. If you feel that ink tanks are not in place, remove them again and fix them properly until they lock into their place.
Following these steps will allow you to solve the trouble of empty ink tanks and replacing them. Also, after completing the installation, do not forget to try a print test.
Unclogging the Ink Head by automatic cleaning
If you are utilizing an inkjet printer, there is an option of cleaning the ink head of the printer automatically. You have to select the automatic cycle option from the printer’s control panel.
If that option is not available on the control panel, you can look for it in your computer’s control panel. Go to printer properties and then select the deep cleaning function option.
This process automatically orders your printer to remove excess ink. This discharge of excess ink helps in unclogging the print head. You can also select a simple cleaning option first. But if your printer requires deep cleaning, a simple cycle will not do the needful.
Laser printers are very convenient when replacing toner cartridges. Now there are many toner cartridges with suitable prices for customers to choose from. You can choose different brands of toner cartridges from True Image
Unclogging the Ink Head by manual cleaning
In any case, if the automatic cleaning process fails, here are the manual cleaning steps to follow:
- Pull out the Ink cartridge and uninstall each piece from the slot.
- After removing cartridges, tenderly take out the print head from it.
- Take a cloth, soak it into warm water (not boiling water) and wipe off any dried ink that is visible to you above the ink head.
- Clean the nozzle and ink head till nothing sticks to the cloth.
- Now place the ink head in the warm water for 15 minutes.
- Do not use boiling water. After 15 minutes, remove the ink head from the water.
- If you find that still some ink is stuck inside the ink head and it is clogged, you can soak it into warm water for 2-3 hours or even overnight.
- After removing it from water, put it on a paper towel or dry and clean cloth.
- Let it dry and drain for at least 15 minutes.
- Now install it again in its place after it dries completely.
- Conduct a print test to check whether the printer is still printing blank pages or not.
If still the error is not solved, here is the last solution that might help you in solving this error.
Checking software and drivers
If any of the above explications did not work, you could try this solution as a hope. Else, you have to go to your nearest service station and ask them to help you with the query.
The printing drivers or the software that your computer is having might be outdated. They also require timely updates.
Hence, uninstall the driver and software. Wait for some time and restart your computer, and reinstall the drivers and software.
Wait for the process of downloading and installing to complete and restart your system again. This might surely help to solve your query.
Final Verdict
I would like to conclude this article here as I have included all possible ways to solve the error of ‘printer is printing blank pages.’
If I come across any new solution, I will update it here. If you found this article helpful, keep it as a bookmark and regularly visit to find out if I update any new solution. Stay tuned and happy reading!