The point of the troubleshoot hardware section is not to make you a computer engineer, so relax. This section is designed to help you determine where a computer problem exists, or more to the point, what is causing the problem. Since we can't begin to cover all the possibilities, let's look at one common one and break it down as the process is similar for other areas of troubleshooting. One issue most of us have had at one time or another is printing. So let's take printing and break the troubleshooting process down so we can identify the culprit, correct it, and get that document printed!!
OK - The scenario is that you simply finished a document at home and hit Print, but nothing is happening. !@$#@%&*#??!@!! What happened!? It was printing fine just the other day! OK, let's regroup. It's time to troubleshoot hardware (potentially, it could be a printer configuration as well)First thing is first, you may have gotten some kind of pop up error that is pointing you in the direction you need to look to fix the problem. If not, then you need to begin checking things, starting with the easiest and most obvious, and working each possibility towards more difficult and less likely causes, but possibilities none the less. Eventually, you'll find the leak and plug the hole!
Where do we start? First, let's check all plugs and cables and make sure the printer is powered up and is cleanly connected to your computer. Seems silly and obvious, but this actually fixes 30-40% of printing problems!
OK, everything was connected, now what? It should be beeping if the paper is jammed, but go ahead and double check so we can take that off the list too.
At this point, if you are not getting any errors on your monitor and the printer is not making a noise, reboot your computer and let's make sure all the settings have been recently refreshed. Same goes for the printer, turn it off for a minute and then back on.
Now that we've restarted both pieces of equipment and checked to ensure all required cabling is attached, hopefully you are back in business.
OK, still not working? Let's dig deeper and peek at the printer settings on the PC. Using your mouse, click on Start and then Printers and Faxes (this is in Windows XP). All of the printers you have installed and available to that computer appear in this window. Is yours there? If so, well we are running out of options, but that is good. We must be getting close to the solution!
Let's reinstall the driver for the printer. If you still have the Install CD, you can run it. Or download the driver from the manufacturer's website. Save it to your Desktop and once the download completes, run the file by 'double clicking' the downloaded driver file.
Reboot your computer and you should be back in business. If problems still persist, go to Ask A Question and we'll be happy to help!