Computer won’t connect to the printer? Where to look first

The printer worked last week. Now Windows says it is offline, or the Mac cannot find it, or the job sits in the queue forever. This is one of the most common calls we take, and most of the time nothing is broken: the computer and the printer have simply stopped agreeing about where the other one is. Here is how to tell whether the printer or the computer is at fault, and what to try before you call anyone.

First: is it the printer, or the computer?

One quick test sorts this out, and it is the first thing we would do if we came out.

• Print something from a different device. A phone on the same Wi-Fi, a tablet, another computer in the house. If that prints, the printer is fine and the problem is on the computer that cannot see it.
• Print the printer’s own test page from its buttons or screen (usually under a Settings or Maintenance menu). If the printer cannot print its own page, it is a printer problem: jam, empty cartridge, a hardware fault, or it has dropped off the network entirely.
• Look at the printer’s screen or lights. A Wi-Fi icon with a line through it, or a blinking network light, means it is not on your network at all, and no amount of fiddling with the computer will fix that.

The usual culprits on Windows

• The printer got a new address. Routers hand out addresses, and after a power outage or a new router the printer may have a different one. Windows is still looking at the old address, so it says “offline”. Removing the printer and adding it again fixes this.
• A stale copy. If you see “HP OfficeJet (Copy 1)” or two of the same printer, Windows has been sending jobs to a dead entry. Set the right one as default, or delete all of them and add it fresh.
• A stuck print queue. One bad job can block everything behind it. Open the queue, cancel all documents, and restart the computer.
• A Windows update replaced the driver with a generic one, and some features or the whole printer stopped working. Reinstalling the maker’s driver usually sorts it.
• The computer is on the wrong network. A guest network, a neighbor’s Wi-Fi, or a phone hotspot that the laptop joined on its own. The printer and the computer must be on the same network.

The usual culprits on a Mac

• A macOS update removed the printer or its driver. Open System Settings, Printers & Scanners, remove the printer, and add it again. Most modern printers show up as AirPrint and need no download.
• Same-network trouble, exactly as above. A Mac on the 5 GHz network and a printer that only speaks 2.4 GHz can see each other fine on most routers, but not on all of them.
• A printer that works for a while after each re-add and then disappears again is the printer losing its network connection, not the Mac. That is a printer or router setting.

What to try, in order

• Turn the printer off, wait a minute, turn it on. Do the same with the router if the printer is wireless. Restart the computer.
• Confirm the printer and the computer are on the same Wi-Fi name.
• Remove the printer from the computer and add it again. On Windows that is Settings, Bluetooth & devices, Printers & scanners. On a Mac it is Printers & Scanners.
• If it is a USB printer, try a different cable and a different port. Printer USB cables fail more than people expect.
• If none of that works and the printer prints from a phone, the computer is the problem. If it prints from nothing, the printer is.

What we do about it

A printer is only really fixed where it lives, on your Wi-Fi, next to your computers, so we handle printers as an on-site visit: a flat $149, quoted in the booking flow before you commit, and we set up every computer in the house to see it before we leave. If the printer itself is done for, we say so, help you pick a replacement that will not bleed you on ink, and set the new one up at the same visit.

If the printer is fine and the trouble is on one computer, you do not need a visit. Bring the computer to the shop for the flat $60 look, or book a remote session, $120 flat ($90 for members), where you watch us fix it on your screen. Either way you get the real price first. Walk in Monday through Thursday, 9:00 to 5:30, or Friday by appointment, at 746 S Arnold St Suite 3, the black door with our logo on it, straight ahead when you pull in, up the steps. Every price we charge is on our prices page.