Troubleshooting Printing Problems

Occasionally when you print a document, the document fails to appear at the printer. Here's how to correct the problem.

Problem: "Network host is unreachable"
Problem: You See A Message Asking To Continue Printing
Problem: Your Document Doesn't Appear at the Printer (With No Error Message)
Window is Empty
Jobs Stopped
Processing...
Network Host is Busy
Hold
How To: Cancel the Print Job
How To: Resume Printing

Problem: "Network host is unreachable"

Sometimes when you try to print, you will see a dialog box like the one below. You should click Stop Job. This dialog box means that your computer cannot find the printer on the network, so you must stop printing for a moment and try to solve the connection problem.

• If you are working on a laptop, make sure your Airport icon shows 3 or 4 black bars. If it does not, you need to reset your Airport connection (see Check Your Airport Connection in Starting Up). If you are working on a desktop that connects to the network via an Ethernet wire, make sure the wire is connected tightly.(The wire connects to the computer via an endpiece that looks similar to a phone jack.)
• If you need additional help, send email to Tech Help or call x305.

Problem: You See A Message Asking To Continue Printing

If you see a message asking to continue printing, click Continue. Your document will print normally. This message indicates that a previous print job was stopped.

Problem: Your Document Doesn't Appear at the Printer (With No Error Message)...

When you print, a small icon representing your printer appears on the Dock. Click the printer icon once.

(If you do not see a printer icon, navigate to Applications > Utilities, and double-click Printer Setup Utility to open the printer window.)

A window opens...

Window is Empty

• If the window is empty, then your job printed. Most likely someone inadvertentlly took your job from the printer. Try printing again. If that doesn't work, write or call the Tech Department for additional help.

Jobs Stopped

• If the message says "Jobs Stopped" or other similar messages, you should take steps to fix the problem. Then try to print again. (If you see a message asking you to continue printing, click the Continue button.)

Processing...

• If the message says "...processing...", your document is printing, so please be patient.

Network Host is Busy...

• If the message says "Network host is busy..." you should first cancel your print job. Then take steps to fix the problem.
  

Hold

• If you look at the bottom of window and see documents marked "Hold", you should take steps to fix the problem. Then resume printing.

How To: Cancel the Print Job

If you want to cancel a print job....

1. If you see a small printer icon on your Dock, click it once to open the printer window. If you do not see a printer icon, navigate to Applications > Utilities, and double-click Printer Setup Utility to open the printer window.
2. Within the printer window, you should see one or more documents listed. (If you see no documents, the document has already printed.) Click the document name you want to cancel.
3. Click the Delete button. (Note that Delete does not delete the document itself; it merely cancels printing.)
4. Repeat as necessary for each additional document to cancel.
5. If you are troubleshooting a problem, stop here and fix the problem. When the problem is fixed, you can start printing again. If you are not troubleshooting a problem, complete the next step.
6. Click Start Jobs to reset the printer queue.

How To: Resume Printing

1. If you see a small printer icon on your Dock, click it once to open the printer window. If you do not see a printer icon, navigate to Applications > Utilities, and double-click Printer Setup Utility to open the printer window.
2. Within the printer window, you should see one or more documents listed. (If you see no documents, the document has already printed.)
3. If your documents are marked "Hold", click the first document.
4. Then click the Resume button to print the document. (Alternatively, you can click Delete to cancel printing. Note that Deletedoes not delete the document itself; it merely cancels printing.)
5. Repeat as necessary for each additional document to resume.
   

Troubleshooting Steps

• If you are working on a laptop, make sure your Airport icon shows 3 or 4 black bars. If it does not, you need to reset your Airport connection (see Check Your Airport Connection in Starting Up). If you are working on a desktop that connects to the network via an Ethernet wire, make sure the wire is connected tightly.(The wire connects to the computer via an endpiece that looks similar to a phone jack.)
• Make sure the printer has paper.
• Make sure the printer displays Online on its status panel (LED). If it says Offline, press the large button hear the display once. The printer should return to Online status.
• Make sure the printer is free of jams. (Middle School students should ask for help from their teachers with this step. Upper School students and faculty should be careful when clearing jams; if you tear the paper you are attempting to remove, we may need to call outside service to dismantle the printer to find the torn piece!)
• If you need additional help, send email to Tech Help or call x305.