Is your printer printing blank pages? It is one of the frustrating issues one can face. You are trying to print out documents, and your printer is printing out blank pages only even after having enough ink. However, fixing the issue is not so complicated. There are a few handful fixes that you can apply and make your printer work.
Why Is My Printer Printing Blank Pages?
If your printer is printing out blank pages, the apparent thought is that your printer might have run out of ink. But even after having enough ink, your printer might print out blank pages.
But there are also a few other reasons why printer prints blank pages but have ink. For instance, you have probably installed your ink cartridge wrong, cartridges dislodged from their proper place, wrong paper size, and so on. It can happen with any printer, including HP, Brother, and Canon.
How To Fix Printer Printing Blank Pages?
Printer printing blank pages after changing ink is an issue that all printers face once in a while. But with these below fixes, you can get rid of the issue right away:
- Perform Basic Checks
- Check Estimated Ink Levels
- Restart Your Printer
- Align The Printer
- Select Skip Blank Page While Printing
- Run Printer Troubleshooter
- Reinstall Printer
Some of these methods may need an administrator account, and you should also handle the printer properly.
1. Perform Basic Checks
Before getting into any complicated fixes, let’s start with basic checks. First, ensure that your printer is placed on a flat surface, as a slight tilt can cause printing issues.
If you have new cartridges, you can replace your old ink cartridges with them to check if your printer is printing blank pages HP. Also, when you are inserting new cartridges, make sure to remove the tape from the cartridge’s head.
If your printer still has printing issues, ensure your old cartridges are not damaged. Also, the thing with HP cartridges is that even if you have enough ink, the cartridge gets damaged.
Additionally, you can ensure that your document has the correct paper size, orientation, layout, and other printing settings.
2. Check Estimated Ink Levels
Before you change your ink cartridges, it would be a good idea to check estimated ink levels. So you can know whether there is a need for cartridge replacement or not.
The method of checking estimated ink levels varies from printer manufacturer to manufacturer. For this tutorial, we will be showing the steps for an HP printer. You can always dig deeper on the internet if you have any other printer.
- Launch HP Printer control panel.
- Select the Ink drop icon or Cartridge icon from the ink levels menu.
- Now you will see your HP printer’s current ink level.
If the ink level has almost reached the bottom, you can replace your ink cartridge to check if your printer is still printing blank pages.
3. Restart Your Printer
It can be a temporary issue, so restarting your printer might fix the issue. However, before restarting, ensure that no document is stuck in the print queue. It can also be the reason why your printer is printing blank pages.
To clear your print queue, follow the below steps:
- Go to Windows settings.
- Click on Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
- Next, click on your Printer name.
- Finally, click on Open print queue.
- If you see any documents, then select all of them and press the delete button to clear the print queue.
Once you clear out the print queue, go ahead and turn off your printer and leave it for a few minutes. After that, turn on your printer and try printing out a document.
4. Align The Printer
If you have replaced your old ink cartridges, it would be good to align your printer to ensure everything is working fine. To align your printer, follow the below steps:
- First, turn on your printer and load some pages into its tray.
- Then launch HP Solution Center.
- Go to Settings > Print Settings.
- Select Printer Toolbox.
- Over here, click on Align the print cartridges under Devices services.
- Click on Align and follow the onscreen steps.
If you have a different printer, check with support on how to check and align your printer.
5. Select Skip Blank Page While Printing
You can try forcing your Printer to stop printing blank pages by skipping blank page printing. Once turned on from the setting will prevent you from printing out any blank pages in your document. To do so, follow the below steps:
- Go to Windows Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
- Click on your Printer > Printer Preferences.
- Over, turn on Skip blank pages while printing.
- Once done, try printing out a document and see if you still face the same issue.
6. Run Printer Troubleshooter
Next, you can try running the printer troubleshooter. It might be able to fix the issue. Even if not that, it will help with some clues you can search further on the internet.
To run the printer troubleshooter, follow the below steps:
- Go to Windows Settings (Win + I) > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
- Click on your Printer Name.
- Finally, click on the Run button to start Printer Troubleshooter.
- Now let Windows fix the problem and see if it helps you with a fix or a clue to research further.
7. Reinstall the Printer
If, in the end, nothing works out for you, you can consider reinstalling your Printer. To reinstall the Printer, follow the below steps:
- First, go to Windows Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
- Click on your Printer> Remove button to uninstall the Printer.
- After removing the Printer, restart the PC
- Connect the printer with the PC, and come back to Printers & scanners window and click on Add device.
- Now windows will scan your computer and install the Printer by itself.
While Windows sometimes installs the Printer driver, since it is optional, it’s best to download and install the driver from your Printer’s manufacturer’s website.
Conclusion
So those were a few quick fixes for the printer printing blank pages. If your printer is still printing blank pages, I suggest you contact customer support for further help, as there might be some hardware issue.
How Can You Tell if a Printhead Is Clogged?
If your printer’s printhead is clogged, then your printer will only tell you about it. You might see a message on your computer screen or the printer’s LCD screen. Also, if your printer printhead is clogged, your prints will be blurry or faded.
How Do You Unclog a Print Nozzle?
The most thorough method involves soaking the printheads in ammonia and water for several hours. After that, run the heads under warm tap water to clean them.
