How can you jump-start a printer queue?

You’ve sent three word processing documents to a network printer, but instead of printing they’re all sitting in a queue on your Windows XP system. Other people are able to print successfully to the printer. Which of these options might help “jump-start” your printer queue?

A) Restart the Windows XP print spooler

B) Replace the ink or toner in the printer

C) Power cycle the printer

D) Reinstall your word processing software

The answer: A) Restart the Windows XP print spooler

If the Windows XP print spooler has problems, it may require a restart to get things going again. You can restart the spooler from the Services management console in Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services.

The incorrect answers:

B) Replace the ink or toner in the printer
C) Power cycle the printer
We already know that other people are able to print successfully to the printer, so changing the state of the printer won’t help your problem.

D) Reinstall your word processing software
The word processing software appears to be working and putting documents in the print queue, so reinstalling the software won’t help get your print jobs out of the queue.

Want to know more? Watch “Troubleshooting Printers and Scanners.” When the printer or scanner is down, where do you start the troubleshooting process? What tools will you need to solve the problem? In this video, we’ll show you where to start troubleshooting, what tools to bring to the job, and what common problems you can expect to see with printers and scanners.