Printer says ‘out of paper’ when it isn’t

 tech  No Responses »
Apr 102015
 

While there are many things that can cause print jobs to hang or fail, this is something I’d recommend checking if your computer thinks your printer is offline when the printer itself says, “online.”


Sometimes turn it off and on just isn’t going to get it done.   This is one of those times.


In this particular case, your Windows computer (specifically the printer driver) may think it’s smarter than it is.  The driver uses a network protocol called SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) to ‘talk’ to the printer and determine things like how many paper trays it has, what size paper is installed, and it’s current status.  In theory, this works great.  In practice, it’s sometimes better to turn this feature off in the printer driver and not let the computer worry about what’s going on with the printer.


1. Step 1: Right-click on printer icon

Select properties from the drop-down.

2. Step 2: Left-click the ‘Ports’ tab at the top

3. Step 3: Click the ‘Configure Port’ box

4. Step 4: Uncheck ‘SNMP Status Enabled’

Once you’ve cleared the checkbox, click OK once or twice to exit the dialogue boxes and your Windows computer will once again send print jobs to the printer.  What happens next is up to the printer.