HP printer model troubleshooting

HP printers: LaserJet, OfficeJet and Smart Tank troubleshooting

HP sells laser and inkjet printers that range from home all-in-ones to office machines such as the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw, and the faults owners bring us are mostly the same few: a printer that is offline or will not print, paper jams, double-sided printing that does not work, scanning that fails and print quality problems such as streaks, faded text and wrong colors. The cause is rarely the hardware. It is usually the connection to the computer, a driver, a setting or a consumable that has reached its end.

Start with HP Smart, the app that sets up and manages most current HP printers. It finds the printer on the network, shows the ink or toner level, runs the cleaning and alignment tools and checks for firmware updates. If the app cannot find the printer, print a network configuration page from the control panel and compare the address with the one the computer is using, because a router that has handed out a new address is the commonest reason a printer goes offline. For paper jams, open every door and tray, remove all the paper and look for torn scraps, since a small piece left behind causes the next jam.

For two-sided printing, check the setting in the driver and in the program, and use paper the duplex path can carry. For quality problems, run the printer's own cleaning and test pages before replacing anything, and use cartridges and toner that the printer accepts. Our model pages give the steps for each printer we cover, and HP's own support site has drivers, manuals and diagnostics. Keep the serial number from the label ready when you contact HP.