Printer Not Working

[tearinghair]

I too have a printer problem. HP ENVY 6032e, will not print documents or emails. The last time I used it was to scan, which worked fine. I've downloaded HP printer doctor, which sent me a sheet to print which worked though fairly pale. It also seemed to be saying it identified my machine as Scan Only, which it certainly isn't. Have checked that the cartridges are correctly installed. All I get are blank sheets. Any advice, please?

[tearinghair]

It won't scan either now.

[Buenchico]

Blank sheets can be a sign of completely blocked print heads. (Inkjet printers really need to be used every few days to keep the jets clear).

Run the printer's head cleaning utility. (If there's a 'deep clean' one available, use that). Then try printing a test sheet. Don't despair if it doesn't work. Simply run the cleaning utility again. It's sometimes taken me around a dozen deep cleaning cycles before things have started to get back to normal!

If problems persist, uninstall the printer's driver(s), restart your PC and then reinstall the driver(s).

[tearinghair]

Thank you. It's odd, because when I attempted to print an email from the laptop I got a beautifully black heading ('from', 'to' etc) but a complete blank where the message should have been. I tried printing from my phone via the HP smart app and got a very pale version and the 'ink is low' message, which hadn't appeared before. It propbably is low by now, so I've ordered more. But would you advise cleaning the head before or after I change the cartridges?

[Buenchico]

Cleaning the heads uses some ink. I'd advise using up what's left of the old stuff before starting on the new inks.

[Buenchico]

PS: If you're using webmail to view your emails on your (rather than using a dedicated client, such as Outlook, Thunderbird or the Windows Mail app), a common error is to simply press Ctrl and P to print it out (or to otherwise invoke the print function directly). That prints out the web page that contains the email but, because of the way that such pages are coded, doesn't print out the email itself. So a user will end just up with a lot of blank space where the body of the email should have been.

In order to get the email to print out correctly, it's necessary to look for the printer icon within the web page itself and then to click on it. That then opens the email in a printable form, from where Ctrl + P (or File > Print, or whatever) can then be used to print it.

[tearinghair]

I've been using the 'more'and 'print email' commands in webmail, it's always been OK before. Thanks for your advice about head cleaning but I'm a bit scared, never done it before.

[mjwman]

Have a call o0r online chat from the HP web site. They are always very quick ad very helpful. If necessary they can take over your computer to fix things while you watch

[tearinghair]

Thanks for your advice. I haven't quite succeeded in cleaning the printer head - got halfway, following the online video, but then the HP set-up deviated from the video and didn't complete. But I have managed to print reasonably well after installing new cartridges, so will have another go at the setup tomorrow.

[Buenchico]

Different makes of printers, and different models of the same makes, can have different ways of accessing the utility to clean the print heads. However, to the best of my knowledge, the following technique is a universal one that works with ALL makes and models when you're using Windows 10:

Click the following, in order:

Start > Settings > Devices > Printers and scanners.

Then click on your printer model, followed by 'Manage'.

Next, click 'Printer Properties', followed by the 'Maintenance' tab.

You should then see various options available to you, probably including 'Cleaning', 'Deep cleaning' and 'Nozzle check'. (The actual terms used for your printer model might be slightly different). Use 'Nozzle check' (or 'Test page', if that's what it's called for you) to see just how well things are currently working. Then use the cleaning options to try to improve matters.

[tearinghair]

Thank you Buenchico. Sorry for the delay, I've only just seen your last post.

[murraymints]

when you go to print make sure the printer drop down is on the appropriate setting and not scan only ..on the print page right by printer options there is a drop down menu..I had the same issue with the same printer..

[tearinghair]

Absolutely right, murraymints, thank you. I wonder if it happened automatically after I'd scanned previously? I'll watch out for that in future.
I'm very grateful for everyone's advice as usual.