Print job stays in queue without any status

Question

I've got a Brother DCP-145C scanner/printer connected directly to my Windows XP computer through USB. I've got no problem scanning paper documents to make copies of them, but when I try to print a file from my computer, the print job stays in the queue without having any status. The file doesn't get printed, no matter what file I try to print.

Answer 1

There could be many reasons for this, I would start by making sure the printer is properly installed. Uninstall the driver, reboot and re-install the latest printer driver from the Brother website. If this is a very large print file it could be a resource problem, esp. with XP.

I recommend doing a disk cleanup – empty your temp folder and recycle bin – some software builds the print file in these directories. Next in the printer properties look for the spooling options and set it to "print directly to printer" instead of spool the print jobs.

Can you print anything with that printer, like a text document from notepad with just one word on it, can you print in other software – other apps than what your trying to print?There could also be a program interfering with the printing process, you can test this by going into MSconfig and disabling all your startup items – except for wireless and maybe antivirus. Reboot and try to print. What's changed? Anything new installed, updates?

I use a methodology called "UDAS" for troubleshooting User, Data, Application, System. Think about the issue from each of these four areas and develop test to see if something is causing the problem, like

• User – try a different user account,
• Data – try a different file,
• Application – can you print from a different program, if so than the software is messed up.

This is simple but very effective troubleshooting methodology. Once you get some practice using it and know how to build tests that isolate one variable, you can solve any computer issue.

Also – always do the easiest and most likely solutions first.

Also, attempt to clear the Spool queue. You can do this by removing all of the files located in Windows/System32/Spool/PRINTERS.