My son called me from work, where he was having trouble printing out a checklist of daily tasks. The checklist was 4 pages long, but when he tried to print it, only a half page would print. He kept trying and trying, and every time he tried, the printer printed out the same half page.
I figured it was a software problem, so I told him to check the print settings in the program he was using to try to print the list. He said he did that. I asked whether the print looked faded. Nope. I told him good luck.
He reluctantly called tech support – reluctant, he said, because the technicians always make him feel like an idiot. They asked whether he had checked the toner cartridge. Sure enough, that was it – the printer was low on toner. He changed the toner cartridge, entered the command to print the document, and it printed all four pages!
Although the problem was solved, my son remained perplexed. “Why,” he asked, “would I ever suspect the toner was low when the printer had no problem printing half pages? For all the half pages it printed, it could have printed ten full copies of the document!”
Ahhh, it was finally dawning on him how utterly illogical computers can be.
My printer has its own quirky behaviors. Just the other day I tried to print a document in black and white – no fancy color brochure or anything like that. The printer refused. The error message told me that my printer was out of yellow ink and I had to change the yellow ink cartridge before I could print anything.
If you’ve observed your printer or computer behaving oddly, I’d like to hear about it. Please post your observations here.
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Here’s something weird my computer is doing currently… can’t figure it out. Also only printing half pages…
Printing Xmas letter on patterned paper. My printer is only printing half the page! New ink cartridges. Kodak ESP-Aio Printer… it’s only printing half the page (vertically) on the patterned side of the paper, but if I flip the paper over then it prints the full page (no errors) on the back/plain white side of the paper. It is the craziest thing ever! When it prints half the page on the front, it only prints the left half… on the right half, it prints out weird gray boxes every so often. Any ideas what could be wrong??!
Hi, Melissa–
Go to Kodak’s Website, click Help Center, enter the information about your specific Kodak printer, and search for information on upgrading the firmware. Upgrade the firmware, and try printing again on paper that has a decorative border.
From Kodak:
If you still cannot print on paper with a decorative border:
If you still cannot print on paper with a decorative border:
I have a ph photosmart 7760 and recently it started printing only half a page no matter what i tried to print only half the information comes out on the page. Does anyone know if its a software problem or a hardware problem and how to fix it? Also i use windows 7
My Laser Jet 2500L HP is printing on the right side of the paper only. It does not have toner. I have replaced the drum just today and all the color ink cartridges in the last month. There is no error message. Is this a printer malfunction. Can the printer be fixed. I’m thinking this color laser printer is over 12 years old. Any suggestions.