The printer that says offline, or only prints for one person
Printers are the one piece of everyday tech that everybody has a story about. Almost none of those stories are about the printer. They are about how the computers and phones are finding it, and that is a setup problem, and setup problems stay fixed.
Message me first. It's free to ask.
Higgins based · most printer problems fixed remotely · onsite anywhere in the ACT
Whichever one of these your printer is doing
If yours is not here, ask anyway. A photo of the error on the screen helps, and the model number on the front of the printer helps more.
It says offline, and it is not
The computer is looking for the printer at an address it moved away from. A fixed address and one clean setup, and it stops happening.
It prints from one computer and not the others
Set up by hand on each machine, a different way every time. I set it up once, properly, and add it the same way everywhere.
Nothing prints from a phone
Phones and tablets find a printer differently from a computer. AirPrint and the Android side set up so photos and documents print from the thing in your hand.
A job stuck in the queue, and everything behind it
One failed job holding up forty others. Cleared, then the reason it jammed fixed so the queue does not fill again.
It prints but it will not scan
Scan to email and scan to a folder break when a password changes or an email provider tightens something. Set up to a place everyone can actually find.
It has never really worked on the wi-fi
Printers pick the wrong network, the wrong band, or a guest network that cannot see your computers. Joined to the right one and held there.
It is nagging about ink it does not need
Subscription ink, third-party cartridges blocked by an update, colour refused because black is low. What can be switched off, switched off.
New printer, still in the box
Unboxed, joined to the network, on every computer and phone in the building, and the old one removed so nobody prints to it by accident.
Most printers I never have to see.
Tell me what it is doing and which devices it does it from. Nine times out of ten the fix is on the computer, not in the printer, and I can do that on your screen while you watch, from wherever you are.
No obligation and no charge for asking. The model number and a photo of the error message get you a straight answer about what it is likely to take.
Tell me what it's doing
A text or a call. Which printer, which computers, and what you see when it fails. Describe it however makes sense to you.
I tell you what it needs
Whether it is the setup, the network, the driver or the printer itself, and what fixing it will cost. If it is a two-minute job, I will just tell you what to click.
Remote, or I come out
You click one link and I work on your screen. If the printer will not join the network at all, I come to you, anywhere in the ACT.
It works on everything, and stays that way
Every computer and phone in the building, tested in front of you, with a fixed address so it does not wander off again after the next power cut.
One person, and it is this one.
There is no call centre, no ticket queue and no subcontractor. You message me, I answer, and I do the work.
- I tell you the cost before I start. Including when the honest answer is that the printer is not worth another hour of anyone's time.
- I do not sell printers or ink. No reseller deal, no brand I push. If the one you own is fine, that is what you will hear.
- I explain what I am doing while I do it. At whatever pace suits you, and written down if you would rather handle the next one yourself.
- Most of it is remote. One link, your screen, no travel either way. I come out when it genuinely needs it.
What I will tell you not to bother with
A printer that the manufacturer stopped supporting before your current version of Windows or macOS came out is going to break again after the next update, and I would rather say that than charge you to patch it a third time. The same goes for the cheap inkjet whose cartridges cost more than the printer did. If replacing it is the honest answer, you will hear it, and I will tell you what to look for rather than what to buy.
The other thing I will say plainly: most offline printers are a network problem wearing a printer costume. Fixing the printer does nothing. Fixing how the computers find it fixes every device in the building at once, and it is why I do that first.
One printer that everyone can reach
In a small office the printer is shared, which means one person's fix is everyone else's problem when it is done by hand. I set it up as a network printer with a fixed address, add it the same way on every computer, put scanning somewhere the whole team can find, and remove the three old entries that each machine has collected over the years. Then the printer behaves the same for everyone, and a new starter gets it in two minutes.
If the office wi-fi is part of the story, I look at that too: wi-fi, dropouts and dead spots.
Remote first, then anywhere in the ACT
Most printer jobs are done on your screen from my desk in Higgins. When one needs a visit, Belconnen and the north-west are ten minutes away, and Gungahlin, the inner north, Woden, Weston Creek, Molonglo and Tuggeranong are all a normal drive.
Homes, home offices and small offices, and patient help for anyone who has been made to feel silly about a printer before.
Tell me what it's doing.
A text is the fastest way to reach me. The make and model, and which devices it fails from, is enough to start. I'm back to you within a day, usually much faster, with an honest read on what is going on.