Printer Offline or Not Printing? Printer Help in Ottawa

Printer setup and troubleshooting starts at $40. Diagnosis is free, you get the price before we start, and if we can't get your printer working, you don't pay.

Usually the computer is looking for the printer at an old address. After a router restart the printer can get a new IP address, and Windows or macOS keeps sending jobs to the old one, so it shows offline even though the printer's own screen says it's connected. Other causes are a paused queue, "Use Printer Offline" switched on in Windows, or the printer's deep-sleep mode. We re-add it properly and give it a fixed address so it stops happening.

On inkjet printers it's almost always a clogged print-head nozzle or air in the line, not the ink. Run the printer's nozzle check, then one or two head-cleaning cycles. If black still won't print after that, the print head may need replacing, which is hardware work we'll be upfront about rather than charge you for.

Most home printers like the HP DeskJet 2700e series, Canon PIXMA TS3420 and Brother laser printers connect through the maker's app (HP Smart, Canon PRINT, Brother Mobile Connect) or a Wi-Fi button on the printer. The usual snag is a router that combines 2.4 and 5 GHz under one name, since many of these printers only use 2.4 GHz. If the app keeps failing, message us with the model and we'll get it connected.

The most common causes are a changed Wi-Fi password or new router, a printer sitting on the 5GHz band when it only supports 2.4GHz, a driver that stopped working after a Windows or macOS update, or the printer having quietly dropped off the network. We check each of these rather than guessing, and most are fixed in one visit or remote session.

We handle the software side: setup, connections, drivers and settings. We don't do internal hardware repairs like fusers, print heads or paper feeds. If the problem turns out to be mechanical, we'll tell you, and on an older printer we'll say whether replacing it makes more sense.

Yes. AirPrint for iPhone and iPad, Mopria and manufacturer apps for Android, plus scan-to-email and scan-to-phone. We test each device before we leave so you know it actually works.

Yes. We connect office printers and scanners to your network so every workstation can print without swapping cables or fighting drivers on each machine, including scan-to-folder and scan-to-email. For a larger deployment this is usually part of our business IT support.

All the common ones: HP, Canon, Epson, Brother, Lexmark, Samsung and Xerox, on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android.