Printers
Printer prints blank pages or streaks
Blank pages and streaks are cartridge and drum problems nine times out of ten — not a broken printer, and not something to fix by printing harder.
Read before you start
Toner is a fine powder. Do not vacuum a spill with a household vacuum and do not touch the drum surface — both spread the mess and can ruin the cartridge.
This guide is for you if
- Pages come out completely blank
- Dark or light lines repeat down the page
- One colour is missing from every print
Step by step
Work top to bottom0 of 6 steps done
Print the built-in quality report
Every printer has a self-test page in its menu or driver. It tells you whether the fault is the printer itself or the document you are sending.
Check the levels honestly
A cartridge can read "half full" and still print nothing. Replace the empty colour or swap in a known-good cartridge to test.
Shake the cartridge, then reseat it
Lift the cartridge out, rock it gently side to side, and slide it back until it clicks. Toner settles when a printer sits unused for weeks.
Clean the drum and the contacts
Wipe the drum with a dry cloth only, and clean the copper contacts on the cartridge with a lint-free cloth. Do not use water or alcohol on the drum.
Try a different document
If the quality page is perfect but your PDF is blank, the problem is the print driver or the file — print from another program to confirm.
Stop printing to clear a streak
Repeated printing to "clean" a streaked drum wastes a cartridge and can spread toner inside the machine. Bring it in if a new cartridge streaks too.