Printers and Peripheral Problems

Most computer users have a printer for their computer, and often many other peripherals too, such as scanners. I know I have something plugged into almost every available port on my computer, so it's useful to have an idea of what to do if one or more of these things goes kaput.

1. Make sure it has power and is plugged into your computer.

As always, electronics usually need to be plugged in to work properly. I eagerly await the day everything is wireless, but until then, make sure that you have the power outlet plugged in on both ends and that the wire connecting it to your computer is firmly attached on both ends as well into the correct kind of socket. Most peripherals are USB nowadays and all but the oldest computers have many of these ports. There are other kinds, such as firewire, which are more common on Macs, but some PCs have them as well. USB looks like this:

And Firewire looks like this:

2. Make sure any driver software is installed.

Most Peripherals you buy will come with driver CD's with everything you need to run them on the CD, and should have a nice automated install. If the CD is lost or broken, good manufacturers will have a website where you can download the correct drivers to install. Make sure the drivers are there or the peripheral won't work!

3. Try uninstalling and reinstalling software.

For whatever reason, sometimes programs or drivers get messed up, so the simple solution is to uninstall and then reinstall the programs that use the device. That's easiest if you have the CD and then the option will be there in the options that come up.

4. Turn off your computer and re-plug everything in and turn back on.

Sometimes the connections just need to be reseated and reset. It's about as simple as that really. You like simple don't you? I know I do.

There you have it. Now you will hopefully be able to solve a few problems with the add-ons to your computer. Thanks for reading and I hope it helps!

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