Print jobs stuck in queue & never print

I have 2 Win11 PC/s on a local network. I replaced an old Dell laser printer with a new Brother printer. Wife's PC prints to the printer just fine. But my PC will not print because print jobs get stuck in the print queue and never make it to the printer. And I can't find a way to fix this or even identify why it is happening.

Things I've tried all of which do not help:

Delete & reinstall printer using Device Mgr.
Reset printer to factory conditions and re-set it up for WIFI access
Delete & restart print queue
Verify my PC sees the printer on my router
Reboot my PC
Call Brother helpline but hang up due to 90 min. wait time

What else can I try?

I have a Brother printer laser printer and the times I've needed help they had me leave my number for a callback. It never was over 10-15 minutes before they returned my call. Does the printer show offline when this happens?

From Brother:
To fix a Brother wireless printer document stuck in the queue on one specific computer, clear the stuck print jobs, reset the Windows Print Spooler service, and check the printer's network communication.

1. Clear the Stuck Print Queue

• • Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices (or Devices) > Printers & scanners on the problem computer.
  • Click your Brother printer and select Open print queue ("See what's printing").
  • Click the printer menu or three-dot icon, then select Cancel All Documents ("Cancel" / purge).

2. Reset the Print Spooler Service (Windows)
If the jobs refuse to cancel or keep freezing, restart the Windows Print Spooler: [1]

• • Press the Windows key, type services, and open Services.
  • Scroll down to Print Spooler, right-click it, and select Restart (or Stop).
  • (Optional manual deep-clear): Stop the Print Spooler service, open File Explorer to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, delete all files inside that folder, and start the Print Spooler service again.

3. Check for Computer-Specific Causes

• • Printer Offline Status: Open the print queue window on that computer, click the Printer menu, and make sure Use Printer Offline is unchecked.
  • IP Address / Port Mismatch: If the Brother printer's dynamic IP address changed on your router, that specific computer might be sending data to an old port. Check your printer port settings in Windows Control Panel to match the printer's current IP address, or remove and re-add the Brother printer via Wi-Fi.
  • Corrupted Driver: Uninstall the current Brother printer driver on that specific computer and download the latest version from Brother Support
  
  From ME:
• 
  
• 1. Try printing different file types. EX: a document, and a web page from your browser.
• 
  
• 2. Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type
• dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
  When complete restart. Then open command prompt as admin again and run sfc /scannow
  Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair

glasskuter said:

• download the latest version from Brother Support <== actually far from "the latest version"

Click to expand...

This fixed it but it was not simple. I first went to the Brother website and found the web page that supports my printer. One of the options there is to download it's printer driver. But installing it did not fix anything. The installation files did not look like driver install files, so I wasn't surprised that they did not help.

My next option was a Google/AI search for "Download printer driver for....." That produces a whole bunch of results, so I picked one that looks OK. It needed me to install some sort of driver downloader program that I never heard of, so I gave up on that one. What is did notice however was the the download, whatever it was, was dated 2024. This suggested to me that at least there's a 2024 driver that works.

So I scanned through the list of drive places and found one from Brother that had 2024 as the date. That download looked much more reasonable, so I installed it and Voila" It worked. Then (fatal mistake ahead), since the driver was so old I checked to see if a more current one. And guess what? Good old Microsoft said it found a newer driver and installed it. And (of course) that put things right back where I started.

This time, instead of letting Windows search for the driver I opted for the "Let me pick from a list of standard drivers" option. This produced a list that had my printer at the top of the list. So I picked that one and got the message it was successfully installed. Properties for this driver shows Location = http://192.168.254.201:80/WebServices/Device.

That is the local IP address of my printer. So I really have no idea where the actual driver came from. I do know that it is dated 4/20/1984 and that I must NEVER try to update it.

I've always thought that Brother makes pretty good equipment, but something is terribly wrong with their device support functions.

@Birk
i have found with my brother all in one printer that setting everything to static addressing when using WiFi
works much better. you can set the static addressing within the printer setup and then mirror this to the connection settings
in printer and scanners.

i haven't had any problems with the printer setup this way on the home network
but am glad you have got it sorted out
best of luck Steve ..

Just disable spooling and direct print instead

dacrone said:

Just disable spooling and direct print instead

Click to expand...

Interesting idea - I've never tried that. How do you do it?

And what happens if both me and wifey try to print at the same time? We are in different rooms and I can't see or hear the printer.

you probably don’t even have to disable spooling actually. Just go to the printer’s properties on your PC and set to it print directly