Solved Printer won't print

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

I'm trying to print a one page document and it won't print. I can't see any error messages on the printer and Windows 11 isn't giving me much either. When I looked at the print queue, I could see the progress bar shuttling back and forth rather than moving from left to right, then there was a message saying it couldn't print, and finally the words "Printing, error" under the print job. But there's not a whisper of a hint of a clue WHY it can't print. I've had the printer for several years, the toner is almost full, and there's adequate paper in the tray.

I don't print often so it's possible that it's the first time I've printed with this laptop, which I bought in late September, and is my first Windows 11 machine but I doubt it: I *think* I printed a short document or two with it since I got this laptop.

How do I figure out what the problem is without any error messages to guide me?

OAT · Dec 18, 2025

Right about now, a printer model would be nice.

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

OAT said:
Right about now, a printer model would be nice.

Good point! It's a Brother MFC-9130CW.

OAT · Dec 18, 2025

RhinoCan said:
Good point! It's a Brother MFC-9130CW.

Very good, now under devices what driver do you have listed for that printer?
or you can go to the link below and select your driver installation package.

Downloads | MFC-9130CW | United States | Brother

support.brother.com

Please also note this, as it's comparatively recent, printer firmware:

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

OAT said:
Very good, now under devices what driver do you have listed for that printer?
or you can go to the link below and select your driver installation package.

Downloads | MFC-9130CW | United States | Brother

support.brother.com

Please also note this, as it's comparatively recent, printer firmware:

View attachment 157334

In devices, I have the following that relate to the printer:

Brother MFC-9130CW BR-Script3
Brother MFC-9130CW Printer (marked with "Error")
Brother MFC-9130CW (Copy 2)
Brother PC-FAX v3.1
PaperPort ImagePrinter

A few comments:
- my old laptop also had a "Copy 2"; I was never sure why but suspected I may have done some install steps that I didn't need causing a duplication.
- I have never faxed with this printer; I don't even have landline service in this house any more
- I've never used PaperPort, which was a bonus app that came with the printer
- I don't remember seeing "BR-Script3" device on my old laptop; I have no idea what it does

Also, I truly don't remember if I ever did that Firmware update on my old laptop; I certainly didn't do it on this new one. Should I?

Hazel123 · Dec 18, 2025

I've had odd things last time. Last time I wasn't connected to the right wifi network (it needed to be the same one the printer was connected to). Another time, it had run out of paper. Even after adding paper, it took turning the printer off and on again and the computer on and off again.

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

Hazel123 said:
I've had odd things last time. Last time I wasn't connected to the right wifi network (it needed to be the same one the printer was connected to). Another time, it had run out of paper. Even after adding paper, it took turning the printer off and on again and the computer on and off again.

I turned the printer off and then on again. It didn't start printing. I looked in the print queue again and it was unchanged. I tried printing a second copy of my one page document but I got a different error this time: a message about the printer not being in the proper state to print. I'm going to try rebooting the computer now so I'll have to tell you what happened in that regard in a separate message; I'm posted this one now so that anyone watching this thread knows that power-cycling the printer didn't help (although it was worth trying).

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

RhinoCan said:
I turned the printer off and then on again. It didn't start printing. I looked in the print queue again and it was unchanged. I tried printing a second copy of my one page document but I got a different error this time: a message about the printer not being in the proper state to print. I'm going to try rebooting the computer now so I'll have to tell you what happened in that regard in a separate message; I'm posted this one now so that anyone watching this thread knows that power-cycling the printer didn't help (although it was worth trying).

After rebooting the laptop, the print queue still had the previous 2 jobs. After attempting to print again, I have a third job in the queue: it says "unknown status", just like the second one. The first job just says "Printing, error". Nothing has been printed yet.

OAT · Dec 18, 2025

RhinoCan said:
I turned the printer off and then on again. It didn't start printing. I looked in the print queue again and it was unchanged. I tried printing a second copy of my one page document but I got a different error this time: a message about the printer not being in the proper state to print. I'm going to try rebooting the computer now so I'll have to tell you what happened in that regard in a separate message; I'm posted this one now so that anyone watching this thread knows that power-cycling the printer didn't help (although it was worth trying).

You need to start that printer installation anew.
It means uninstalling whatever installation was used to install the printer drivers.
Once done, reboot then reinstall the driver package from the Brother link above.
The firmware may address the issue you are having right now, then again it may not.

Comparing the old PC with the new PC means absolutely nothing as far as the printer is concerned.

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

I've started poking around and found something in my Device Information for the printer. There's a link there to its webpage (http://192.168.2.17:80) and that page says the printer is sleeping. I don't see anything that would wake it up though. Does anyone have any ideas?

dacrone · Dec 18, 2025

RhinoCan said:
Tthe print queue still had the previous 2 jobs.

Save this as a .bat and run as admin

Code:

net stop spooler
del %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\* /Q /F /S
net start spooler

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

OAT said:
You need to start that printer installation anew.
It means uninstalling whatever installation was used to install the printer drivers.
Once done, reboot then reinstall the driver package from the Brother link above.
The firmware may address the issue you are having right now, then again it may not.

So I need to remove all 5 of the devices that I listed earlier, then do the firmware update, which may or may not make any difference, then re-install the printer drivers again? Is there any special technique to remove the existing devices or can I just click on that item in the list of printers, then click on Remove?

OAT said:
Comparing the old PC with the new PC means absolutely nothing as far as the printer is concerned.

I don't know what will help so I'm just telling you everything that might be relevant. Sorry to waste your time.

Hazel123 · Dec 18, 2025

RhinoCan said:
I turned the printer off and then on again. It didn't start printing. I looked in the print queue again and it was unchanged. I tried printing a second copy of my one page document but I got a different error this time: a message about the printer not being in the proper state to print. I'm going to try rebooting the computer now so I'll have to tell you what happened in that regard in a separate message; I'm posted this one now so that anyone watching this thread knows that power-cycling the printer didn't help (although it was worth trying).

I've often had to re-cycle both the printer and the computer - one straight after the other or at the same time.

Edit - sorry I can see you've done that. Yes best start again. My printer is an HP and there's just an app to install from the MS store and the drivers all get sorted automatically. Maybe check if there's an app for the printer? It can also be troubleshooted via the app as well.

And as mentioned earlier - check the computer and printer are using the same wifi network.

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

dacrone said:
Save this as a .bat and run as admin

Code:

net stop spooler del %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\* /Q /F /S net start spooler

I wrote and executed the batch file. Nothing looks any different in the print queue. I tried cancelling the 2 latest jobs but got a "failed to cancel" message for each of them. I tried to restart the earliest job but got a "failed to restart" message for that one. I looked at the list of printers and the device that used to say "Error" no longer has that designation. The device status is still "Sleep". I looked at the print queue again and it was empty, despite the failures to cancel or restart. I tried printing my document again but got notified that there was a problem printing; the print queue again shows the job with "Printing, error" beneath the job description.

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

Hazel123 said:
I've often had to re-cycle both the printer and the computer - one straight after the other or at the same time.

Edit - sorry I can see you've done that. Yes best start again. My printer is an HP and there's just an app to install from the MS store and the drivers all get sorted automatically. Maybe check if there's an app for the printer? It can also be troubleshooted via the app as well.

And as mentioned earlier - check the computer and printer are using the same wifi network.

Checking that they were on the same network is the *first* thing I did, although I failed to mention that.

dacrone · Dec 18, 2025

if you want to really force uninstall...

Force Uninstall

clear the print queue by using the commands via Command Prompt as Admin:

net stop spooler
del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.shd /F /S /Q
del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.spl /F /S /Q
net start spooler

Force Uninstall Delete from Registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers
Find the registry sub-key with the name of your printer
Delete the registry key for the printer
Restart computer

Uninstall a Printer Driver on Windows

services.msc > restart the Print Spooler.
Print Management snap-in in mmc
Expand Print Manager > Print Servers > select your computer -> Drivers
All installed printer drivers are listed
Right-click the driver you want to uninstall and select Remove driver package

RhinoCan · Dec 18, 2025

dacrone said:
if you want to really force uninstall...

Force Uninstall
clear the print queue by using the commands via Command Prompt as Admin:

net stop spooler
del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.shd /F /S /Q
del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.spl /F /S /Q
net start spooler

Force Uninstall Delete from Registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers

Find the registry sub-key with the name of your printer

Delete the registry key for the printer

Restart computer

Uninstall a Printer Driver on Windows

services.msc > restart the Print Spooler.

Print Management snap-in in mmc

Expand Print Manager > Print Servers > select your computer -> Drivers

All installed printer drivers are listed

Right-click the driver you want to uninstall and select Remove driver package

Just before I saw this message, I removed each of the 5 items listed for this printer in the list of printers and scanners by clicking on the item, then clicking the Remove button. I've just obtained the firmware update that OAT implied might help but I haven't run it yet. I'm confused by what you're proposing since you combine clearing the printing queue, which seems reasonable for removing accumulated dead jobs that didn't seem to be clearing when I tried cancelling or restarting them but *did* go away on their own after several seconds, but why am I deleting a registry key for the printer and restarting the spooler when the "net start spooler" command should do that? Why am I deleting drivers via services.msc if the "Remove" option for each device is provided? Does the Remove option not work reliably?

starchase · Dec 18, 2025

RhinoCan said:
After rebooting the laptop, the print queue still had the previous 2 jobs. After attempting to print again, I have a third job in the queue: it says "unknown status", just like the second one. The first job just says "Printing, error". Nothing has been printed yet.

I hope you get your printer problem solved. Take it from me, out of nowhere I couldn't print from my laptop and it took me days to get it straightened out and except for God's grace I couldn't tell you how I got it back.

But just a tip, and you may know this already, once you have a printer error trying to print a document, the printer won't be able to print again until that document that caused the error gets cleared/deleted as it just clogs the que.

XxXxX · Dec 18, 2025

RhinoCan said:
Good point! It's a Brother MFC-9130CW.

have you checked for firmware updates from Brother.

Downloads | MFC-9130CW | United States | Brother

support.brother.com

best of luck Steve ..

RhinoCan · Dec 22, 2025

I managed to get the printer working again by removing the old drivers (all of the ones I had listed) via the Remove option that comes up when you select each driver from the list under Devices. I did not add/change/delete any registry entries. I reinstalled wirelessly and successfully printed the document I was trying to print earlier. I also installed the firmware update tool. I have no idea if it makes any difference and maybe I never will.

Thanks to all who responded!

Solved Printer won't print

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