How to Troubleshoot a Dell Laser Printer Printing Blank Pages or Random Characters

In some instances a Printer may output a series of blank pages or pages with random characters printed, either on start-up or when a document is sent.

This is generally not a hardware fault and is caused by a miscommunication between the Printer and the Computer due to a corrupt, faulty, or missing driver.

If you experience this issue, try the following steps:

1. Cancel all jobs in the print queue on the Printer Operating Panel.
2. Turn the Printer off.
3. Remove the Communication Cables (USB or Network, depending on your set-up) between the Printer and Computer.
4. Turn the Printer back on and Print an Internal Report.
5. If no issue is found on the Internal Report, then the problem is Software based. Continue troubleshooting as described below.
6. If the Internal Test Print does not Print or comes out blank or with another Print Quality Issue, check the Operating Panel for errors or go to the specific Printer models' Print Quality Issue Knowledge Base article.
7. If the Internal Test Page has printed with no errors or Print Quality Issues, we must reinstall the Printer Driver to ensure that the software is up to date and has not been corrupted.
8. Remove the Printer from the Computer.
9. Insert the Dell Laser Printer Installation CD/DVD into your Computer and follow the on-screen instructions to install the Printer.
10. Once the Printer has been installed check How to Print a Test Page in Windows.

• If the Windows Test page prints, then the Printer is working as designed.
• If the Blank Pages on Start-Up or Random characters when printing issue recurs, contact Dell Technical Support for further advice.