Step-by-Step: How to Fix a Printer Driver Error

At some point during your PC ownership, you will need to fix a printer driver error. These types of errors can occur during the installation of a driver or while attempting to utilize the printer in question. In most cases, one or more of the following issues are the cause of these errors:

• Problems in the Windows registry
• Faulty driver files
• Missing drivers
• Missing resources which cause conflicts between drivers
• Driver incompatibility

There are various types of errors that will indicate a driver problem - stop errors and printer driver errors. The following steps should be taken to repair a printer driver or postscript print driver error.

Locate the device creating the printer driver error

The first step in fixing printer driver errors is to identify which device is the cause. Open your Control Panel (Start Menu → Control Panel) and open the System link. Within the System Properties window, choose the Hardware tab and click on the Device Manager button. Search for any devices that have a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark as an indicator. Double click on the device with this indicator and then view the Device Status section within the General tab to suss out the reason behind the driver problem. The error you find may either indicate the driver is entirely missing or, in most cases, the driver is simply faulty by being outdated, buggy or corrupt.

Fixing outdated, buggy or corrupt printer drivers

If the error you see indicates the printer driver or postscript print driver is outdated, select the Update Driver button located within the Driver tab of the device in question (Start Menu → Control Panel → System → Hardware → Double click faulty device). You will need to ensure the updated driver for the device has been downloaded prior to proceeding with the update. To facilitate finding updated drivers, you can try 3^rd-party driver download tools like DriverFinder.

Occasionally, an update can be the cause of a buggy driver. If this is the issue, simply select the Roll Back Driver button located within the Driver tab. This will revert the driver for the device back to the previous driver installation.

If you have found that the driver in question is totally corrupt (a printer driver error install issue), the best course of action is to uninstall the driver and then reinstall it. Select the Uninstall button located within the Driver tab to uninstall the driver in question. You will then need to reboot your computer and allow the system to located the missing driver to reinstall it.

Window drivers repair procedure

There are occasions where the printer driver error is caused by a driver file that comes preinstalled with the Windows XP operating system. If this is the case, the error can be repaired by replacing the driver with the one that is located on the Windows XP installation CD.

First put the CD in your CD drive and reboot your computer. Then select the "R" from the Welcome to Startup Screen to open the Recovery Console. You will need to input your administrator user name and password to continue. Once you have the command prompt open, type in the following (each line end should be followed by pressing "Enter"):

cd C:\windows\system32\drivers
ren Driver_Name.sys Driver_Name.bak
copy F:\i386 Driver_Name
exit

"C" represents your root drive, "Driver_Name" indicates the driver needing to be replaced, and "F" is the drive of your CD device. Once these commands have been input, restart your PC normally - be certain to remove the Windows XP CD.

By following the preceding steps, you can easily remedy any printer driver or postscript print driver error and ensure your computer runs smoothly and properly.