A printer printing blank pages usually comes down to one of eight causes: empty or sealed cartridge (protective tape still on), clogged print head on an inkjet, wrong paper type loaded, incorrect print settings selecting a blank second page, outdated or corrupted driver, low ink not flagged by the sensor, a failed ink cartridge chip, or — for laser printers — a failed drum unit or toner not seated correctly.You hit print, you hear the printer working, sheets come out — and every single page is completely blank. No error message, no ink, nothing. It’s one of the more confusing printer problems because the machine clearly thinks it’s printing something.
The cause is almost always one of eight things, and they’re not equally common. If you just installed a new cartridge, start with cause number one. If the printer has been sitting unused for a few weeks, go to cause three. This guide walks through all eight in order of likelihood.
Cause 1: The Protective Tape Is Still on the Cartridge
New ink cartridges ship with a piece of protective tape or a plastic pull tab covering the ink nozzles or the chip contacts. If it’s still in place, no ink can reach the paper. Remove the cartridge, peel off any tape (usually orange or pink, clearly visible), and reinstall. This is the cause of blank pages in newly installed cartridges more than 40% of the time.
Cause 2: The Cartridge Is Empty (Even If the Sensor Says Otherwise)
Ink level sensors in consumer printers are estimated, not measured. A cartridge that shows 20% remaining may actually be empty depending on the content you’ve been printing. Remove the cartridge, gently shake it, and hold it up to a light. If it’s a transparent cartridge, you’ll see whether ink remains. Replacing it definitively rules this out.
Cause 3: Clogged Print Head Nozzles (Inkjet Only)
Inkjet printers — especially Epson EcoTank, HP ENVY, and Canon PIXMA models — clog when they sit unused for more than a week or two. Dried ink blocks the nozzles and produces blank or streaky output. Run the head cleaning utility from your printer’s settings menu or from the printer software on your computer. Run it two to three times and print a nozzle check pattern between each cycle to see if the pattern fills in. For Epson specifically, this is the most common cause of blank output by a significant margin.
Cause 4: Wrong Paper Type or Plastic-Coated Sheet
Inkjet ink sits on the paper’s surface rather than being fused into it (unlike laser toner). If you accidentally load glossy photo paper designed for laser printers, overhead transparency sheets, or plastic-coated material into an inkjet, the ink beads up and produces a blank-looking output — or smears immediately. Check the paper in the tray against your printer’s supported media types.
cause 5: Incorrect Print Settings (Prints Blank 2nd Page)
Some print settings – especially in PDF or word-processing programs – will insert a blank last page on purpose, or will print a range that includes a blank page. Before you assume the printer is broken, check this. Are all the output pages blank or only the last page? Almost always, a single blank trailing page is a settings issue, not a hardware problem. Check your document for blank pages and verify the print range selected in the print dialog box.
Cause 6: Outdated, Corrupted, or Wrong Printer Driver
A driver mismatch — particularly after a Windows update — can cause the computer to send a print job that the printer receives but renders as blank. Uninstall the current driver completely, download the current version directly from the printer manufacturer’s website, and reinstall. Do not use the ‘generic’ Windows-bundled driver; it’s frequently outdated and lacks features the printer needs to handle ink properly.
Cause 7: Toner or Drum Unit Not Seated Correctly (Laser Only)-
When you use a laser printer it will print pages if the toner cartridge is not put in properly. This can also happen if the drum unit is not installed correctly. Sometimes the drum unit has a cover on it that you need to remove before you put it in the printer.
To fix this problem with your laser printer you should take out the toner and the drum unit. Then you should look at them to see if they have any of these covers or films on them. If they do, you need to take those covers off.
After that you should put the toner and the drum unit back in the laser printer. You need to make sure they are put in firmly so that they click into place. This will help your laser printer work again.
Cause 8: Failed Cartridge Chip -
Ink cartridge chips can stop working in cartridges that are not from the original company or have been refilled. When this happens the printer does not get any information from the cartridge. So it prints pages like there is no cartridge in it.
To see if this is the problem you can try putting in a cartridge that you know works. It is best if this cartridge is from the company.
If you use a cartridge from the company and it still prints blank pages and you have already checked all the other possible causes then the problem is, with the printer. The printer might have a blocked ink system or a print head that is failing. In this case you need to get the printer fixed by a professional.
Quick Diagnosis Table
| Symptom | Most Likely Cause | First Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Blank pages immediately after new cartridge | Protective tape still on | Remove cartridge, peel tape, reinstall |
| Blank pages after weeks of no use | Clogged print head | Run head cleaning utility 2-3 times |
| Only the last page is blank | Document/settings issue | Check document for blank page, adjust print range |
| Blank pages after Windows update | Driver corruption | Uninstall driver, download fresh from manufacturer |
| Laser printer blank output, new toner installed | Drum film not removed or not seated | Remove drum, peel protective film, reinstall |
| Intermittent blank pages, ink shows as full | Clogged nozzles or bad chip | Head cleaning, then try genuine cartridge |
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the common reasons for failure of HP printers include the presence of protective tape on the new cartridge, clogging of the print head in case of inkjet models of HP printers, or conflict in the driver after you carry out the Windows update. In case you own an HP LaserJet printer, then you must ensure that the toner cartridge of HP LaserJet is well placed.
Clogging of print heads is a common problem that occurs in Epson printers, particularly in those of the EcoTank variety. To resolve this issue, you will have to run the print head cleaning feature twice or thrice using the settings menu provided by Epson. You can then conduct a nozzle check test to find out whether the clog was removed.
Yes. If you have a driver that is not working correctly or is old or if you have a document with a page that you did not mean to include or if the range of pages you are printing includes a blank page then you might get blank pages printed and it is not because of a problem with the printer itself. So the first thing you should do is check the driver and install it again if you need to and make sure the document is okay before you even think about opening the printer
Yes, inkjet printers do use an enormous amount of ink in each printing cycle irrespective of whether the result is a blank page or not. Printing of blank pages due to a blocked head results in the wastage of a lot of ink.
If the problem is with the tape or a driver or some settings you can fix it yourself. If the print head is not working properly and you need to replace it, that will cost you around $150 to $300 depending on what kind of model you have. Sometimes the print head just needs to be cleaned. It might need to be replaced and if you need someone to do that for you remotely it will usually cost between $40 and $100.
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