Troubleshooting
Printer troubleshooting: advanced cases
Duplicate prints, stuck queue, wrong size, uncut strips, slowness, a printer that disappears, shifting colors, printing mosaic tiles and prize tickets.
This article complements the quick checklist The printer isn't working and the guide Printer troubleshooting with less common but more puzzling cases.
Summary
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Every photo prints twice | Copies set in the driver, or two print rules. |
| Nothing prints, the queue keeps growing | A job stuck at the front of the queue. |
| The print comes out at the wrong size | Driver size ≠ BoothX size ≠ ribbon. |
| The 2 × 6 strip isn't cut | Driver cut option. |
| Printing is very slow | Driver at maximum quality, network printing, busy computer. |
| The printer disappears after an update | Driver replaced by a generic driver. |
| Colors shift over the course of the evening | Consumables, overheating, lighting of the photos. |
| Mosaic tiles don't line up | Margins and scaling. |
| The prize ticket is blank or tiny | Ticket size and paper. |
Every photo prints twice
- Open the driver preferences in the operating system: the number of copies must be 1.
- In BoothX, check the event's print rules: two rules that apply to the same session print twice.
- A printer installed twice in the system (USB and network) can receive two jobs: remove the duplicate.
See The Printers page and print settings.
The print queue is stuck
- Open the system print queue from the Printers page.
- Delete the first job (often in error); the following ones resume.
- If nothing moves: turn the printer off, clear the queue, turn it back on.
- On Windows, as a last resort, restart the Print Spooler service (or the computer).
Unprinted layouts stay in Storage: reprint them afterwards. See Reprint and export photos.
Wrong size
Three settings must match:
- the ribbon and paper loaded in the printer;
- the paper size chosen on the BoothX Printers page;
- the template size in the editor.
A mismatch between the three causes white margins, or a cropped or shrunk image. Run a test page after every consumables change.
Photo strips not cut
To print two 2 × 6 strips on a 4 × 6 print cut in half, the cut option must be enabled in the printer driver (its name varies by manufacturer: “2 inch cut”, “cut”…), in addition to using a strip template. See Printing during the event.
Very slow printing
- Set the driver to standard quality: maximum quality slows things down with no visible gain at normal viewing distance.
- Connect the printer by direct USB, not through the network or a hub.
- Avoid running heavy tasks (exports, copying folders) during peak traffic.
- Let the printer cool down: a dye-sublimation printer that overheats slows down on its own.
The printer disappears after an update
A system update can replace the manufacturer's driver with a generic driver: the printer then shows up without paper sizes, or not at all. Reinstall the manufacturer's driver, then click Refresh on the Printers page. See Install your photo printer's driver.
Before an important event, avoid system updates the day before.
Colors shifting during the evening
- Consumables: a new ribbon from a different batch or brand. Use genuine consumables from the same batch for an event.
- Printer overheating: leave room for air around it, away from any heat source.
- Lighting of the photos: often it isn't the prints that change but the room lighting (evening mood lighting). Keep the light on your guests constant.
Mosaic: misaligned tiles
- Enable Borderless if the printer supports it.
- Measure the actual size of a printed tile with a ruler and compare it with the board's grid.
- Turn off any automatic scaling (“fit to page”) in the driver.
See Printing tiles and mounting them on the board.
Game booth: unreadable prize ticket
- The ticket is printed on the active printer of the Printers page, at the chosen paper size.
- On a photo printer, it comes out at the photo print size; make sure no scaling shrinks it.
- Do a test spin of the wheel (the wheel preview doesn't draw anything, so play a real game on a test event) and print the ticket.
See Leaderboard and printable prize screen.
Several printers
- Only one printer is active at a time: make sure it's the right one before launching the event.
- To alternate between two printers during a rush, change the active printer from your admin screen; pending layouts are not transferred automatically, so reprint them from Storage.
Monitoring remotely
The web panel shows Printer error and Printer offline alerts. See Monitor your booths from the web panel.
Still having a problem?
Send a report to support with the printer model, the driver version, the chosen paper size and a photo of the print. See Logs and support reports.