September 5, 2026 at 8:45 pm

Tech Support Got a Call About Bizarre Printer Errors—Then the Tech Realized the Issue Wasn’t the Hardware at All

Magnific

Quite often, a printer error message is genuinely complicated.

It can be about a mechanical failure, a network problem, or some obscure technical issue that requires an IT professional to investigate.

Other times, the issue can be resolved in like two minutes.

That was the case when a user rushed to IT because the printer serving her entire area was displaying several unfamiliar error messages.

Read the full story below.

I don’t know what the error means

Had a user come by my office and tell me that the printer for her entire area was displaying some kind of error message she had never seen before, and she insisted I come by to fix it immediately.

I headed over there to find the errors on the screen of the very large printer:

“Load Paper in Tray 1”
“Load Paper in Tray 2”
“Load Paper in Tray 3”
“Load Paper in Tray 4”

But wait, it gets better…

I open up Tray 1, only to discover a full ream of paper, still in packaging, sitting off to the side next to where the paper is supposed to be.

I open up the ream, put it in the spot it’s supposed to, and the error for Tray 1 disappears.

Tray 2, same thing… Someone put the entire ream, still in packaging beside the space where it’s supposed to be.

I had to rinse and repeat for Trays 3 and 4, and lo & behold, all the remaining errors disappeared, and a couple jobs that were pending printed out.

Who would have thought?!

I went to the lady and said the issue was fixed. When she asked (completely innocently I may add) what the issue was, I told her that all I did was put paper in the printer.

She was surprised and insisted that someone had just put paper in the printer.

I just shook my head and walked away…

If only people just took one minute to think and read instructions… What did Reddit have to say?

True.

Lol.

Yikes.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a company that didn’t expect their work-from-home policy to result in better time off benefits for their employees.

That’s a possibility.