POS Supply Solutions Blog - Troubleshooting Your Thermal Printers

Techniques to Ensure Your Thermal Receipt Printer is Functioning Properly

Looking for tips on how to fix your Thermal Printer? A lot of the times the printer is not actually broken, but instead the Thermal Paper is being loaded incorrectly or the wrong paper is being used. There are three simple steps that may help get you back on track. (For Epson TM-T88 specific errors, check out our Troubleshooting Your Epson TM-T88 Series Thermal Printer video below.)

Step 1.) Verify that the roll is thermal coated paper by scratching the surface of the paper with a coin or nail.
If it's thermal paper, you will get a black mark where you scratched.

Step 2.) Verify that the thermal paper was loaded correctly. See the diagram below for an example of proper paper loading:

Note that the roll is placed with the paper feeding under, not over. Drop it in and pull out some excess paper. Close the cover and try printing again.

Step 3.) Check to be sure you have the correct roll size or core size, as too little or too big may cause issues. If you don't know what size paper roll fits in your thermal printer, try our POS Supply Finder or call us at 888-431-5800.

Still not working? Your thermal printer probably needs a good cleaning. We recommend using Thermal Printer Cleaning Cards with every paper roll change to remove residue and other contaminants from thermal print heads, paper guides and paper paths, helping to prevent paper jams and misprints.

If you're still having trouble, consult your machine's manual or website for more info. Or, give us a call at 888-431-5800 and one of our Point of Sale Supply Experts will be happy to help!