Printer fault alerts

The print service provides a method for detecting and alerting you to printer faults.

Faults can range from simple problems, such as running out of paper, ribbon, or toner, to more serious faults, such as a local power failure or printer failure. The range of fault indicators is also broad, ranging from dropping the carrier (the signal that indicates that the printer is online) to sending an XOFF or a message.

The print service itself only recognizes two classes of printer fault indicators: hangups (a loss of carrier) and excessive delays in printing (an XOFF flow-control character without a matching XON). For faults other than these, the printer service cannot determine the cause of the fault, so it cannot alert you. However, you can add filters that can detect other printer faults and inform the print service, which in turn alerts you. For more information, see Print filters.