A Honeywell PC42t that skips labels, prints blanks, or stops after one label is rarely broken hardware. Three things fix the vast majority of cases: (1) recalibrate — hold the FEED button until the printer feeds a few labels and stops on the gap; (2) check the ribbon — the PC42t is thermal-transfer, so a missing, exhausted, or reverse-threaded ribbon prints blanks even while feeding; and (3) match the label size in the Honeywell InterDriver to your real media, so it doesn't stop after one label.
You send a job to your Honeywell PC42t and it does something maddening: nothing prints, a blank label comes out, it feeds two or three labels for one print, or it prints exactly one label and stops. You've swapped the roll, power-cycled the printer, maybe reinstalled the driver — and it keeps doing it. This is one of the most common PC42t complaints, and the reassuring part is that it's almost always a calibration, ribbon, or driver problem, not a failed printer.
The PC42t is a thermal-transfer desktop printer. That matters, because unlike a direct-thermal machine it needs a ribbon to put ink on the label, and it uses a media sensor to find the edge of each label. When it "skips" or feeds blanks, the printer has either lost track of where one label ends and the next begins, or it has no ink to lay down. The fix is to re-teach it the label geometry (calibration), confirm the ribbon and print mode, and make sure Windows is sending the right label size (driver). Let's go in order, fastest fix first.
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Symptoms: What This Looks Like
- Printer feeds one or more blank labels for every print job
- Skips every other label — prints one, feeds past the next
- Prints one label and stops, ignoring the rest of the job
- Label comes out completely blank even though the printer is feeding
- Content is shifted up or down, or bleeds across the gap onto two labels
- Print is faded, patchy, or only half there (a ribbon or darkness symptom)
- It worked fine, then broke after a Windows update or after changing label size
Fix 1: Recalibrate the Media (Start Here)
Calibration teaches the PC42t the exact length of your labels and the size of the gap (or the position of the black mark) between them. Any time you change label size, switch rolls, or start seeing skipping and blank feeds, this is the first thing to do — it resolves the majority of those cases on its own.
Method A: FEED-button calibration (fastest)
Make sure labels — and the ribbon — are loaded correctly and the cover is closed, with a steady status light
Press and hold the FEED button and keep holding it
Release when the printer has fed a few labels and stops on the gap — that's it measuring your label length
Send a test print. The label should now print in the right position without skipping.
Every PC42t firmware behaves slightly differently. The reliable rule is simple: hold FEED until the printer feeds several labels and settles on a gap, then let go. If it just feeds one blank label each tap, you're doing a normal feed, not a calibration — hold it longer, or use the PrintSet utility instead.
Method B: Honeywell PrintSet / InterDriver (guided)
Download Honeywell PrintSet (or open the InterDriver printer tools) from the Honeywell PC42t support page
Connect the printer over USB and select it in the utility
Run the media / label calibration action. The printer feeds and measures your labels — confirm the reported label length looks right for your media.
Fix 2: Check the Ribbon and Print Mode (Blank Labels)
This is the PC42t-specific fix that trips up people coming from direct-thermal printers. The PC42t transfers ink from a ribbon onto the label. If there's no usable ribbon, the printer will happily feed labels — they'll just come out blank. A huge share of "PC42t prints blank" reports are ribbon problems, not printhead failures.
| What you see | Likely ribbon cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Every label blank, printer feeds normally | No ribbon, ribbon used up, or Direct Thermal mode selected | Load a fresh ribbon; set the printer to Thermal Transfer mode |
| Faded or patchy print | Wrong ribbon side facing the media, low-quality ribbon, or darkness too low | Re-thread so the ink (dull) side faces the label; raise darkness |
| Ribbon wrinkles / creases in print | Ribbon not tensioned or seated squarely | Re-seat the supply and take-up cores so the ribbon tracks straight |
Load the ribbon on the supply spindle, thread it under the printhead, and attach the leading edge to the take-up core so it winds up as the printer prints. Match the ribbon width to (or slightly wider than) your label width so the printhead is fully covered. If you genuinely want to run without a ribbon, you must switch to direct-thermal media and Direct Thermal mode — but standard paper labels won't mark that way.
Run the label's edge and the ribbon's ink side against each other — the ink (coated, duller) side is the one that must touch the label. If you thread it backwards, the printhead heats the shiny backing instead of the ink and you get a blank label. When in doubt, follow the threading diagram inside the PC42t's cover.
Fix 3: Match the Label Size in the InterDriver (Windows)
If the PC42t prints one label and stops, prints off-center, or broke right after a Windows update, the driver is the prime suspect. Windows can auto-install a generic driver that reports the wrong label size, so the printer stops after what it thinks is the last label — or shifts everything by a few millimeters.
Open Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners, select the PC42t, and remove any duplicate/generic entries
Install the Honeywell InterDriver (the PC42t Windows driver) and connect the printer via USB
Open Printer Properties → Printing Preferences and set the label width, length, media type, and darkness to match your media exactly
Print a Windows test page. If the test page is correct but your app still fails, the problem is in the app's page size, not the printer.
The printer prints exactly the area the driver tells it to. If the driver's page height is shorter than your physical label, the printer finishes early and stops; if it's longer, content bleeds onto the next label. Matching the driver's label dimensions to your real media — to the millimeter — fixes both, and it makes calibration "stick" instead of getting overridden by the next job.
Fix 4: Clean the Label Sensor
If calibration, ribbon, and media type are all correct and it still skips, the media sensor may be blocked by label dust or adhesive residue. This is common on high-volume machines and in dusty environments — the sensor can't see a clean gap, so the printer mis-measures and overshoots.
Turn off the PC42t and unplug it
Open the cover, remove the roll and ribbon, and locate the media sensor in the label path
Wipe the sensor and the platen roller with a cotton swab dampened in 99% isopropyl alcohol
Let it dry 1–2 minutes, reload the media and ribbon, and recalibrate with the FEED button
If your media has a black mark on the back instead of a die-cut gap, the PC42t needs to be told to use the black-mark (reflective) sensor in the driver or PrintSet — otherwise it looks for a gap that isn't there and skips every label. Set the media type to Mark, then recalibrate.
The Root Cause for Many Users: The Windows Driver Itself
Notice how many of these fixes come back to the driver telling the printer the wrong thing — wrong label size, wrong media type, wrong print mode. That's not a coincidence. On Windows, and especially on macOS where Honeywell's desktop-printer driver support is thin, the driver layer is where most PC42t headaches live. The printer's firmware is fine; the pipeline feeding it commands is what breaks.
That's exactly why some teams take the driver out of the loop. The PC42t supports ZPL emulation (alongside DP and EPL). If you switch the PC42t to ZPL emulation mode, it understands Zebra's ZPL language — so check that emulation is enabled first. Driverless label software like LabelInn renders each label host-side and sends native ZPL straight to the printer over USB — it sets the media type and label size correctly on every job, so there's no generic-driver guessing, no "prints one label and stops," and it behaves the same on macOS and Windows.
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Skip the Driver Guesswork on Your PC42t
If your Honeywell PC42t is switched to ZPL emulation mode, LabelInn — which sends native ZPL — can drive it directly, setting media type and dimensions correctly so calibration sticks and jobs finish clean. (Check that emulation is enabled first.) Design labels visually or print from Excel, and stop wrestling the InterDriver. Free tier available; paid plans from $14.90/month.
Try LabelInn Free for 14 Days →Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calibrate a Honeywell PC42t?
With the printer loaded and the status light steady, press and hold the FEED button until it feeds a few labels and stops on a gap — that runs media calibration. For a guided run, use Honeywell PrintSet or the InterDriver printer tools and run the label calibration action. Recalibrate any time you change label size or start seeing skipping.
Why does my PC42t skip every other label?
It can't see the gap between labels. Either it needs recalibration (hold FEED), or the media type is set wrong — commonly continuous instead of gap, or gap instead of black mark. Set the correct media type, recalibrate, and the skipping stops.
My PC42t feeds but every label is blank. Why?
The PC42t is thermal-transfer, so it needs a ribbon to print. A blank feed usually means the ribbon is missing, used up, threaded backwards (ink side must face the label), or the printer is in Direct Thermal mode without direct-thermal media. Load a fresh ribbon correctly and set Thermal Transfer mode.
My PC42t prints one label then stops. What causes that?
The label size in the driver doesn't match your physical label, so the printer thinks the job is done. Open the Honeywell InterDriver preferences, set the label width and length to match your media exactly, pick the correct media type, and recalibrate. A generic Windows driver is the usual trigger.
Can I use a Honeywell PC42t on a Mac?
Honeywell's full driver support for the PC42t is Windows-focused, so many Mac users can't print through the normal driver path. The PC42t supports ZPL emulation, so if you switch it to ZPL emulation mode, a driverless app like LabelInn — which sends native ZPL — can drive it directly over USB from macOS (and Windows), handling media type and label size for you. Check that emulation is enabled first.