Can outdated or corrupt printer drivers cause a printer to enter an "error state," and what's the fix?

Yes, outdated, corrupt, or incompatible printer drivers are a common cause of error states. To fix this, go to your operating system's Device Manager (Windows) or System Settings (macOS), locate your printer, and attempt to update the driver. If updating doesn't resolve the issue, completely uninstall the current driver software and then download and install the latest driver package directly from the printer manufacturer's official website.