Printer myseriously paused

A friend running Windows ME has an Epson 880 printer that will every so often stop responding and when I check it out I find the printer has been paused. That is if I go into Settings\Printers and right click on Printers I see where the printer has been paused. This seesms to do it on its own with no outside help. Is this possible and, if so, what causes it?