how to fix Brothers Printers Problems

Brother has a reputation for making a wide range of inexpensive printers. The printers are generally very fast, and they are widely available. Unfortunately, as with printers built by other manufacturers, there are a variety of problems that repeatedly turn up among users. Be aware that many of these problems are not unique to Brother printers, and many users receive good service from them. These problems are reported most often with lasers.

Paper Jams

·         Most printers experience paper jams from time to time, but Brother owners tend to report this problem quite often. The paper gets caught halfway on its route through the printer, and getting it out is tricky due to the tight quarters inside the printer. Users often report that they broke the fuser in the process. The fuser is the heating element that heats the paper and toner during printing. This is often caused by poor paper feeding from the trays. In addition, it often results in curled printouts that do not stack well in the output trays.

Printer Drivers

·         Getting the proper driver to match your printer and your computer's operating system can be tricky, no matter what sort of printer you own. Users of Windows XP (32- and 64-bit versions) have experienced various driver and software problems with Brother printers, and Brother maintains a special page at its site devoted specifically to rectifying these problems. The site itself notes that incorrect drivers can cause severe problems and lockups.

Noisy Operation

·         Noise seems to be an especially common problem with Brother printers. The printers are noisy at all phases of the print cycle, but especially when warming up and when leaving rest mode to print a new file. Some users find the noise particularly objectionable. However, it is important to remember that some sacrifices must be made to build inexpensive lasers. While noise may be an irritation, it will not automatically affect the quality of printed output.

Poor Image Quality

·         Most inexpensive Brother printers do not use Postscript drivers, so the ability to print any type of drawing beyond black-and-white line art is automatically suspect. Postscript is a page description language that tells a printer how graphics should look and helps ensure that files will look pretty much the same, even if they are printed on different printers. Because most inexpensive Brother printers do not include Postscript, they are best used for printing text-only documents.

Poor Construction

·         Of all the complaints made against Brother's inexpensive printers, poor construction is probably the most justified. While the sometimes flimsy construction can often be worked around (albeit carefully), it does limit the printer's capabilities. It prevents them from handling paper much heavier than standard 20- to 24-lb copy paper. Given that many people like to print light business card stock or envelopes, this presents a serious problem for a home office.

How to Troubleshoot a Brother Laser Printer

brother provides a broad range of products, including portable scanners, sewing machines, typewriters, fax machines and printers. Brother offers various styles of color printers and black and white laser printers for corporate and home use. As you troubleshoot your Brother laser printer, you not only learn more about your printer, but you can save money in repairs.

Instructions

1.     Paper Loading Problems

o    1

Reduce the amount of paper you have in your printer's paper tray if your printer has problems loading paper. Make certain you keep the paper straight in the tray. Try removing the stack of paper, turning the stack over, then putting it back in the paper tray.

o    2

Fix a paper jam in tray 1 and tray 2 of your Brother printer by removing the tray. Pull the jammed paper out slowly using both of your hands. Turn the dial clockwise on the right side of your printer next to the paper, if you have problems pulling out a small piece of paper. Place paper under the maximum paper mark, which looks like an upside-down triangle, then slide the paper guides to the paper size while pressing the blue release lever. Return the paper tray firmly into your printer, then open and close the front printer cover to continue printing.

o    3

Check to see if you have the cable connected to your printer, if it will not print. Also, make certain you have the correct printer driver selected in your printer software.

2.     Rear Paper Jam

o    4

Open the front cover on your Brother printer by pressing the cover release button on the right side.

o    5

Remove the drum unit assembly, which includes the toner cartridge by pulling towards you. Place the drum unit assembly carefully on paper towels or cloth in case you spill some toner. Avoid touching any of the electrodes on the assembly because this can damage your printer with static electricity.

o    6

Pull the jammed paper out of the front of your printer slowly using both hands.

o    7

Open the output tray in the back of your printer, then push the blue tabs down on the left side and the right. Push the levers in on both sides and open the jam clear cover.

o    8

Pull out the jammed paper, then close the jam clear cover and the output tray. Reinsert the drum unit assembly by pressing it firmly into your printer. Close the front cover of your Brother printer, then continue printing.

3.     Print Problems

o    9

Use a USB interface cable or parallel interface cable for your Brother printer up to a length of 6 feet. If your cable exceeds 6 feet, your printer can print garbage data unexpectedly.

o    10

Check and make certain you selected the correct printer driver as your default printer if you notice garbage printing.

o    11

Connect your printer directly to your computer, if you see your printer printing garbage. This can happen when you have your printer connected to an interface-switching device or a port shared with a scanner or storage device, such as an external hard drive.

How to Fix the Paper Feed on a Brother Printer

·         brother printers, like all printers, need regular maintenance to operate properly. Some maintenance depends on how often the machine is used, how many pages are printed on a regular basis, etc. If you notice your Brother printer is having trouble getting paper out of the paper feeder, the problem is likely due to either a dirty pickup roller, separation roller, or both. These rollers will become dirty over time from paper dust and other airborne debris.

Instructions

1

Turn off your Brother printer and unplug it from its wall outlet.

2

Remove the paper tray from the printer. Look inside the machine where the paper tray was. You will see the separation roller and the pickup roller. Inspect the surface of the rollers to see if they are dirty.

3

Clean the rollers with a microfiber cloth that has been moistened with water. Allow the rollers to dry. Do not use any cleaning solutions or rubbing alcohol on the rollers.

4

Reassemble the printer and plug the power cord back into the outlet. Turn the printer on and use it as normal.

The Brother machine does not appear in the "Print & Fax" or "Print & Scan" Utility. (Mac OS X 10.5 or greater)

Description:

If your Brother machine does not appear in the printer list window of the "Print & Fax" or "Print & Scan" Utility, please follow the directions below to correct the situation.

1. Disconnect the cable from the computer and the Brother machine.
   Connect the end of the USB cable directly to the Mac CPU. Connect the other end of the USB cable directly to the Brother machine.
2. Restart the computer.
   (Click on the Apple Menu and choose Restart.)
3. Click on the Apple Menu and choose System Preferences.
4. Click on the Hardware -> Print & Fax or Print & Scan icon.
5. Click + button.
6. Select your model printer from the listed items.
7. Click Add.
   At this point, you should see your model listed in the main body of the "Print & Fax" or "Print & Scan" Utility window. The driver is now selected and active on the system. You can exit the "Print & Fax" or "Print & Scan" Utility.

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Why do the color ink cartridges run out of ink even though I never or rarely print in color?

Description:

• One factor that will affect your color ink consumption is the cleaning cycle of the machine. The machine is designed to automatically flush and clean ALL of the ink jet nozzles on a programmed schedule. A periodical cleaning or "flushing" of all the ink cartridges occurs approximately every two days. During the cleaning process, the machine draws out a small amount of ink to remove air bubbles from the cartridge and to remove dust and dried ink from the ink nozzles and channels. This not only ensures premium print quality but also ensures the life of the print head. Because of the ink jet technology, this process is common to all ink jet machines.

• Another factor that could be affecting your color ink consumption is the amount of printing from a computer, even if the print jobs are black only. Because this machine offers full color printing, the default setting in the print driver is COLOR. This means the machine will automatically mix ALL the colors to produce a selected color, even black.
  If you would like to print from the computer using the black ink only, you need to change the printing preferences to GRAY SCALE, and also select "Plain Paper" at Media Type.
  If you select other Media Type than "Plain Paper", color inks are used. In detail, please refer to the Related FAQ which is located in the end of this page: "When selecting grayscale printing in the printer driver,does this use only the black ink or all the ink cartridges to produce the grayscale image?"
  
  To change the printing preferences to GRAY SCALE, and select "Plain Paper" at Media Type, please refer to below:
  
  For Windows? users:

1. Open Printing Preferences. ( Printing Preferences.)
2. Open the Advanced tab.
3. Select Grayscale at the Color/Grayscale section.

(Screen layout varies by model and O/S)

4. Open the Basic tab and select Plain Paper at Media Type section.

(Screen layout varies by model and O/S)

For Macintosh users:

1. Open Print dialog. ( Print.)
2. [Mac OS X 10.2.4 - 10.5.x users]




1. Choose Print Settings from the pane pop-up menu, and click the Advanced tab.
2. Choose Grayscale in Color/Grayscale.
   
   
3. Click the Basic tab and choose Plain Paper in Media Type.

[Mac OS X 10.6.x or later users]

1. Choose Print Settings from the pane pop-up menu.
2. Choose Plain Paper in Media Type.

Choose Grayscale in Color/Grayscale.

I want to change the printer driver settings, but the OK button of the printing preferences dialog box is out of the PC screen and I cannot click on it.

Description:

This problem occurs when the PC screen resolution is set under 600 by xxxx pixels.
("xxxx" indicates the wide pixel size.)



Please follow the steps below to solve the problem:

1. Right click anywhere on the PC desk top and select Properties.

Click the Settings tab and set the Screen resolution to more than "yyyy x 600".
("yyyy" indicates the wide pixel size.)



 

1. Click on OK to apply the setting.

If the above solution does not solve the problem, try the followings:
Right click anywhere on the PC taskbar and select Properties. 



Check on Auto-hide the taskbar or check off Keep the taskbar on top of other windows.


If the problem still continues, please contact Brother Customer Service from "Contact Us".
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