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 | Brother toner cartridge low toner override by OppressedPrinterUser (7/25/06 2:22 PM) reply | + / - | Am using Brother HL-5170 DN and a TN-540 toner cartridge. The printer decided it was out of toner, even though the last page printed was fine. Rather than run out for a new toner cartridge I used a small (.5 x .5 in.) piece of black electrical tape to cover the sensor hole on the non-gear side of the cartridge. By covering the hole the printer is fooled into thinking the hopper is full of toner.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by njp (8/1/06 10:59 AM) reply | + / - | Works for a DCP1000 also.
Just cover the eye that you can see in the bottom of the machine after removing the imaging cartrige with a small piece of electrical tape. When your getting low on toner you'll notice it on the prints.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Toby (9/27/06 12:46 AM) reply | + / - | Awesome. Thanks for the tip. Worked in a HL-1850 as well with a TN-560 toner cartridge. Was looking all over for something like this.
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 | Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by saar (10/25/06 5:12 AM) reply | +1 + / - | THX worked for me as well on a HL-2030, starter cartridge, still perfect quality. I covered both "windows" though;-))just in case.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (11/17/06 4:05 AM) reply | + / - | with printer on you must push the switch wich is located inside in upper left side of printer (it is a small white switch) and then release it. this should work.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (2/6/07 8:36 PM) reply | + / - | thanks so much! what great advice!
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 | Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jwooden5941 (3/3/07 8:16 AM) reply | + / - | Anon:
I have the Brother HL-5250DN I don't see a switch, do you know what models have one?
I was able to use the "electrical tape" approach, thanks to whoever recommended that one!
Jim
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jwooden5941 (3/24/07 3:50 PM) reply | + / - | I am still printing away with my Brother HL-5250DN and tape covering the sensor hole. It has been 500+ more pages.
Intestingly the "low toner" light has again started to blink. I wonder if the machine as multiple methods for "guestimating" low toner - the photoeye & page count or something???
Thanks,
Jim
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 | Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jwooden5941 (3/27/07 3:15 AM) reply | + / - | Replying to my own note, after taping over the toner "hole" I was able to print about 1000 (yes one thousand) more pages before the low toner light started coming on again.
This morning I started a print session and got a "hard" low toner message that stopped the printer from printing ("toner end of life" on operator panel).
I removed the cartridge gently shook/rotated reinserted and we're printing again....
While black areas may not be "fully saturated" printing is still very good -- What in the !@#%#$^#%&#$^@%@# is Brother doing to us here? Ok ok ... I realize all the money is in consumables ...
Sorry....
Thanks for any comments!
Jim
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Phrasemaster (4/7/07 11:39 PM) reply | + / - | The tape over the window works! Yeah! I had just printed about 400 pages (biggest job i've printed on this 5250DN, which I LOVE, by the way!!!). Then all of a sudden, message, End of Life on the toner as confirmed in the software control panel. Scratched my head. Swore. The printouts had all been perfect, no lightening, or ANYTHING, and i just KNEW there was still toner in that cartridge (I could HEAR it shaking the cartridge!).
Long story short, read the excellent post here, took a piece of scotch tape and carefully covered the hole over the sensor window on the non gear side, and then took a black permanent marker and colored in the tape over the sensor. Popped it back in place, worked like a charm! I love DIY shit like this! Besides I was really pissed off that Brother would decide FOR ME when MY cartridge was empty! I mean, COME ON! As George Orwell predicted, Big "Brother" is watching, but we still have power! Yahoo!
Thanks all!!
Mike
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jrwooden5941 (4/15/07 12:09 PM) reply | + / - | My 5250DN informed me that I was "out of toner" at a page count of 3050 pages. I applied the fix above and now at the 4880 mark - not bad. I am now getting some "background" dusting / gray that is pretty evenly distributed over the entire printable area page.
Just to make sure there was not something else wrong I put in my new spare cartridge and it prints fine, so I guess at some point even toner still available something else is going on inside the cartridge... I understand there is some type of "toner recycle" mechanism in there that might be causing the dusting, but have never had one of these units apart.
If somebody knows of another way to clear up the background toner dusting let me know eh?
Thanks,
Jim
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (4/22/07 5:47 PM) reply | + / - | Brother use a system of returning the residual print waste toner from the drum, to the toner supply hopper, via a charge brush which is in contact with the drum and charged differently during the clean cycle of the drum. The charged residual toner is transferred back to the developer roller and dropped back into the supply hopper. This is why most Brother cartridges, unlike most makes, do not have a waste toner hopper in the drum unit. When the toner is getting low, the electronics increase the charge on the developer roller to compensate for the mix of waste and good toner. This process continues until the maximum charge can no longer be accepted by the toner. This results in the charge brush failing to operate properly and hence waste toner is not returned to the toner hopper, but remains on the drum. This causes the backgrounding which appears on the printed page. Even blocking the low toner sesor will not prevent this from happening. This is a brief description of a rather lengthy complicated prcess. Submitted by Robbo.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (6/17/07 9:29 AM) reply | + / - | Robbo:
Sorry for my extreme delay in replying, thanks for the explanation!
Jim
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by djm2 (10/7/07 4:15 AM) reply | + / - | Hi there folks!
First of all I know that this is a long time since someone has posted but here is my question.
When I was at uni I bought a HL-5250DN printer and used it quite a bit. The printer comes with the low yield TN-3130 cartridge. The printer began flashing the toner light then later on the printer stopped working. I needed to print stuff for uni and didn’t have time to look into it but I knew that there was toner left as the last page printed was top quality. I bought the high yield cartridge and it started printing again.
But out of curiosity I decided to put the old cartridge back in to see what happens and it started printing again! I got the status from the printer and it thought the high yield cartridge was still in there.
So my question is if I keep using the low yield until it is finished will I have a reduced use on the new high yield cartridge when I start to use it? I mean can the printer tell what type of cartridge is in it? (I guess it can so that it can guestimate the pages left?)
Regards
Dave
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jrwooden5941 (10/7/07 2:23 PM) reply | + / - | Dave:
I don't think there is any problem with swapping cartridges in and out....
by taping over the sensor holes in each end of my original cartridge I was able to extend the life by another 1000 pages. After that the background starts to "dust up" and get dark.....
But the printer is sensing how much toner is in the cartridge so swapping them should not be an issue....
Jim
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by joanalice (11/19/07 7:19 PM) reply | + / - | Has anyone used the Brother 7820N model, and do you know how to override the "Toner end of life, replace toner" message? I have only had the toner cartridge in there one month. Thanks.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by mrgermy (11/21/07 12:23 PM) reply | + / - | I have the 5250DN. I covered the 'eyes' on both the left and the right. No go, still says no Toner.
I've tried a new cartridge and fuser, no go.
Anyone?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (11/21/07 5:02 PM) reply | + / - | I also covered the eyes on both the cartridge and the machine, on each side (this is for the 7820N). Still says NO TONER.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jrwooden5941 (11/22/07 6:42 AM) reply | + / - | I have the 5250DN and covering the eyes on both sides has helped me get a lot of extra life from the carts. I have NOT seen the "NO Toner" message, only the "LOW Toner" message...
I do not know, but perhaps the "no toner" message is generated differently -- i.e. low towner error is generated when the printer can see thru the cartridge via the eyes, but that NO toner is somehow generated differently .... page count or some firmware function?
Jim
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by ajskillet (12/14/07 9:08 AM) reply | + / - | I have a Brother HL 2070n. The no toner led is lit, even after replacing toner cartridge. I tried the tape over the sensor hole, but it still says no toner. Any ideas?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (1/2/08 3:12 PM) reply | + / - | http://www.fixya.com
This addresses your problem ajskillet.
Tried this on a 2040 starter cartridge and it also works.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by CyberK (1/5/08 11:51 AM) reply | + / - | I didn't have any electrical tape at the job so i got a black sharpie and colored it in. Works like a charm
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by lukew (1/27/08 1:12 PM) reply | + / - | I had the same problem, the LED sensor block did not work.However, ...
There is a "flag gear" that, it seems, slowly turns (counterclockwise) as the toner cartridge is used, which finally hits a stop that appears to force the toner light on and prevent printing even if there is toner left. I have a TN550 cartridge which was refusing to print, and indeed the gear was at the stopping point. To reset the gear, take the cartridge out. On the gear side take off 2 screws, the flag gear (on the tn550) is the black gear on top right side, with a small spring underneath. Just take it off and reset it (rotate clockwise) so it is not at the stopping point.
I did not reset it all the way because there was some indication in other postings that it controls certain voltages that depend on the toner level. I assume my toner is actually getting pretty low so I just turned the gear back a little bit, and the toner light turned off, and the printer prints.
See the end of this toner refill guide for a photo of the "flag gear":
http://www.castleink.com/265/cartridge/TN580.pdf
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jmanginy (2/28/08 7:57 PM) reply | + / - | I tried the tape and it worked great thanks for the advice
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by fishyink (2/28/08 8:56 PM) reply | + / - | these cartridges have a mechanicle reset on the side of the cartridge, once the cartridge is inserted in the machine the mechanicle reset is activated and will clear the toner empty message. so the only way to get the error is put a cartridge in the machine then take it out while its got toner in it then put another in then run that toner out, then put the first toner in and it wont reset the error message because the mechanicle reset has already been tripped. if that makes any sense.
the mechanicle reset can be reset by taking the side cover of the toner and put the cog back in its rightous place. that get triped once and doesnt gradually move it moves all the way when you first put the cartridge in .
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by rsd21855 (3/17/08 6:17 PM) reply | + / - | works great on MFC-8870DW also. Thanks!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by waterboss (3/24/08 1:32 PM) reply | + / - | I tried the "tape over the hole" business and it didn't work for me.
Here's the technique for the MFC-7820N machine -- open front cover, push "options", push start, push 10, (mayber push "start" again here i dont remeber) then it should read "accepted", close cover, open cover, close cover, done. Haji, my technical support guy felt that I should not have had to open and close the cover a second time after it read "accepted", but I did.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (3/30/08 7:33 AM) reply | + / - | Hi All
Anybody have a fix for TN250 cartridge in an MFC 6800.
Same problems with low toner light. Also out of toner caused shutdown. Managed to get it going again by cycling power on and off.
My problems have got worse after using after-market toner cartridges at ~$8 each but I can live with them (save $32 ).
Summary of my problems are
1 Toner shading intermittent. Sometimes gets worse as more copies are done. Sometimes starts bad and improves.
2 There is toner in cart and I would like to get low toner light off.
3 Occasional out of toner shutdown.
I have looked at the TN250, both brother and after-market, and see no window to cover!
Thanks for listening
Tom
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Me Too (4/3/08 7:47 PM) reply | + / - | I just purchased a Brother MFC-9840CDW. It uses the TN-110 (lo capacity) and TN-115 (hi capacity) toner cartridges. I only got a little over 1400 prints on the TN-110 black before it locked me out. I did look and found a little window, as described for other brother machines. I was able to put the tape over the hole in the toner cartridge tray (holds all 4) instead of putting it on the cartridge itself. It worked like a charm. I looked and there seemed to be lots of toner left. I just was able to make more prints with no degradation of quality. Thanks for the help. I will continue to use this to override the low toner signal so I can get maximum use of the toner.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by choppy (4/8/08 10:59 PM) reply | + / - | I love this "DIY shit" as well. LOL!!!
This is the best use of duct tape since Apollo 13.
I got stuck printing homework for the child late at night after the stores were closed, so this really helped out.
Thanks, I love you man.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (4/10/08 4:45 PM) reply | + / - | Works for the MFC 9440 CN also- there's a square "window" on the left side of the toner cartridge- I put a piece of masking tape over, colored it black, and it's printing again. I was getting a "end of toner" message.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by kmoffat (4/13/08 1:30 PM) reply | + / - | Any chance of harming the printer? We have the MFC-9440cn on which I just replaced the original black toner with a high yield. I haven't replaced any color carts yet. The original black low yield gave me about 1600 pages. I'm wondering if I could try this procedure in a pinch without endangering the printer. (it's an office printer, can't take chances)
Thanks,
Ken
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by bmaclane (4/19/08 11:16 AM) reply | + / - | I am about to try the cover the window trick on my MFC-9840Cdw to extend the use of toner that I know is not at the end of its actual printing life. What about the drum notices. It bugs the heck out of me that after only six months I am getting a change parts/drum warning. Thanks
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by MDCWLAF (4/29/08 1:09 PM) reply | + / - | I have the HL-2070N with TN350 cartridge.... Printer was working great with no light copies or lines until low toner error. Logged into the printer using the web browser and says only 1800 sheets printed. I just tried the tape on the side of the cartridge trick and it works great!!!! Might be able to get a few hundred more sheets out of this cartridge.
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| HL-5250 by Santacruz (4/30/08 11:07 AM) reply | + / - | For people who had this end of toner issue with the 5250dn, you simply need a star screwdriver as posted by lukew. It is easy to perform and will save you some money. Brother really disappointed me with a product that I could not be more satisfied of, up to now. (especially when that happens while printing term papers in the middle of a document!!!!)
http://www.castleink.com/265/cartridge/TN580.pdf
Thanks for the post lukew
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (5/2/08 8:14 AM) reply | + / - | I have a brother DCP-340CW printer whree the signs "Near empty Black" and "Near empty Yellow" keep coming up when full cartridges have been installed. Nothing will print.Any ideas?
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| Drum life has Ended? by Zohar (5/2/08 10:05 PM) reply | + / - | Is there a way around it.
Previously I naively purchased a new Drum, although I did feel wasting great hardware...
The Toner trick made may day.
The tricks large companies do are crazy but making us throw away technology and create tons of waste for money but for now real reason is sickening.
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (5/10/08 12:33 PM) reply | + / - | Hey Waterboss thanks for your advice. I also have a MFC-7820N and following your instructions, after pushing 10, the "Accepted" message came up, DONE! In my case no further pressing or opening/closing was needed.
Great job you all here!
LEVL
PS: Where have you found the best price for this machine's toners?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (5/14/08 11:14 PM) reply | + / - | My two Brother HL-5250DN are happy now the screws removed and the white flag gear that wants to fall out on you moved to the correct position good thing i kept all my old cartriges A big thanks again hehe go Techies ...
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (5/19/08 10:04 AM) reply | + / - | You guys are geniuses. It worked for me as well. 5250dn. What a rip off this whole cartridge, toner business is. Thank you x 100
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (6/12/08 4:54 PM) reply | + / - | HL-2070N worked!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by thibaulthalpern (6/15/08 2:08 PM) reply | + / - | Can someone help me figure out where the sensor hole is for the HL-5250DN? I'm not very savvy about these things and I can't seem to locate it. I'm also trying to get more usage out of the toner cartridge. Thanks!
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| Help with MFC-9840CDW toner reset by bubernak (6/17/08 11:25 AM) reply | + / - | I've got a MFC-9840CDW also and tried covering up the holes on both sides (first tried just the one on the gear side, then both) of my black toner cartridge when I started getting the low toner indicator, but it wouldn't work. Is there something else you guys with a MFC-9840CDW are doing to get the indicator to reset? I'm sure I'm covering up the right holes. Someone mentioned covering up the holes in the cartridge tray, I guess I can try that also, but if whoever has a MFC-9840CDW and gotten this trick to work could either email me at (mike.bubernak@lmco.com) or post back here, that would be great because now I'm getting a low toner indicator on all three of the color cartridges! Which makes me very suspicous.
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| Toner Drum Corona Wire Message by Anonymous (6/19/08 7:57 AM) reply | + / - | I bought a new drum and it still says to clean the corona drum wire. I followed instruction and cleaned each time but still does not work. Any ideas?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by ghar523 (6/24/08 9:53 PM) reply | + / - | Can someone help me find out where the sensor hole is for the HL-5140? I can't seem to locate it.
Thank you!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by fishyink (6/25/08 7:50 PM) reply | + / - | i had the same thing, clean corona drum wire.. if moving the blue thing side to side try using a compresor and blowing the corona wire and grid it worked for me. dont put the drum is sunlight or expose to much light for long periods or u will damage it.
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 | Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Brett In SoCal (6/29/08 4:57 PM) reply | + / - | Brother MFC 9440CN Toner Life End Message... The Final Solution!!!
Having gratefully read about how to defeat the toner sensor window with black electrical tape, I went to work.
Sadly, I was crushed to discover that performing this operation did not solve the problem for my accursed unit.
[Do it anyway as it will save you from these annoyingly premature warnings in future!]
Reading further, I became convinced that a reset process similar to that used to solve this problem for the Brother 2040 and 7420 models was also required here.
With nothing more to go on than responses to my emails from the good people (knuckleheads) at Brother telling me only how to install a new cartridge, I began poking around on my own 'till, after much swearing and gnashing of teeth, I figured it out:
1. With power on, open the toner access main door (You will get a "door open" message in the LCD.)
2. Hit the "Clear/Back" button and... ta-dah!!! you go right to the “Toner Reset Menu” (cue Vienna Boy's choir sounds here).
3. Using the up ^ Down > "Search" arrow buttons, you can then scroll through reset options for each of the printer's [4] toner cartridges!
Code: B. = black; C. = cyan; M. = magenta and Y. = yellow
4. For each for these cartridges is the option to reset for low yield = S (small?) or High Yield = H
5. Using the number keypad, select option #1 (to reset each to the size you have installed.
6. Hit the "Clear/Back" button to get out of the menu, close door ad the problem is FINALLY solved.
Cheers!
b.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by bubernak (6/30/08 12:41 PM) reply | + / - | Thanks for the tip, I have a 9840, but will have to try it to see if it works on mine as well. Does the 9440 use the TN-110/TN-115 toner cartridges? I too was unsuccessful with black electrical tape, but was able to get rid of the "low toner" warning and continue to use my old cartridges by removing one of the end pieces and resetting one of the gears, but this certainly sounds like a simpler solution!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Brett In SoCal (6/30/08 2:33 PM) reply | + / - | @buber...
Yes indeed... same cartridges.
I too looked at that link and had images of toner flying everywhere. Was pretty sure there was a simpler solution.
Oh, one more thing I meant to add about saving toner in the first place: you might want to try turning on the "Toner Save Mode" to stretch out your cartridge replacements.
Open Printers > go to your printer's icon > Printing Preferences...> Advanced Settings > select "Printer Functions" (far right icon) > select Toner Save Mode from menu >> turn "on".
Results look fine to me for daily use, though not suggested for grayscale or photo printing.
Best,
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by rusl (7/6/08 11:27 AM) reply | + / - | Thanks Very Much!
This worked for me using the HL-2040 with a single black tape over the clear plastic sensor hole on the non-gear side. Just printed my first (post out of toner light) page.
If this gets me another 500 pages I will be grinning because this is just the starter (half full) cartridge that came with it when I bought it.
Also I'm glad the solution is all hardware. I was worried it would be a software patch and since I'm using linux and most people windoze it wouldn't be easy. Great website, real need for this sort of thing!
Does anyone know about printers that just have a toner bottle you refill the supply yourself? Then you just buy bulk toner. I have this Toshiba photocopier from 1987 also that got great milage that way. I guess it doesn't fit the consumable cash cow business model though I bet anybody to offer a printer like that would have legions of loyal customers right away.
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jasonbraatz (7/7/08 6:15 PM) reply | + / - | for a 7820N, I tried every trick, and the only one that works is this one, as Waterboss writes but here it is a little dressed up:
For MFC-7820N (using TN-350) displaying 'Toner Life End':
1. open front cover
2. while front cover is open and machine is on, push "options"
3. push start
4. (quickly) type in '1' then '0' (typing in "10") . if you are not quick enough in this step, start from the beginning
5. the machine says 'accepted'
6. toner goes and goes
it's odd that I had this problem shortly after using a replacement toner cartridge (real Brother) but a new 2nd party drum.. seems like Brother cuts up the toner too quickly because it works fine after this
Jason
Rossi & Rovetti
www.rossirovetti.com
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Small Offices (7/13/08 10:34 AM) reply | + / - | Best write up I have ever seen on this subject, thanks to all for the information, great job. Be nice if Brother would just publish all the information and tell us what is going on.
Love the Brother printers, almost no paper jams. Have been using them from the HL-1240 thru the 1440, 5250DN, MFC-8660DN printers thru the years. Have bought at least 16 Brothers printers, love the low cost per copy. Watch for the printers on sale, new printers on sale are cheaper than buying replacement drums.
Reasonable quality paper helps, 22lb or 24lb works a little better than 20lb paper. 16lb paper works but don't use it except when required for special jobs.
Thanks to all.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (7/27/08 9:25 PM) reply | + / - | Yay! It works! I have a Brother MFC-9840CDW that I just got last week. Had printed 650+ copies (about 2/3 black, the rest in color) when the black "low toner" started coming on. And then the dreaded "toner life ended".
Took me a bit to get it to work, and I'm still not sure which "hole" I was supposed to cover up. I ended up putting small pieces of duct tape over 3 different possible "holes". The first time I tried it with scotch tape over the square "window" and black-sharpied over that, but it didn't do anything. So, either I had the wrong spot or it needed something more solid like the duct tape.
Still, if someone who has done this successfully could clarify which place exactly needs to be taped over, that will make it easier for me to do the color cartridges when they start saying "low toner" too.
Thanks in advance! So happy I found this fix, thanks to the person on Amazon who shared this link in his review of the printer. And happy that it worked!
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Rajnish Babbar (8/5/08 10:31 AM) reply | + / - | I have a Brother 7820n. I was running into the same problem. Thanks to this post, here is what I did and it worked just fine.
1. Open front cover
2. Press Start
3. push buttons 1 and 0 (for 10)
4. It says Accepted.
5. The printer printed beautifully afterward.
That was it... Hope it helps someone else. Regards
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by kmoffat (8/5/08 11:51 AM) reply | + / - | How much life does this procedure add to the cartridges? Not sure if it's worth the time.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by rims (8/8/08 5:00 AM) reply | + / - | I have a MFC-7220 which uses the TN-350 toner
I had a "End of toner life" message.
I covered up the reader holes. This did not work.
There is a "reset gear" you need to "flop over" for it to think there's a new toner in...You may need to roll the big black roller for it to move freely...
Here is link to a picture of what the gear looks like. It does not come with "starter" cartrages...
http://www.cdrdvdrmedia.com
have fun with that...
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by ShelleySanz (8/8/08 10:06 AM) reply | + / - | I've been using a combination of these procedures since I got my MFC-9840CDW printer a couple weeks ago. A few things to note. Even after putting tape over the sensor hole on the left, I sometimes still have gotten the low toner message later on, even when the output still looks fine. I covered the hole on the right (the plastic one) to get more life out of the cartridge. Taking the cartridge out and shaking it a bit sometimes helps too.
To answer the question above about whether this is worth the trouble, to me it certainly is because I now switch cartridges when the output shows me that the toner is running out -- not when some message tells me to do it! The additional number of prints you can get from this method will vary depending on how much coverage there is on your page. I have gotten at least 500 more prints since the first "toner low" message came on, and I have been printing almost full-page prints.
I do suggest changing to "toner save" mode if you're printing something that doesn't have to be at the very highest quality. It basically just prints lighter.
One thing I will say about this printer regarding the comments I've read about "it's just like having a Kinko's in your own office/home." Well, it is... and it isn't. The "cost-per-page" that I've read for this printer is something like 12 cents/page. Sounds much better than Kinko's, Staples, Office Depot (they all run from 29-49 cents/page on sale), right?
The problem is that the estimated pages-per-cartridge is based on an "industry standard" of 5% coverage. A Brother CSR explained to me that would be like a 1-inch solid square per page. Well, who prints that?! I am printing full-page, full-color flyers. And there's the difference -- if I print/copy these at Kinko's, I pay the same price whether every inch of the page is covered in color, or only one inch is.
I like the convenience of having this printer at home. Cost-wise, though, I most likely could save some money going to Kinko's. Especially for full-color, big jobs. As quickly as I've gone through toner (even using all the tricks I learned on this forum, which have helped a lot, and even after finding the least expensive place to buy toner online -- Provantage dot com), I would guess it's costing me about 25-35 cents/page. I have not been using the "toner save" though -- hopefully I can reduce the cost by using that more.
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/8/08 6:42 PM) reply | + / - | A quick analysis here...
I print very basic text pages and am getting around 3300+ pages per toner.
A Toner being about $63.00ea for 3300 prints and a drum being about $102.00 for 15k+ prints works out to about 2.6 cents per print.
Divide the cost of the printer ($150.00) by the number of total prints I have on it so far (24k) and my TOTAL print cost works out to about 3.2 cents per print. And that's if the printer craps out at 24k prints. The longer it goes, the cheaper they get)
Of course you'd have to figure in electricity costs too, which would actually be pretty negligable at about $0.00006 per print. ($0.08 per KillowattHour / 1,200 PrintsPerHour) (The manual tells me that the printer peaks at 1k watts. This figure assumes it's peaking for the entire hour)
Getting the extra 500 or so prints out of each cartradge and you could possibly get your print costs down to about 2.8 cents per print which, at this point, would have already translated into $96.00 for me so far...If this printe makess it to 37k prints it will have paid for the cost of another printer...totally worth the 5 minutes it takes to put tape over the holes...Thanks guys.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by kmoffat (8/8/08 7:12 PM) reply | + / - | That's an excellent analysis.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Astride (8/21/08 5:38 PM) reply | + / - | Have a HL 650D. Can you tell me exactly where this hole is? Is it on the right side of the toner cartridge, itself?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by leathergurl (8/22/08 7:36 AM) reply | + / - | Okay, I feel really stupid but both sides of the toner cartridge look pretty much the same to me. Looking at the cartridge as it sits in the machine, which side is the "non-gear" side?
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| Re: Drum life has Ended? by Kay Haitch (8/22/08 9:38 AM) reply | +1 + / - | Leave your old drum unit in the printer. Then reset the drum counter, just as you are told to when installing a new drum. The old drum will now indicate it has 100% life left. And it will print perfectly for another 20,000 pages. That's another year for me. (I wouldn't do this trick on the same drum a second time, as parts may start to wear out and cause damage to the printer.) I discovered this when I was replacing the drum with a new one, and mistakenly put the old one back in - and it kept working. Saves you up to $180!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by jaredtrice (8/22/08 11:00 AM) reply | + / - | Where exactly is the sensor located on a Brother MFC-3220C?
Also, what does it look like?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Temporary Tom (8/22/08 11:29 AM) reply | + / - | jaredtrice,
I'm also curious if I can find a similar fix for my (second) MFC-3360C multi-function unit. My first worked great for a couple years, then started spitting pages out half-printed. Paper-feed trigger wasn't damaged. Nearest service site is 3 hours away, so I only talked with a printer tech there over the phone and he admitted he hadn't a clue why it might be doing that.
So I bought another one, they are cheap after all. Next one showed up, I swapped the previously just fine printer cartridges, but the new printer error message read "no cartridge installed". So I popped brand new, out of the package ones in, and it read the same thing. Brother's service said that occasionally happened with "non-Brother" brand cartridges, but never seemed to be a problem with Brother cartridges.
I paid the UPS rate to send it to the service site. The tech called a few days later to say the problem was fixed, but the cartridges I sent were "bad", and since they didn't want to pay for cartidges themselves did I want to buy them so he could verify that it was fixed? No.
So it's on its way back to me and I have little doubt it isn't going to work.
But looking at the cartridges, I notice there's a kind of indented, clear-plastic block-window that shows ink level. When my printer comes back I'm going to explore how to black this out and see if that helps...if it's just a cartridge sensor problem.
Very much Appreciate the article! It's actually pretty unsettling the company managers often feel it's ok to scam their customers for profit. I'm sure they tell themselves it's no big deal, and go home to their family's and civic clubs and such and think they're perfectly wonderful people. But the reality is that doing dishonest, scammy things means you're basically a dishonest, scammy person. Or company.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by hagan (8/22/08 2:21 PM) reply | + / - | since i finally figured this out I thought I would post this for anyone who has the
HL-4040 CN printer - or one similar
After seeing the hitting the buttons with the door open tricks for different models I tried anything that sounded like it had the same buttons my 4040 has... nothing on here worked so I just started hitting combinations of buttons with the door open - wow there are quite a few hidden menus there
For the toner life reset menu:
1 Open the front cover of the printer
2 press and hold the cancel button
3 press the reprint button while still holding cancel
- here is the reset menu - go to the appropriate cartridge on
- the menu and reset it and you're done!
FYI... Pressing the "Go" button and the up arrow gives you the parts life reset menu (drum, laser, fuser, etc.)
I also did the electric tape over the windows - which worked before the reset - but I thought this fact would be helpful too.
For anyone that is asking "what window?" I think it is the clear plastic opening on the sides of the cartridges where you can actually see the powder inside the cartridge - the color of the toner (magenta, yellow, or cyan). I didnt really know that for sure when I tried, but it made sense, and it worked. So I am fairly sure that is the "window" you should be trying to cover.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by paulv (8/22/08 6:27 PM) reply | + / - | I have TN 330 toner cartridge from a Brother HL-2140. Would you please tell me in more detail where the sensor hole is? Thank you.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by erlene James (8/23/08 3:11 PM) reply | + / - | Where is the toner hole (to be covered) on the HL-2040?
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 6:47 PM) reply | + / - | If you find out please let me know as i have the same printer. Thanks!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 7:09 PM) reply | + / - | does this trick work on brother mfc 440cn printers????
already replace black once and one of the colors already
does it work on colors, also???
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 7:20 PM) reply | + / - | You are a genius!! Thanks for the tip!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by kiten1313 (8/23/08 7:29 PM) reply | + / - | Does this work on other printers as well? I have a lexmark Z22 and am always running out of ink.
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 7:55 PM) reply | + / - | I have brother hl-2040. Can't find clear plastic hole on non gear side. Have clear plastic "ring" around a black center. If that's it, do I cover the whole thing(clear part) or just the center??
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 7:57 PM) reply | + / - | I have brother hl-2040. Can't find clear plastic hole on non gear side. Have clear plastic "ring" around a black center. If that's it, do I cover the whole thing(clear part) or just the center??
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by lcplemh1123 (8/23/08 8:07 PM) reply | + / - | i have a brother mfc 665 any tips on how to trick my printer?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by lcplemh1123 (8/23/08 8:09 PM) reply | + / - | i have a brother mfc 665 any tips on how to trick my printer?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 8:20 PM) reply | + / - | You are a rock star! Thanks for posting! - JM
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 8:35 PM) reply | + / - | I have a brother MFC 7420, does this apply to this model also
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by MESA GIRL (8/23/08 8:55 PM) reply | + / - | I WAS READ YOUR POST AND WAS WONDERING IF IT WOULD WORK ON LEXMARK X2500 IF YOU KNOW ANY THING PLEASE LET ME KNOW THANKS
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 9:08 PM) reply | + / - | I have a 420CN, so must be similar to your 440. do not know if you got a responce to your question but I have gone the other route to cut down on cartridge costs. I buy bulk ink from printersink.com and inject it into the supposedly depleted cartridge...have not figured what that cost is per but WAY less than buying brand name ones. I still would like to know if there is a trick to your 440...I take it that it is and injet printer like my 420. Anyway nice to have ways to get around the ungodly cost of cartridges.
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 | Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by chaligal (8/23/08 9:30 PM) reply | +1 + / - | Anybody found a way to "trick" the Epson Stylus CX6000 inkjet printer? This thing uses ink like crazy...I am CONSTANTLY having to change the ink. Once its "says" its low, you cannot print anything...any tips would be greatly appreciated!!!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by blueyes467 (8/23/08 9:48 PM) reply | + / - | Does anyone know if we can do this to a Lexmark printer cartridge? I'm so tired of paying $60 every couple months...it would be wonderful to bypass these cartridges as well, and get more use from them when I know full well that they are not empty.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Alan Lambert (8/23/08 9:56 PM) reply | + / - | Could someone post a picture of the sensor hole please?---Is it the square hole on the non-gear side, which is matched by one on the gear side???
Thanks
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by ClancyBA (8/23/08 10:51 PM) reply | + / - | What about a KodakESP3
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by ClancyBA (8/23/08 10:54 PM) reply | + / - | What about a KodakESP3
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (8/23/08 11:57 PM) reply | + / - | you are a genius.
worked for me.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by rchrdfire (8/24/08 12:47 PM) reply | + / - | How about the TN-430
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by irish (8/24/08 5:45 PM) reply | + / - | How about HP Officejet J6450?
Shh, I don't want it to hear me.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by easygoingimp (8/26/08 7:35 AM) reply | + / - | Does anyone have experience with the Brother MFC-5660CN Cartridges?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by AmeriToner (8/26/08 1:11 PM) reply | + / - | If you are using an aftermarket cartridge without the sensor window make sure the tab on the side is facing approximately 10am and not 3pm. Many of the Brother models are finnicky on a cartridge replacement. I always 1. unplug the Brother. 2. Take out cartridge. 3. Put new cartridge in but leave the door open. 4. Plug in machine and close door.
Seems to work most of the time
Stuart
AmeriToner.com
888-276-1579 x210
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by JUPPO (8/28/08 8:42 AM) reply | + / - | I want to override toner replacement on a Brother laser HL1400. Anyone know a semi-permanent technique such as the electrical-tape-over for my machine? I used a page reset code, but it's a pain to do it every time I want to print. I don't see an eye or a white switch that is mentioned on other Brothers. Here's the page count reset I'm using if anyone wants it:
1. Open the front cover and leave open while completing the following steps.
2. Turn the printer off.
3. Hold the 'go' button while turning the printer on. All panel lights should be on.
4. Release the 'go' button.
5. Press the 'go' button 2 times.
6. Pause.
7. Press the 'go' button 5 times.
8. The toner light should be off.
9. The paper light should be on or flashing.
10. Close cover. The ready light should be the only light on.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by saagpaneer (9/3/08 1:54 PM) reply | + / - | Thanks for the tip in the original post. FYI, it also works for the Brother HL-4070CDW, and I'd guess for the HL-4050CDN.
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| To clarify ... by saagpaneer (9/3/08 2:00 PM) reply | + / - | For the HL series:
1 Open the front cover of the printer
2 press and hold the cancel button
3 press the reprint button while still holding cancel
- here is the reset menu - go to the appropriate cartridge on
- the menu and reset it and you're done!
FYI... Pressing the "Go" button and the up arrow gives you the parts life reset menu (drum, laser, fuser, etc.)
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by hagan (9/3/08 6:40 PM) reply | + / - | sagg... Yeah I did some checking and that combo of button pressing that I happened upon should work for all HL series Brothers from what I can tell.
I am going to try to make a list of the hidden menus for my own reference. If I dont I will need them for sure later and have to start over again. When I get it, I'll post it here.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by hagan (edited 9/3/08 8:24 PM) reply | + / - | I also found a site from someone who took DESCRIPTIVE pics of an INKJET cartridge and what to cover up.... :)
THIS one is for INKJETS though as you can obviously tell when you view the page at this link:
journal.drfaulken.com/trick-your-brother-inkjet-into-working-when-an-i nk-cartridge-runs-dry/
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by hagan (edited 9/3/08 8:06 PM) reply | + / - | I am still looking for something for laser printers that might help ... like i said I just guessed what to cover and it worked :) I didnt know for sure what anyone was talking about with the "window" - Could it be a coincidence and I covered up the wrong thing? Maybe... and then all this typing below would be worthless :(
look for a clear round plastic piece on the side of the toner cartridge (on mine it is on both sides i dont know if it is the same on all) everything else will be black plastic and this will be clear - you should be able to see the actual color of the toner through this clear round plastic part if there is any toner in there and its not empty (which is why were all here) - like this... if it is the cyan cartridge you should be able to see blue powder through this clear part on the side, if its yellow cartridge you should see yellow powder and so on - tilt the cartridge back and forth and look at the side to watch for the powder (toner) to cover up the clear hole when you tilt it that way - i took electric tape and put it right over this part on both sides then magically (after turning the printer off and on) I could print - from looking at pics of different laser toner cartridges online, they all look to be pretty similar so I would think this would be pretty close to accurate for most of them - the HL 4040 that i have uses the TN115 cartridges or the high yield version.
i think it only matters if you cover a "window" on one side of the cartridge though - according to what i read a light is sent all the way through the cartridge and if it is "sensed" on the other side it "thinks" the cartridge is empty - so covering up the "window" on either side of the cartridge will block the light from making it through
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| Re: Brother HL 1440 also by tbill (9/4/08 4:41 PM) reply | + / - | tried your black electrical tape trick on mine under the same circumstances.. removed the cartridge and placed small pieces of elec tape over small circular holes on either side of the cartridge holder, rather than the cartridge itself. Alarm buttons went off immediately and it is printing up a storm.
thanks much guys.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by marcel_id (9/8/08 9:57 AM) reply | + / - | Hi,
OK, have a Brother 5250DN, Toner light on, although filled cartridge in printer.
Will refuse printing.
Covered all sensor holes, that did not help.
Put a brand-new cartridge in, now all is fine, light is off, printing goes again.
And then , here the trick: put the other cartridge back in -> voila, now it works.
Not sure if I understand this one, but hey, it worked for me!
enjoy the cartridge ride . .
Marcel
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| No Subject by Anonymous (9/8/08 12:52 PM) reply | + / - | Hello ppl, I had just solved my problem, when my Brother laser printer DCP-7010 was started showing toner life end. So u ppl do two things. 1. Stick the black electrical tape over the two eyes of your printer sensor, which detect cartridge toner inside.
2. And again move ur cartridge gear like white button to the circular left side. This can be easily done by opening cartridge
left side small cover.
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (9/8/08 3:28 PM) reply | + / - | You are the BOMB! Thanks for not giving up and finding a solution. I was racking my head against the wall after trying the electrical tape method on my MFC 9840CDW with no success and the Toner Life End message continuing to plague my dreams!
I owe you a beer!
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| Re: Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner over by BrettinSoCal (9/8/08 11:11 PM) reply | + / - | Fight the man!!!
I am otherwise very happy with the product... in fact, have since purchased a 2nd new model 2140 for $45 (Staples) and LOVE it too... but this toner thing really made me feel taken advantage of...
Enough!!! ;-D
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by AdrienneL (9/9/08 10:54 AM) reply | + / - | Thank you!!!! I have a 4070 and your trick worked perfectly!
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| Can't Find the Sensor on the Cartridge by Anonymous (9/9/08 8:55 PM) reply | + / - | I have a Brother HL-2040 and can't find the sensor I should put tape over. Could someone let me know exactly what it looks like and where it is. I'm not very tech-savvy.
Thanks.
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| Re: Brother MFC 9440 CN leaving marks on paper by Gold City PS (9/10/08 12:01 AM) reply | + / - | Our Brother printer MFC9440 CN is leaving marks all over our printing like splatters everywhere. We have cleaned the drum unit but it still leaves all the marks. Any ideas?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (9/10/08 12:15 PM) reply | + / - | Could you tell me where the sensor hole is - what does it look like? I don't see it anywhere. Do I take the toner out of the drum - it is on the toner cartridge or drum? Would red duct tape work or does it have to be black?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by TylerDurdenPrinterUs (9/10/08 3:05 PM) reply | + / - | Confirmed trick on the MFC-8460N. Saved my office and my job. TAKE THAT BROTHER!
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (9/11/08 11:53 AM) reply | + / - | I taped over the window on the cartridges for the Brother MFC-685CW and it worked. There's ink in ther still
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (9/12/08 1:36 AM) reply | + / - | Warning! Please read this remark carefully.
People in this forum have found out all kind of tricks to override “toner empty/toner end of live messages”. The reason you still can print with an almost empty cartridge is a mechanical one. The remaining toner prevents possible mechanical problems. In other words, the remaining toner has a smearing function, it works like “oil” in the toner cartridge. There is a possibilty that the tonercartridge stops turning around in case of covering both "eyes". As a possible result, the toner drive gears inside the machine all will be destroyed! End of machine live!! Another reason is to prevent leakage of the toner unit. The developer roller has mechanical limits and its developed for a certain amount of cycles. Conclusion: there is no commercial reason for Brother, but just to prevent mechanical problems.
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| Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by ladyolene (9/17/08 6:20 PM) reply | + / - | Exactly where is this window on the cartridge tray? My Brother MFC9840CDW is saying "Toner Life End" with new hi-capacity cartridges just installed.
Thanks Everyone
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (9/21/08 6:02 PM) reply | + / - | The reset as posted by Hagan worked GREAT on my HL-4070CDW. I also taped over the clear windows on both sides of the cartridge
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by tsatiyeh (9/24/08 7:31 AM) reply | +1 + / - | For the Brother HL-4070cdw, if you get the Tone Life End message, and are no longer allowed to print, try this...
1) Open the front door - the message 'Cover is Open' will appear.
2) Press and hold the cancel button.
3) Press the Reprint button - the message 'Reset Parts Life' should appear.
4) Then do the following:
B.TNR-H - accepted should display. Press ^
B.TNR-S - accepted should display. Press ^
Y.TNR-H - accepted should display. Press ^
Y.TNR-S - accepted should display. Press ^
M.TNR-H - accepted should display. Press ^
M.TNR-S - accepted should display. Press ^
C.TNR-H - accepted should display. Press ^
C.TNR-S - accepted should display. Press ^
5) Cancel
6) Close the front door.
You should be able to print, assuming your HL-4070cdw still has toner and drum life left.
I believe the above sequence clears the toner for Black, Yellow, Magenta and Cyan for the High capacity or Standard capacity toner cartridge.
None of the stats for your printer will be reset (ie Image Count, Drum Count, Drum Life, Belf Life, PF KitMPLife, PF Kit|Life, Fuser Life or Laser life) and your print totals will still be unchanged (ie Toner page count, color page count, monochrome page count).
Tom
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| brother mfc 7220 bad drum and ink issue by khatsmeow (9/25/08 11:29 AM) reply | + / - | I have no idea how to find the sensor on my machine to black out with a marker or tape to get more prints. also, my drum is bad after owning the machine 6 months! I called staples where I bought it and the extended warranty of course (which i was assured would cover everything) and of course the drum isn't covered. They want to charge me $159.00 for a new drum. Please please please give me detailed instructions on how I can extend my ink and fix this drum issue.
my faxes are coming out with a black line on the left side of every page.
thank you oh so much!
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| Re: Brother inkjet printer by WS Cheang (9/25/08 7:52 PM) reply | + / - | Has anyone tried to overide Brother DCP 135C inkjet printer?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (9/27/08 10:27 AM) reply | + / - | I have brother-240C printer with LC51 Cartridges. Can't find hole or censor to tape or mark it black.
Can anyone post video on "YOUTUBE" showing cartridge how they did it. That would be way better than saying "It Worked".
Everyone have diff. model of brother.
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge MFC-240C by Parminder (9/27/08 10:30 AM) reply | + / - | How many of you posted video on "YOUTUBE" how you guys did it succesfully as Thanx?
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| Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner override by Anonymous (10/7/08 3:17 PM) reply | + / - | Excuse me, does anybody know if this works for a MFC9840CDW? I bought high yield toners two days ago and now the printer says the toners are low. I appreciate it.
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| Re: Re: Re: Brother toner cartridge low toner over by HandsOn/BrainOff (10/8/08 1:36 PM) reply | + / - | | I finally resolved this problem on my HL-2040 by resetting the "toner empty" mechanical flag on the side of the cartridge. I had to remove three screws to remove the plate that covers the gearing, and then manually move a white plastic gear about 90 degrees counter clockwise so that indicator "arm" was pointing to about 10'oclock (it was at 3 o'clock before adjusting it). The whole procedure took about 5 minutes. |
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