Brother Printer Troubleshooting Guide

Brother printer users often report that the device stops printing and, at times, fails to deliver good quality prints. So, we did our research to find out the common problems and developed this Brother printer troubleshooting guide to help every user. 

In this guide, we will explain to you why your Brother printer is giving you poor quality prints, why it is not printing the black ink, what is causing the printer status to be offline or paused, and a lot more. We will also give you 6 well-researched solutions to fix these issues. In addition to that, you will also learn here the Brother printer troubleshooting solutions for Windows 7 and Windows 10. 

Common Brother Printer Problems and their Causes

Here we have explained the common problems with the Brother printers and the possible causes of these problems. 

1. Brother Printer offline or Paused Status

In case your Brother printer status is offline or paused, then you will not be able to use the device at all. The most common cause of the Brother printer offline is a faulty network connection. By performing the procedure for Brother printer troubleshooting, you can bring the device back to the normal state of printing. You should also note that installing a faulty printer driver can cause your printer to be offline. Happily, you can always reinstall the Brother printer driver to eradicate this error. 

2. Brother Printer Paper Jam

If you are getting unwanted impressions on the prints or the printing process is getting obstructed then a paper jam could be causing the error. By opening your Brother printer and removing the parts, you can inspect the interiors of the machine for jammed paper or scraps.

3. Brother Printer not Printing Black

Brother printer troubleshooting is required when your device stops printing black. This problem usually occurs when the black cartridge runs out of ink or is completely empty. The procedure for Brother printer troubleshooting not printing black can help you in resolving this problem.

4. Brother Printer won’t Scan

If your Brother printer won’t scan in Windows 10, then there may be an error in the network setting of the scanner driver. Other reasons for this problem can be incorrect Brother printer IP address, a loose printer connection or some firewall settings that may be disabling the Brother printer from scanning.

Brother Printer Troubleshooting With 5 Solutions

We hope, by now, you would have understood several kinds of Brother printer problems and the possible causes of these. Let us now read the Brother printer troubleshooting solutions to put an end to these problems. 

Solution 1

Brother Printer Troubleshooting Offline or Paused Status

Using this Brother troubleshooting printer solution, you can remove the offline status for Windows and Mac. Let us first look at the procedure for Windows.

Solution 1.1

Brother Printer Troubleshooting Offline or Paused Status for Windows

Follow the 4-step detailed procedure given below to fix the error in Windows.

1. In Windows 8, go to “Control Panel” and click on “Hardware and Sound”. Under this option, you will find “Devices and Printers”. Make sure that your device has a green tick. For Windows 7, go to “Start” and tap “Devices and Printers”. If you don’t find the tick on your device then right-click on its icon and select the option “Set as default printer”. 

2. Now, right-click again on your Brother printer’s icon, tap the option “See what’s printing” and click on “Cancel all documents”. If the option is not available, then go to the option “Open as administrator” and click “Yes” after filling in your password. Then select “Cancel all documents”. 

3. Again click on your device’s icon, tap “See what’s printing”, choose “Printer”, and select “Use printer offline”. If the option is unavailable, then click on “Open as administrator”, enter your password and press “Ok”.

4. If the status is paused under “See what’s printing”, then click on it to resume. You will have to enter your password in “Open as administrator” in case the option is grayed out. 

Tip: In certain instances, a copy of your Brother printer icon may get formed in “Devices and Printers”. This usually happens when the USB port connected to the device is changed or the printer driver gets installed twice. So, it will be helpful to check for a copy of the device icon and select the one that is working. 

Solution 1.2

Brother Printer Troubleshooting Offline or Paused Status for Mac

This short procedure is only 4 steps long.

1. The first step involves opening the “Apple Menu”, then selecting the “System Preferences” and tapping on “Printers & Scanners”.

2. Select your device in “Printers” and check your printer driver besides “Kind”. In case “AirPrint” driver is chosen, then go to “Apple Menu”. Select “Printers & Scanners” under “System Preferences” and hit the “+” button. 

3. Click the “Default” icon and find your device in the list. Your “model name + CUPS” should be selected under the “Use list”. Press “Add”. 

4. The paused or offline status will have been removed and your device will be available for use. Then click on “Quit System Preferences” in the “Apple Menu”.

Note: In case “model name + CUPS” is unavailable, we will recommend you to install the latest printer driver. 

Solution 2

Brother Printer Troubleshooting Paper Jam

1. Now, we will tell you the solution to the most commonly encountered problem. To clear the Brother printer paper jam, consider the 4 steps mentioned here. 

2. Unplug your device and remove the telephone line cord if connected. Pull out the paper tray. Search for jammed paper and remove it. Then place the tray back in the device. 

3. Now, pull up the scanner cover. Examine the position of the print head. If it is in the corner, bring it to the center slowly and check underneath for jammed paper. Remove the bits when you find them. Also, look at the right and left sides for pieces of paper. Then close the scanner cover. 

4. Power on your Brother printer and connect the telephone line cord again. The Brother printer paper jam error will have been settled. 

Solution 3

Brother Printer Troubleshooting not Printing Black

When your Brother printer stops printing black, you may have run out of ink especially when you print frequently; but if that is not the correct reason, then you can try the few steps given here. 

1. Ensure that the breather tape has been removed off the ink cartridge.

2. The ink in black cartridge may be low in levels. We will suggest you to replace it with a new one.

3. Check whether the black cartridge is of low quality or not. If yes, then replace it with the cartridge recommended in the Brother printer manual.

4. In case of printhead clogging, consider cleaning it. 

Solution 4

Brother Printer Troubleshooting on Windows 10

In case you are a Windows 10 user and facing trouble to print or scan via your Brother printer, we will advise you to remove the driver history, uninstall the Brother printer software, and then reinstall it. You can follow the 10 steps given below to perform this fix. 

Note: Disconnect the USB cable attached to your Brother printer, if any.

1. Go to “Control Panel”, open “Hardware and Sound”, and select “Devices and Printers”. Right-click on your Brother printer icon and tap “Remove Device”. Click “Yes” to confirm.

2. After the removal, left-click on another device. Then select “Print server properties”. Hit the tab “Drivers” to see any entries for your device. Select the entries and remove them, if any. 

3. Go back to “Control Panel”. Select “Programs” and then click on “Programs and Features”. Select and delete the entries, and then restart your system. 

4. After rebooting is complete, go to the Brother’s Support Website and click on “Downloads”. Fill in your device’s model in the search box. Press “Search” after choosing your operating system. In case Windows 10 is unavailable, then go ahead with Windows 8.1.

5. A page will open carrying your device’s model name. Look for “Utilities” on the page and hit “Uninstall Tool”. You will be prompted to agree with the End-user License Agreement after which a download will begin. Thereafter, tap “Run”. Browse and save the file on “Desktop” and choose “Decompress”.

6. Open the new folder “remPnP” on the “Desktop” and click on “BrRemPnP.exe” file. Click on “Confirm” when prompted to make changes to your system. Choose your device’s model from the dropdown menu and press “Ok”. 

7. To install the Brother printer software again, visit the Brother’s Support Website. Tap “Downloads” and enter the printer model in the search box. Choose the operating system. Go for Windows 8.1 when Windows 10 is unavailable. Hit “Search”.

8. Click on “Full Driver & Software Package and agree to the End-user License Agreement. Then click on “Download” followed by tapping “Run”. The Brother printer software will begin to download. Choose your language after the completion. 

9. Restart your computer after the installation is done. Connect the USB cable again to your Brother printer and system after the rebooting is complete. 

10. Lastly, print a test page. The error will have been fixed by now. 

Solution 5

Brother Printer Troubleshooting on Windows 7

For those of you who are unable to print from their Brother printer on Windows 7, here is a procedure to reinstall the Brother printer driver as a quick fix for the problem. 

Check the 7 simple steps for this quick fix.

1. Your device and computer should be on. Login to your system with Administrative rights. Put in the CD you had received with the Operating System into the CD drive. Select your language on the language screen if it pops up and then open “My Computer”. Click twice on the “MFL-PRO” icon. 

2. Tap “Advanced” in the CD-ROM main menu. Then go to “Repair MFL-Pro Suite”. You will be asked to click “Yes” to turn off the machine and remove the USB cable. After that, select “Local Connection (USB) and press “Next”. 

3. Now, you will be prompted to connect the cable. Lift the scanner cover of the printer and lock it in the open position. Attach the USB cable to the USB socket inside your device. Route the cable into the cable channel and out of the device’s back. Now, close the scanner cover. 

4. Connect the power cord to start your printer and the installation will continue. Wait for some time for the installation to finish. Make sure that you do not cancel any of the screens during the process. 

5. When an “On-Line Registration” screen appears, go through the on-screen set of instructions and then click on “Next”. After the setup is complete, you can uncheck the option “Set as default printer” if you so wish and click “Next”. Then uncheck the option “Trial Photo Print”. 

6. Tick “Yes, I want to restart my computer now” and hit “Finish”. Your system will restart after which you will have to login with the administrator rights. Then the “Check for firmware updates” screen will emerge. Select the firmware update settings and proceed by pressing “Ok”.

7. Now, the “Brother Product Research & Support Program” will begin. Follow the instructions on your screen. After this, try to print. The error will have been sorted now. 

Note: After performing this procedure, if you are still not able to print, then the USB cable could be faulty or incorrect. Perform the procedure with another USB cable to fix the problem. 

Brother Printer Troubleshooting & Model Compatibility

The Brother printer troubleshooting solutions provided in this blog can be used for the following Brother Multifunction Printer series:

These solutions can also work for the Brother DCP Printers given below:

You can use these solutions to troubleshoot the Brother laser printer models mentioned in the table:

These solutions can be helpful for the following Brother Printer models too:

To Conclude

We hope, after reading this Brother printer troubleshooting guide, you would have fixed your device and begun printing your important documents. Just like this informative piece, we have another useful blog with solutions for Brother printer offline. Also, if you are looking for more solutions to fix Brother printer paper jam, then you can have a look at our well-explained guide.