Have you been facing issues in printing because your Brother printer keeps going offline? Fixing the Brother printer offline issue is indeed necessary when you rely on this gadget heavily for work. As long as it is offline, you will not be able to print anything. Furthermore, the documents you want to print will keep forming a big print queue.
In this blog, we will discuss with you what the Brother printer offline problem is, what causes it to be offline and what you can do to fix the problem.
Why is My Brother Printer Offline?
When your Brother printer says offline and won’t print, then this is an error in the status of the printer. This error does not allow your system to communicate with your Brother printer, as a result of which the documents do not get printed. This is quite a common error and there can be certain causes of it, such as connectivity issues and faulty drivers.
In the following section, we will give you a closer look at the causes of Brother printer offline.
There can be several reasons when Brother printer says offline but it’s not. A faulty printer driver is one of the most common causes of this problem. When a driver has been installed in your system that does not support your Brother printer, then the printing status is likely to be offline. Another problem could be that the port assigned to your Brother printer is not static.
Sometimes, the antivirus software in your system can also cause the Brother printer showing offline error by blocking the actions of the machine. One more common cause of Brother printer offline error in Windows is the enabling of a feature through which you can use your printer when it is offline. At times, this feature can form a queue of the print commands instead of printing them.
Now, let us focus on how to fix Brother printer offline.
How do I Stop My Brother printer keeps going offline?
Here we have given 8 solutions for how to get a Brother printer from offline to online. We have also provided a set of clear instructions so that you can resolve the error quickly.
Fix -1
Disable the Antivirus Software
We discussed in the above section that sometimes the antivirus software or the Firewall can pause the actions of the Brother printer. To troubleshoot this cause, it would be best to disable the antivirus software or the Firewall.
Look at the 7 easy steps given below to turn it off:
1. Search for “Microsoft Security Essentials” in your system.
2. Right-click on the icon of “Microsoft Security Essentials” and press “Open”.
3. Now, go to “Settings” and then select “Real Time Protection”.
4. You will see a checkbox near the option “Turn on real time protection”. Untick it.
5. The next step is to press “Save changes”.
7. Now close the “Microsoft Security Essentials” and the antivirus program will get disabled.
Fix 2
Disable SNMP to Resolve Brother Printer Status Offline
SNMP or the Simple Network Management Protocol can also cause the Brother printer offline error. It can change the system of the printer from online to offline, thus preventing the machine from functioning.
Learn how to turn Brother printer from offline to online by disabling the Simple Network Management Protocol in 8 quick steps.
1. When your system is on, press the “Windows” key and the “R” key.
2. Now, a dialogue box will appear. Type “control” in it and then hit the “Enter” key.
3. The control panel will open. Under the option of “Hardware and Sound”, you have to choose “View Devices and Printers”.
4. When you see your Brother printer listed, right-click on it for the “Printer properties”.
5. After selecting this option, look for the port with which your Brother printer is connected. Then select the port and press “Configure port”.
6. You will find the option of “SNMP Status Enabled” in the port configuring settings. You have to uncheck this option and then save the changes.
7. Now, press “Exit”.
8. To check the Brother printer offline issue, give a test print. The issue will have been resolved.
Fix 3
Checking the IP Address
Are you wondering how to change Brother printer from offline to online by checking the IP address? Sometimes, the user needs to verify that the IP address being used by the Brother printer is not dynamic because then it will change its IP address. This happens when the lease of the IP address gets expired by the router. By verifying the validity of the IP address, the Brother printer offline issue may not arise.
To check the validity of your IP address, consider the 6 small steps given below.
1. Go to the printer properties and then select “Ports”.
2. Select a Static IP address for your Brother printer.
3. The next step is to select “Configure port”.
Note: Do not select the “WSD” port as this can interfere with the printing status.
4. You will now be required to check the port name as well as the address. The most important part of this step is to ensure that the name and the address correspond to the system being used by you at present.
5. After the checking has been done, save the changes and then exit.
6. Now, try to print. The Brother printer offline issue will have been corrected.
Fix 4
Turning Off the Print Offline Feature
As we have discussed earlier, when the print offline feature has been enabled, especially in Windows 10, then the documents to be printed will pile up in the print queue. So, in this solution, we will learn how to make Brother printer online from offline by turning off the print offline feature in Windows 10.
Follow these 5 simple steps to disable the print offline feature:
1. The initial step is to go to the “Printer properties”.
2. The next step is to right-click on the printer and then choose the “See what’s printing” option.
3. Now, select “Printer” and check if the option “Use Printer Offline” has been ticked. If yes, uncheck this option.
4. Save the changes and then exit.
5. Give a print command to see whether this procedure has helped in troubleshooting the Brother printer status offline problem.
Fix 5
Reinstalling the Printer Driver
A faulty printer driver is the most common reason why Brother printer keep going offline. In fact, outdated printer drivers, as well as the corrupt ones, can also prevent the printing status from being online. Your electronic device may also fail to connect properly with the network often.
Reinstalling the Brother printer driver can help in encountering this issue to quite an extent. Let us look at the 7 steps to reinstall it.
1. First of all, turn on your system and press the “Windows” key and the “R” key together. In the Run dialogue box that appears, type “devmgmt.msc” and then hit the “Enter” key.
2. Now you will have entered the device manager. Look for the option of “Imaging devices” and then find your printer.
3. Right-click after you find your printer and then click on “Uninstall Device”.
4. Now, you will be prompted to select the option of “Delete drivers”. Choose this option.
5. The next step is to power off your Brother printer.
6. Now, restart the router as well as your computer system.
7. Connect your Brother printer again from scratch. The offline printer status problem will have been troubleshot by now successfully.
Fix 6
Brother Printer Always Offline Windows 7
When your Brother printer is appearing offline in Windows 7, we will recommend you to adjust the settings of the gadget to encounter the error in status.
Let us now look at the 8 steps for Brother Printer Offline Fix Windows 7.
1. Go to “Start” and then search for “Devices and Printers”.
2. The next step is to right-click the icon of your Brother printer and then check the option of “See what’s printing”.
3. Now, click on “Printer” and then look for a checkbox near the option “Use Printer Offline”. If you see a tick in this checkbox, then remove it and your documents will begin to print. Just in case the Brother printer offline error still persists, then you can continue performing the steps given below.
4. Hold the power button of the printer to turn it off.
5. Remove the USB cable from the port of your Windows 7 system.
6. Now, start the printer and connect the USB cable to the system again.
7. The documents stuck in the print queue will begin to print.
8. In case the printing process does not begin, then you can restart your system after performing this process.
Fix 7
Brother Printer Says Offline Windows 8
If your Brother printer goes offline when trying to print in Windows 8 system, then perform the troubleshooting procedure we have explained below to bring it online. In addition to Windows 8, this method can also be used for Brother printer offline Windows 8.1 error.
1. Power on your Brother printer and ensure that no error message, such as paper jam or toner empty, is displayed on its LCD screen.
2. The next step is to check that your printer is connected to your Windows 8 system. If the connection has been established via a USB then it should be properly inserted. In case an ethernet cable is being used, then it should be properly connected to the printer and the access point.
3. For a wireless connection, the IP address of the Brother printer can be obtained by printing the network configuration page.
4. Now, in your system, press the “Windows” key along with the “R” key.
5. Type “Control” in “Run” and press the “Enter” key to go to the Control Panel.
6. Find the icon of the Brother printer and see to it that the icon is checked.
7. Next, right-click on this icon for the “See what’s printing” option.
8. Click on “Cancel All Documents”. If this option is not available to click, then go to “Open as Administrator”, enter the password and press “Yes”. Now the option will be available for clicking.
9. To check the printer status, right-click the printer icon and again select “See what’s printing”. Select “Printer” and tap on “Use Printer Offline”. If this option is unavailable, go to “Open as Administrator” and click “Yes” after entering the password.
10. Now, select “Pause printing”. In case this option is grayed out then you will again have to go to “Open as Administrator” and do the needful.
Note: In “Devices and Printers” you may find a copy of the printer icon. Always choose the copy that is working.
Fix 8
My Brother Printer is Offline Windows 10
Here we will tell you how to bring Brother printer offline Windows 10 to online. The procedure is only 6 steps long.
1. Click on “Start”, type “Devices and Printers” and then press the “Enter” key.
2. Next, right-click on the Brother printer icon and then select the option “See what’s printing”.
3. Then click on the printer option on the top. Beside the option “Use Printer Offline” you will find a checkmark. Untick this mark.
4. The documents in the print queue will now begin to print. If the Brother printer status offline windows 10 does not resolve, then you can proceed to the fifth step.
5. Power off your Brother printer and disconnect its cable from the computer.
6. Then reconnect the USB and start your printer. This Brother printer offline windows 10 fix will have cleared up the error now.
Why is My Brother Printer Offline on Mac?
Let’s have a look at the Brother printer offline Mac procedure which involves resetting the Mac printing settings to settle the error.
1. Visit the “System Preferences” in your Mac system.
2. Then click on the option of “Printer and scanners”.
3. Now, you will find a list of printers connected to Mac.
4. Right-click and a pop-up will appear. Select the option “Reset Printing System”.
5. The next step is to remove all the printers that have been added to the system including the drivers.
6. Now add the Brother printer to your Mac system from scratch.
7. Install the right driver for the printer and then give a test print.
These solutions will work best for the models given below:
| Brother 2270DW Printer | Brother DCP L2540DW Printer | Brother HL L2380DW Printer | Brother HL 3170CDW Printer | Brother HL 5370DW Printer |
The above-mentioned methods can be used for the following Brother Monochrome Laser Printer series:
| Brother MFC L2710DW Printer | Brother MFC L2740DW Printer | Brother MFC 255CW Printer | Brother MFC 490CW Printer |
| Brother MFC 495CW Printer | Brother MFC 7840W Printer | Brother MFC 9130CW Printer | Brother MFC 9970CDW Printer |
The methods can also be applied for fixing offline printing status in the following Brother Multifunction Printer series:
| Brother MFC J430W Printer | Brother MFC J480DW Printer | Brother MFC J5910DW Printer | Brother MFC J6710DW Printer |
| Brother MFC J6920DW Printer | Brother MFC J825DW Printer | Brother MFC J870DW Printer |
In this informative blog, we learnt why does Brother printer keep going offline and in so many ways we can fix this problem. We hope your printer keeps printing flawlessly!
Before you go, let us tell you that we have the best guides for how to install Brother printer and how to connect Brother printer to wifi. So, if you need help with these procedures, we are always here.