Ink cartridges lying

Factual Questions
1

The thread on ink cartridges reminded me of a problem I have. I have a Brother multi-function laser printer. The machine starts signalling that the cartridge needs replacing when it still has loads of ink. Eventually, it refuses to print at all even though the copies were coming out with black printing and you could still hear ink sloshing. Now the display claims the cartridge holder needs replacing although that replacement costs roughly what the printer cost (around $250).

Incidentally, when I went to an ink refiller he said they did only ink-jet cartridges and all he could do was send it out and it would cost close to the cost of a new cartridge. I told him to forget it.

Is there any easy way of turning these nag screens off and allow me to decide when something needs changing?

2

Sloshing? Doesn’t sound like a laser printer to me. TTBOMK laser printers use toner.

3

I think he means he can still hear powdered toner when he shakes the cartridge.

I’d take the machine in to have it cleaned. Of course, I’ve never had good luck with Brother printers, so take that as you wish.

Robin

4

I think Brother can go to hell for trying to limit the number of pages a toner cartridge is allowed to print even when there is plenty of toner left.

I don’t know what Brother printer you have, but I have three Brother HL-2040 laser printers that use the TN-350 toner cartridge that costs $80 retail and the toner holder that costs $130 retail. The printer itself, with a starter toner cartridge and holder in the box, only costs $80. :smack: I might as well buy a whole new printer each time I run out of toner.

Luckily, I’ve found a great office supply company that’s able to refill my cartridges for less than $40. They are a great company, they provide a lot of other stuff at cut rate prices.

The thing that really ticks me off about Brother is that just a couple of weeks ago, one of my HL-2040 printers has a solid indicator light that should mean it was out of toner. Well, this was a genuine Brother cartridge I bought at Staples for $80 a couple of months ago.

I took the cartridge out of the defective printer and shook it around. This usually allows me to print several hundred more pages. However, the indicator light did not go away and the printer would not print. So, I swapped the toner cartridge from this printer to my second HL-2040. Well, there was nothing wrong with the toner cartridge because the second printer worked just fine. The defective printer still wouldn’t print.

I tried some voodoo magic and held buttons down on the printer to reset it and tried powering on/off, changing electrical outlets, restarting the computer, but nothing would get it to print.

Thinking that I might just have to pony up another $80 for a new toner cartridge, I went to Staples. I looked at the price for the toner cartridge and the price for a whole new printer. They were now the same. So, I bought a new HL-2040 printer thinking that it already has a toner cartridge inside, a $130 toner holder, and a printer body that I could use in case my two main printers break down.

I unbox the toner cartridge and put it into my defective printer. It still would not print. I called Brother Customer Service and explained my situation. The CSR told me that you were only suppose to use one starter toner cartridge per new printer. Apparently, there are some physical construction differences between what they supply in the box and what you buy at retail and the printer can tell.

Well, the guy on the phone told me that on a totally new toner cartridge, there is a little plastic lever that tells the printer it is a new cartridge. So, I take the original toner cartridge I had in my defective printer and flipped this lever back to the “new” position.

I place the toner cartridge back into the printer and behold! The printer works fine, the supposedly “empty” toner cartridge works great, and I would just like to give a big FU to Brother. This “empty” toner cartridge has printed several hundred pages since and is still going. Now, that third printer I bought is sitting in storage.

I would just like to say FU to Brother for limiting the number of pages a toner cartridge can print even when they can print a whole lot more. I flipping that “new” lever every chance I get.