MFC-J497DW

FAQs & Troubleshooting

Clear wide, faded, horizontal lines(banding) appearing on printed documents.

Brother strongly recommends that customers use only genuine Brother ink for best results. Using non-Brother supplies may affect the hardware performance, print quality and machine reliability since the ink formulation in genuine Brother ink cartridges prevent smearing and clogging of the print head. The Brother limited warranty does not apply to any issue that was caused by the use of third party ink and/or cartridges.
> Click here for more information about Genuine Brother Supplies.
Print quality is also affected by the type and brand of paper used as well as the selected print or copy resolution. In order to achieve optimum print quality, it is important to use the recommended paper for the type of document you are printing.

For copying

Change the copy quality to Best mode , do the following to change the copy quality:
1. Load your document.
2. Press (Copy). (This step might be skipped in some models.)
3. Enter the number of copies you want.
4. Press the Up or Down arrow key to select Quality. Press OK.
5. Press the Up or Down arrow key to select Best. Press OK.
6. If you do not want to change additional settings, press Black (Mono) Start or Color (Colour) Start
Change the paper type setting. If the paper type is set to Plain Paper, change it to Inkjet Paper. If the paper setting is set to Inkjet Paper, change it to Brother BP71 or Other Glossy. Do the following to change the paper type:
1. Load your document.
2. Press (Copy) (This step might be skipped in some models.)
3. Enter the number of copies you want.
4. Press the Up or Down arrow key to select Paper Type. Press OK.
5. Press the Up or Down arrow key to select Inkjet Paper or Brother BP71 or Other Glossy. Press OK.
6. If you do not want to change additional settings, press Black (Mono) Start or Color (Colour) Start.

For PC printing

Depending on the current settings in the printer driver, you can make changes to the settings to improve print quality:

For the Color/Grayscale setting, select Color.
For the Media Type setting, if the setting is currently Plain Paper, change it to Inkjet Paper.
If the setting is currently Inkjet Paper, change it to Brother BP71 Photo Paper or Other Photo Paper .
Do the following to access the printer driver and adjust these settings.
- For Windows users:
- For Mac OS X users:
For Windows users to make the "Color/Grayscale" and "Media Type" setting:
1. Open Printing Preference. (Click here to see how to open Printing Preferences.)
2. Open the Basic tab and locate the Media Type section.
  If the current setting is Plain Paper, change it to Inkjet Paper.
  If the current setting is Inkjet Paper, change it to Brother BP71 Photo Paper or Other Photo Paper.
  Click the drop down arrow to the right of the field to access the options.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
  In the Color/Grayscale section click Color.
4. Click OK.
For Mac OS X users to make the "Color/Grayscale" and "Media Type" settings:
1. Open Print dialog. (Click here to see how to open Print dialog.)
2. Select Print Settings in the Print dialog box.
3. Click on the drop down menu next to Media Type.
4. If the current setting is Plain Paper, change it to Inkjet Paper.
  If the current setting is Inkjet Paper, change it to Brother BP71 Photo Paper or Other Photo Paper.
5. Click on the drop down menu next to Color/Grayscale.
6. Select Color.