FAQs & Troubleshooting

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MFC-J5910DW

FAQs & Troubleshooting

FAQs & Troubleshooting

MFC-J5910DW

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Date: 04/26/2012 ID: faq00000735_014

One or more of my colors are not printing (blank).

If one or more of the ink colors are missing from your printed documents (i.e. received faxes, copies and/or documents printed from the PC), the ink cartridge(s) may not be installed correctly or nozzles in the print head may be clogged. Verifying the ink cartridges are installed properly and/or cleaning the print head may solve this problem.


  • Verify the ink cartridges are installed correctly.

  • Follow the steps listed below to check the print quality and clean the print head.

*If your Brother machine has a touchscreen, please follow the steps of "For Touchscreen models" below.


  1. Press Menu.

  2. Press the Up or Down arrow key or the dial pad to choose Ink or Ink Management and press OK.

  3. Press the Up or Down arrow key or the dial pad to choose Test Print and press OK.

  4. Press the Up or Down arrow key or the dial pad to choose Print Quality and press OK.

  5. Press Color (Colour) start. The machine begins printing the Print Quality Check sheet.

  6. Check the quality of the four color blocks on the sheet.

  7. The LCD asks you if the print quality is OK.
    Do one of the following:

    • If all lines are clear and visible, choose Yes to finish the Print Quality check and go to STEP 13.

    • If you can see missing short lines as shown below, choose No and go to STEP 8.

    image

  8. The LCD asks you if the print quality is OK for black and the three colors. Choose Yes or No.

  9. The LCD asks you if you want to start cleaning. Choose Yes. The machine starts cleaning the print head.

  10. After cleaning is finished, press Color (Colour) Start. The machine will start printing another Print Quality Check sheet.

  11. Once it prints out, check the quality of the four color blocks on the sheet.

  12. The LCD will ask you if the print quality is OK.
    Do one of the following based on the print quality of the check sheet:

Cleaning the print head consumes ink. Cleaning the print head more than 5 times uses ink unnecessarily. If you do not see any improvement, please contact Brother Customer Service from "Contact Us".
  1. Press Stop/Exit.


<For Touchscreen models>

  1. Press the Left or Right arrow to display Ink. (This step might be skipped in some models.)

  2. Press image (Ink).

  3. Press the Up or Down arrow to display Test Print. (This step might be skipped in some models.)

  4. Press Test Print.

  5. Press Print Quality.

  6. Press Color (Colour) Start or Start. The machine begins printing the Print Quality Check sheet.

  7. Check the quality of the four color blocks on the sheet.

  8. The LCD asks you if the print quality is OK. Do one of the following:

    • If all lines are clear and visible, press Yes to finish the Print Quality check and go to STEP 14.

    • If you can see missing short lines as shown below, press No and go to STEP 9.

    image

  9. The LCD asks you if the print quality is OK for black and three colors. Press Yes or No.

  10. The LCD asks you if you want to start cleaning. Press Color (Colour) Start or Yes. The machine starts cleaning the print head.

  11. After cleaning is finished, press Color (Colour) Start or Start. The machine will start printing another Print Quality Check sheet.

  12. Once it prints out, check the quality of the check sheet.

  13. The LCD will ask you if the print quality is OK.
    Do one of the following based on the print quality of the check sheet.

    • If all lines are clear and visible, press Yes to finish the Print Quality check and go to STEP 14.

    • If the print quality continues to be poor and you have tried to clean the print head less than five times, press No and return to STEP 9. You should complete the Print Quality check and print head cleaning process up to five times.

    • If the print quality continues to be poor and you have tried cleaning the print head up to five times, press Stop/Exit and contact Brother Customer Service from "Contact Us".
Cleaning the print head consumes ink. Cleaning the print head more than 5 times uses ink unnecessarily. If you do not see any improvement, please contact Brother Customer Service from "Contact Us".
  1. Press Stop/Exit.

We do not recommend frequent unplugging and re-plugging of the machine and/or leaving the machine unplugged for extended periods of time.


  • To maintain premium print quality, our product is designed to automatically clean the print head periodically. When the machine is unplugged, it will not complete the periodic cleanings needed to ensure ink does not dry in the print head and may cause poor print quality.

  • Machines with a Message Center or Fax Preview have a 24 hour memory backup. All other machines have a 1 hour memory backup. If a machine is unplugged beyond the memory capability, the clock data is lost and causes the machine to reset. When the machine is plugged back into the outlet, the internal clock resets and the machine will automatically start a cleaning process causing the consumption of ink.

We recommend using the On/Off or Power Save button to power down the machine. Using the On/Off or Power Save button allows minimal power to the machine ensuring periodic cleanings of the print head occur only when necessary and needed information remains in memory.

  • Cleaning the print head consumes ink.  Cleaning too often uses ink unnecessarily.

  • DO NOT touch the print head. Touching the print head may cause permanent damage and may void the print head's warranty.

  • Brother strongly recommends that you do not refill the ink cartridges provided with your machine. We also strongly recommend that you continue to use only Genuine Brother Brand replacement ink cartridges. Use or attempted use of potentially incompatible ink and/or cartridges in the Brother machine may cause damage to the machine and/or may result in unsatisfactory print quality. Our warranty coverage does not apply to any problem that is caused by the use of unauthorized third party ink and/or cartridges. To protect your investment and obtain premium performance from the Brother machine, we strongly recommend the use of Genuine Brother Supplies.
    > Click here for more information about Genuine Brother Supplies.

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If you need further assistance, please contact Brother customer service:

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