C Troubleshooting and routine maintenance

Troubleshooting

If you think there is a problem with your machine, check the chart below and follow the troubleshooting tips.

Most problems can be easily resolved by yourself. If you need additional help, the Brother Solutions Center offers the latest FAQs and troubleshooting tips. Visit us at http://solutions.brother.com/.

If you are having difficulty with your machine

Check the chart below and follow the troubleshooting tips.

Menu access difficulties

Difficulties	Suggestions
Key operations do not work.	Check the control panel is fitted correctly on the machine. Reinstall the control panel.

Copy difficulties

Difficulties	Suggestions
Vertical black line appears in copies.	Black vertical lines on copies are typically caused by dirt or correction fluid on the glass strip, or the corona wire for printing is dirty. (See Cleaning the scanner and Cleaning the corona wire.)
The machine does not scan all the pages of your document.	Make sure that the ADF output tray does not contain more than 20 sheets.

Printing difficulties

Difficulties

Suggestions

No printout.

•	Check that the machine is plugged in and the power switch is turned on.
•	Check that the toner cartridge and drum unit are installed correctly. (See Replacing the drum unit.)
•	Check the interface cable connection on both the machine and your computer. (See the Quick Setup Guide.)
•	Check that the correct printer driver has been installed and chosen.
•	Check to see if the LCD is showing an error message. (See Error and maintenance messages.)
•	Check the machine is online: (Windows Vista^®) Click the Start button, Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, and then Printers. Right-click Brother DCP-XXXX Printer. Make sure that Use Printer Offline is unchecked. (Windows^® XP) Click the Start button and choose Printers. Right-click Brother DCP-XXXX Printer. Make sure that Use Printer Offline is unchecked. (Windows^® 2000) Click the Start button and choose Settings and then Printers. Right-click Brother DCP-XXXX Printer. Make sure that Use Printer Offline is unchecked.

The machine prints unexpectedly or it prints garbage.

•	Pull out the paper tray and wait until the machine stops printing. Then turn off the machine and disconnect from the power for several minutes.
•	Check the settings in your application to make sure it is set up to work with your machine.

The machine prints the first couple of pages correctly, then some pages have text missing.

•	Check the settings in your application to make sure that it is set up to work with your machine.
•	Your computer is not recognising the machine’s input buffer’s full signal. Make sure that you connected the interface cable correctly. (See the Quick Setup Guide.)

The headers or footers appear when the document displays on the screen but they do not show up when it is printed.

There is an unprintable area on the top and bottom of the page. Adjust the top and bottom margins in your document to allow for this.

The machine does not print on both sides of the paper even though the printer driver setting is Duplex.

Check the paper size setting in the printer driver. You need to choose A4 size of paper. (60 to 105 g/m²)

The machine is not printing or has stopped printing and the machine’s Data LED is on.

Press Job Cancel.

As the machine cancels the Job and clears it from the memory it may produce an incomplete printout.

Scanning difficulties

Difficulties	Suggestions
TWAIN errors appear while scanning.	Make sure that the Brother TWAIN driver is chosen as the primary source. In PaperPort™ 11SE, click File, Scan or Get Photo and choose the Brother TWAIN driver.
OCR does not work.	Try increasing the scanning resolution.
The machine does not scan all the pages of your document.	Make sure that the ADF output tray does not contain more than 20 sheets.

Software difficulties

Difficulties	Suggestions
Cannot install software or print.	Run the Repair MFL-Pro Suite program on the CD-ROM. This program will repair and reinstall the software.
Cannot perform ‘2 in 1’ or ‘4 in 1’ printing.	Check that the paper size setting in the application and in the printer driver are the same.
The machine does not print from Adobe^® Illustrator^®.	Try to reduce the print resolution. (See Advanced tab in the Software User’s Guide on the CD-ROM.)

Paper handling difficulties

Difficulties

Suggestions

The machine does not load paper.

The LCD shows No Paper or a Paper Jam message.

•	If there is no paper, load a new stack of paper into the paper tray.
•	If there is paper in the paper tray, make sure it is straight. If the paper is curled, you should straighten it. Sometimes it is helpful to remove the paper, turn the stack over and put it back into the paper tray.
•	Reduce the amount of paper in the paper tray, and then try again.
•	Check that the MP tray mode is not chosen in the printer driver.
•	If the LCD shows Paper Jam message and you still have a problem, see Paper jams.

The machine does not feed paper from the MP tray.

•	Fan the paper well and put it back in the tray firmly.
•	Make sure that MP tray mode is chosen in the printer driver.

How do I print on envelopes?

You can load envelopes from the MP tray. Your application must be set up to print the envelope size you are using. This is usually done in the Page Setup or Document Setup menu of your application. (See your application’s manual for more information.)

The scanned documents jam on the ADF output tray.

•	Make sure your document is not too thin or too thick and are correctly loaded in the ADF. (See Loading documents.)
•	Use the scanner glass to scan the document.

What paper can I use?

You can use thin paper, plain paper, thick paper, bond paper, recycled paper, envelopes, labels and transparencies that are made for laser machines. (For details, see Acceptable paper and other print media.)

There is a paper jam.

(See Paper jams.)

Print quality difficulties

Difficulties

Suggestions

Printed pages are curled.

•	Low quality thin or thick paper or not printing on the recommended side of the paper could cause this problem. Try turning over the stack of paper in the paper tray.
•	Make sure that you choose the Paper Type that suits the print media type you are using. (See Acceptable paper and other print media.)

Printed pages are smeared.

The Paper Type setting may be incorrect for the type of print media you are using, or the print media may be too thick or have a rough surface. (See Acceptable paper and other print media and Basic tab in the Software User’s Guide on the CD-ROM.)

Printouts are too light.

•	If this problem occurs when making copies, set Toner Save mode to Off in the machine menu settings. (See Toner Save.)
•	Set Toner Save mode to Off in the Advanced tab in the printer driver. (See Advanced tab in the Software User’s Guide on the CD-ROM.)

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