Today, while printing out my term papers, my printer decided to stop working. Just like that, it went off the radar. I keep my printer under my desk so I don’t look at it that often – but when I inspected it I found a blinking toner light. Yes, my printer stopped working because the toner went low.
Of course, none of the pages I’d printed previously were gray – the characteristic of a dying toner – so I had no clue. Apparently Brother laser printers are “smart” and arbitrarily decide to cut you off when your toner gets low (I’ve got a HL-5105D). Of course, since my papers are due *today*, getting a new toner cartridge just wasn’t going to happen.
So I searched around, and found the answer to my problem in the Google cache of an RSS feed aggregator site (hence, I’m republishing it here so others can find it a little easier).
On the brother toner cartridges there is a little, dark-tinted translucent hole that the printer shines a light beam through. When the toner gets low and isn’t blocking the light beam, the printer decides it is time to stop working. Therefore, if you cover one of the light holes with a little bit of tape (you only need to cover one), you can trick your printer into thinking it has a brand new cartridge.
Gotta love “smart” technology.
You’re like MacGyver…only nerdier :)
Nerdier than MacGyver? Holy cow. I mean that is like really really nerdy. But in the seriously best way.
Hey! thanks so much, totally works :D
Hey! thanks so much, totally works :D
I knew that “Window” was causing the problem.
Thank you.
thanks MacGyver! it worked!
just tried it and it worked perfect – THANKS!!
Haha! Oh man. Thank you for this. Every time my Brother stopped printing I had to take the toner cartridge out and mess about with it so that some toner would migrate to where the hole was and it would continue printing. This would only last for about 10 pages or so.
You’re a lifesaver! Now I’ll do this with every cartridge I buy. Then I’ll get an HP. =)
Did anyone ever tell you that you are a serious genius and if I Was alread in a committed relationship I would ask for your hand in marriage…thanks for sharing
[...] favorite topics – how to hack your printer. This fascination of mine started a few years ago, when during the middle of exams, my printer decided to stop printing because it was “low on toner.” Up until that point [...]
Does that method work for the brother printer HL 2170W. The toner light blinks after i print. Thank you in advance.
Saved me pulling my hair out, I haven’t much left. I was given this to solve the problem on a brother 5240:
Press Go
When fans whirls up Open cover
remove toner + Drum
Press Go
replace toner + Drum
Press Go
Close Cover
Press Go
My boss seems to be able to do it fine. Hoever, I can’t get the timing right. The hack on this page is a lot simpler.
Ya I just tried it on my HL 2170W and it works. Thanks a ton!
TOTALLY WORKED!!!! Thanks!!!