Brother Printer Problems and Fixes

Brother is unusual among the consumer makes in separating the drum from the toner, and most confusion with these printers starts there. The toner cartridge holds the powder and is replaced often; the drum unit underneath it is a separate part that lasts several toners before it needs changing. A Replace Drum message is not asking for toner, and fitting new toner will not clear it. Many Brother models also have a drum counter that has to be reset by hand after the swap, through the machine's own menu, because the printer has no way to detect that a new drum has been fitted.

On the wireless side, Brother reports faults as TS codes rather than in words, which is why a Brother printer that will not join a network shows something like TS-01, TS-02 or TS-03 instead of an explanation. They are worth reading literally: they say at which point of the connection the attempt failed, and that narrows the fix considerably.

Brother lasers are also the ones most affected by a router handing out a new address, because they are frequently left switched on for months at a time. If a Brother printer works and then goes offline every few weeks with nothing else changed, a fixed address on the printer usually ends it permanently.