# Brother MFC 240C won't print black anymore?



## vaindioux

Hi

I own a brother MFC 240 C. It is a simple machine for the simple tasks that I require.
I print emails, coupons and the occasional google map when I have to travel, nothing amazing. I use 90% of the time black only.
I have had this printer for about 2 years and have used only compatible ink cartridges which I purchase from a mail order company which I have also used for years with previous printers.
Anyway yesterday I ran out of black ink and changed the cartridge as I always do, but it never worked again.
I cleaned using the printer software several times, rebooted printer and PC, reinstalled all 4 new cartridges just in case and finally unplugged the printer to no avail.
It doesn't print in black at all, but sometimes it will give me 2 or 3 faint lines which are impossible to read.
The colors work fine, I can still print a google map.
I have also realigned several times just in case using the printer software.

Can anybody help me?

Thanks a lot

Patrick


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## Fredagar

Hi, I am having the same issue with a mfc 230c (also had this problem in the past). I found a solution on the web to clean the print head in "maintenance mode" but this was almost a year ago. Now I can't find the right procedure again  If anyone has the right procedure for maintenance mode cleaning of these printers please post it.


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## godspeeed

google:

plug the power chord while holding menu to get in maintenance and press 76. 4. black start. sit back and enjoy


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## Fredagar

Thanks, that was the ticket, worked perfectly.


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## godspeeed

may I ask how did you get the printer working on Win7, did you use vista drivers or plug and play just did it?


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## Fredagar

It installed and worked just fine with the drivers from the os


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## shannon686

godspeed I don't understand your instructions to solve the problem? Could you please explain? Thank you


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## godspeeed

I just quoted google so I cant really go in deep details :laugh:


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## shrory

godspeeed said:


> google:
> 
> plug the power chord while holding menu to get in maintenance and press 76. 4. black start. sit back and enjoy


I have the same problem, did as above with no luck, in fact no ink at all on paper.

anyone any good ideas, with out cutting and pasting from another forum


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## godspeeed

its definately a printhead issue. if the cleaning did not work it means that they need to be cleaned.

How to clean printheads? Err.... Printer repair shop unless you have the service manual.


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## ludim

godspeed, is that 76 then the ok button and 4 and the ok button?


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## philly_mike

Worked like a charm! (Saved me from resurrecting an equally old HP printer!)


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## signovital

godspeeed said:


> google:
> 
> plug the power chord while holding menu to get in maintenance and press 76. 4. black start. sit back and enjoy


Wow, 7 years later and this post still helps. I managed to get the black color to print again. Thanks Godspeed.


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## anagrammy

My MFC 240C won't print black any more and I have the manual. Have done everything in their, cleaned it 5 x, including the Maintenance Cleaning as described on this (wonderful) forum.

Result: One tiny black square instead of nothing, out of the several rows it is supposed to print. Before this happened, a friend "cleaned" my desktop and wrecked my printer installation. I removed the drivers and reinstalled from my discs and upgraded from the brother site (except not the "C" upgrade).

I have learned a lot about saving ink but am plunging into senile technical depression over my inability to solve this problem (working on it for DAYS). I am beyond despair being I bought this machine practically unused to replace my nightmare HP printer. Any ideas, anyone?


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## Ryunigia

godspeeed said:


> google:
> 
> plug the power chord while holding menu to get in maintenance and press 76. 4. black start. sit back and enjoy


Ok i got a brother MFC-J5910DW same problem out of the blue stops printing black and tried this however i had some problems *decoding this sentence*.
BUT i got it to work :wink:

so here is what i had to do: (aka the translation)

1: unplug the power cord and plug back in and then hold 'home' (looks like house) button wait untill menu appears
2: press 7 then 6 ( printer answers with cleaning all) but does nothing yet
3: then press 4 (printer says something like u_Unit all) but still does nothing
4: go to the left with the keys that look like << untill you see arrow keys on the touchpad
5: use those arrow keys to change "u_Unit all" to "u_Unit Black"
6: press the start button with white line on it (mine had 2 start buttons one with a green line and one with white line... took me while to see that one x) )
7: sit back and wait untill printer is done
8: press 9 and then 9 again (printer will restart to normal)
9: print something with your fingers crossed!(try quality test)


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## aloncarmel

its 2014, this post still saves printers. brother 240c Saved!


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## Lostinprinter

*Re: Brother MFC 3360 won't print black anymore*

Hello,
I encounter exactly the same problem and did the same things: put new cartridges, clean several times, unplug... Nothing works, my printer does not print in black anymore. Thank you for your tips and tricks.


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## BIGBEARJEDI

*Re: Brother MFC 3360 won't print black anymore*



Lostinprinter said:


> Hello,
> I encounter exactly the same problem and did the same things: put new cartridges, clean several times, unplug... Nothing works, my printer does not print in black anymore. Thank you for your tips and tricks.


_>>>This is a common problem in Brother MFC printers. I sold them for years. Most likely, it's the logic board and has failed. Brother or independent repair techs ask about $200 to replace it. The circuits get old and overheated and won't squirt the ink through the printheads in the right quantities and therefore things won't print right. Sometimes, it's a faulty power-supply; brother uses very cheap PSUs in many of these units with parts from China. They really weren't designed to last more than the 3 yrs. warranty that can be bought when you buy the units. You might have to just junk it and buy another unit. I would recommend hp if you want it to last longer than 3 yrs. _

_BIGBEARJEDI <<<_


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## Lostinprinter

*Re: Brother MFC 3360 won't print black anymore*



BIGBEARJEDI said:


> _>>>This is a common problem in Brother MFC printers. I sold them for years. Most likely, it's the logic board and has failed. Brother or independent repair techs ask about $200 to replace it. The circuits get old and overheated and won't squirt the ink through the printheads in the right quantities and therefore things won't print right. Sometimes, it's a faulty power-supply; brother uses very cheap PSUs in many of these units with parts from China. They really weren't designed to last more than the 3 yrs. warranty that can be bought when you buy the units. You might have to just junk it and buy another unit. I would recommend hp if you want it to last longer than 3 yrs. _
> 
> _BIGBEARJEDI <<<_


Thank you for your answer. I will think twice before buying a new unit.


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## BIGBEARJEDI

You're welcome!

BBJ


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## MarilynMJohnson

I have a Brother printer MFCJ425W purchased in early 2013 with the same problem. I am thrilled to say that these instructions still worked! It took me a looong time to navigate getting my membership completed but I persevered because I really wanted to thank you.


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## Rich-M

The other thing I would wonder about is the original user mentioned using generic cartridges and for me either a bad one or simply the use of them mutilated any printer I ever tried that or refills on in heavy use.


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## mek231

I just fixed my MFC-495CW using this thread! Thank you!


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## Maximus89

The greatest thread on the internet. Saved my MFC j410w after it suddenly stopped printing in black. Although it took 5 cycles of cleaning, but finally It works.


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## ezatnova

Thank you. Fixed my MFC-J270W


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## smtodsen

This procedure just worked on a MFC-J430W
1.	Black print quality poor or won’t print black
a.	Solution: 
i.	Disconnect the power cord
ii.	Re-connect the power cord while holding down the “Menu” . button on the printer.
iii.	The printer should enter “Maintenance” mode.
iv.	With the LCD screen showing “Maintenance”, key in the . following:
1.	Digits 7, 6, 4. Then depress the “Black” button, and . the “Start” button on the printer one after another.
v.	The printer will enter a “Cleaning” routine
vi.	When the printer screen reads “Completed”, . . key in the digits 9,9. Then depress the “Start” . . button.
b.	Run a standard print quality test to see if the Maintenance , . . cleaning was successful.


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## daniel5703

Thank you very much for sharing that info, I happen to be lucky enough to have the exact same printer as yours (Brother MFC-J5910DW)...so I'm glad I didn't have to go through all the frustrations & hassle trying to figure it out , all I had to do is just follow your instructions step by step, and at my surprise it worked...you really saved me from buying another printer. Thanks a million


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## moodydg

Yep. Still working. Thanks Ryunigia (msg #15) for the explicit instructions. I selected the colour not printing and Yeh!!


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## mitcheda

godspeeed said:


> google:
> 
> plug the power chord while holding menu to get in maintenance and press 76. 4. black start. sit back and enjoy


IT STILL WORKS! April 17, 2016. On my MFC-J475DW, I had to hit "Menu", then "* 2 8 6 4". Then, it finally said "MAINTENANCE". I then hit "7 6 4" followed by "Black". It told me "Please Wait", then it said "CLEANING" for quite some time. Then finally it said "MAINTENANCE" again and I hit "9 9" to Exit. Black prints again! You're a godsend. It took 4 and a half hours to find the right combination but I'm not on Amazon.com or BestBuy.com ordering a new printer! Thank you.


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## Stancestans

ananbob92 said:


> Hello friends
> 
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> 
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> 
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> 
> url removed - JimE


You clearly haven't read the forum rules. You should!


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## WintersTablet

smtodsen said:


> This procedure just worked on a MFC-J430W
> 1.	Black print quality poor or won’t print black
> a.	Solution:
> i.	Disconnect the power cord
> ii.	Re-connect the power cord while holding down the “Menu” . button on the printer.
> iii.	The printer should enter “Maintenance” mode.
> iv.	With the LCD screen showing “Maintenance”, key in the . following:
> 1.	Digits 7, 6, 4. Then depress the “Black” button, and . the Start” button on the printer one after another.
> v.	The printer will enter a “Cleaning” routine
> vi.	When the printer screen reads “Completed”, . . key in the digits 9,9. Then depress the “Start” . . button.
> b.	Run a standard print quality test to see if the Maintenance , . . cleaning was successful.



This worked beautifully! Be carefull though, This proccess drained my FULL color cartradges to EMPTY. I had to put some black sharpy colored sticky note over theink window to trick it into thinking they were full. I only print in Greyscale anyway.


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## wealthistime

Ryunigia said:


> Ok i got a brother MFC-J5910DW same problem out of the blue stops printing black and tried this however i had some problems *decoding this sentence*.
> BUT i got it to work :wink:
> 
> so here is what i had to do: (aka the translation)
> 
> 1: unplug the power cord and plug back in and then hold 'home' (looks like house) button wait untill menu appears
> 2: press 7 then 6 ( printer answers with cleaning all) but does nothing yet
> 3: then press 4 (printer says something like u_Unit all) but still does nothing
> 4: go to the left with the keys that look like << untill you see arrow keys on the touchpad
> 5: use those arrow keys to change "u_Unit all" to "u_Unit Black"
> 6: press the start button with white line on it (mine had 2 start buttons one with a green line and one with white line... took me while to see that one x) )
> 7: sit back and wait untill printer is done
> 8: press 9 and then 9 again (printer will restart to normal)
> 9: print something with your fingers crossed!(try quality test)


This solution worked perfectly on my MFC-J4510DW as of Sep 2017. Thank you RYUNIGIA for providing instructions that don't suck. Clearly, of all the users who responded with an "answer", you are the only competent person in this thread.


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## niedae

Worked in 2017 on a J5910DW. Almost trashed the printer, but gave this one last try. Had already tried many cleaning cycles with the symptom getting worse and worse.

Thank you


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