I bought a Brother 5440 multifunction color printer scanner fax machine when I started working from home over three years ago. It was reasonably affordable, and my previous forays into inkjet printers explained why: the printer exists to get you to buy more ink cartridges. The 5440 didn’t come with fully-filled carts. I wasn’t insulted, I’d gotten over that little screwjob the last time I owned an HP inkjet years and years ago.
What particularly pissed me off about the 5440, and other Brother multi-function printers as I have come to find out, is that the unit periodically cleans itself by using a small amount of ink. Of every color. At regular intervals. I tried to fax an expense report, less than a year into owning the machine.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!
I jumped straight up in the air. What the fuck?
REFILL CYAN
I just wanted to fax something. Why did I need cyan ink? I really needed to fax my expense report in, so I drove to OfficeMax and got a replacement cyan cartridge. I snapped it in, reset the printer, and attempted to fax again.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!
What the fuck?
REFILL BLUE
Oh, for fuck’s sake. For about half the cost of my MFC I bought enough ink to shut the machine up long enough to fax my report in. I ordered a box of carts from eBay and pushed the issue aside.
The trick to the Brother MFC is that the color cartridges are half the size of the black cart. Over the next two years, I ran out of yellow, blue, and cyan twice more. I had only printed one page in color, ever. Last month I needed to fax in over twenty pages of documentation to my staffing firm in order to start my new job. I also needed to scan some documents in for their records. I powered up my MFC and pushed the fax button.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!
REFILL YELLOW
I reached into my eBay box o’ carts, only to find out I had used up all of the color ones. Motherfucker.
I searched the Web and found out there is a sensor in the printer that checks ink levels. The sensor uses a beam of light to do so; if the light bounces back, the machine assumes there is ink in the cart and continues to operate. If the light is not bounced back, the machine assumes that the cart is empty and starts beeping.
Note that I’m not actually out of ink. According to the machine, I need to buy a full replacement. If you look towards the right of the unit, you see where I marked the “spine” of the cart with a Sharpie. This is the area checked by the printer’s sensor.
Following a suggestion I found online, I took black electrician’s tape and placed it around the cartridge’s spine.
I shut the door to the printer and restarted it. I pushed the fax button, and away we went. Problem solved.
The danger of such a procedure is that the print heads for each color may become clogged. Little bits of ink supposedly dry on the heads, and the machine routinely cycles a “small” amount of fresh ink through the head in order to keep things clear. I find two and a half carts of three colors over three years to be a bit excessive just for “cleaning.” I never use the color printing option for my MFC anyway, so who gives a fuck.
I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that you couldn’t scan or fax without a full rack of ink, and thanks to the Power of the Internet™ I am able to use my Brother MFC 5440 again.
Whoah, great tip!
For powder ink users, sometimes it works just to take out the ink powder cartridge and thump it a few times to loosen powder from the inside walls of the cartridge. Note: Do Not Inhale.
drfaulken,
Thanks for the great tip! I can’t believe it isn’t posted all over the net??!!?? Maybe Brother isn’t as common as some other brands. Anyway, I did not fully understand why toner got low with little to no color printing but now I do. The trick you suggest seems to work fine- thanks. WHile I like my Brother printer and associated software much better than HP printers of bygone years (mainly due to the fact the software isn’t full of “features” that plain SUCK!) the liberal use of f bombs in relating this particular problem seems entirely appropriate!
Hey Man,
I want to thank you for your story on how to override the Brother Inkjet sensor. I hate the Brother “let me con you into buying color ink when you only print black and white” scheme.
You saved me a world of frustration.
Cheers,
Allan
haha very cool i will test it!
We are having the same problem with our Brother printer, but the cartridges are different (LC51) and have only a tiny window where ink level can be seen. And the damned thing wouldn’t let me print a black only postage label even though my “yellow” was out, aargh. After printing one sheet with a new yellow cart, it decided black was empty, but I can clearly see it’s nearly 1/3 full.
I’ll try your trick and search for more ideas. Thanks for the heads’ up!
Great Tip!
It’s so annoying that brother printers wants new inc when the cartidge still has some 30% left.
Thank you!
Holy smokes, it worked! I had my doubts, but worked great on the MFC 440CN.
fucking hated this printer for this stupid fucking shitty thing… thanks man – YOU ARE THE MAN
On my Canon Pixma MP150 I can just ignore its lies of being out of ink, and I even found out how to turn off the nag screen (it’s in the interface somewhere).
They also put out misinformation about the print heads, claiming they will clog if allowed to go empty. What’s misinformation (aka BS) about it is that, while they may indeed clog if the ink runs out, the print heads are part of the cartridge! And you need a new cart if it’s empty anyway, so it doesn’t matter if the old one is clogged or not. But they make like it’ll cause massive destruction and don’t correct it if someone thinks the heads are part of the machine. What a racket huh!
Thanks for the tip. I’ve found that it works well if you peel of some of the coloured sticker on the ink cartridge and stick it over the part where the ink shows through.
Works with the DCP-340CW as well. Or is that the same printer? Anyway, thanks for the tip.
After being in the Navy 22 years, I understood every word of your entry.
I used a black “Sharpie” indelible pen on the MFC=440CN cartridge, in place of tape. I am cook’n with gas.
The picture you provided was a HUGE help after much searching on the internet to find a solution to this extremely frustrating problem!! It worked…thanks!!!
I know a lot about printer tricks being a printer technician specialising in HP I also repair other brands of printer have to say thats a new one on me well done.
Thanks!!!! This was a huge help. The cartridge still has plenty of ink. I have tried shaking but that just made a mess. Thank you for the pictures.
Way too cool. I live 45 minutes from an ink store and needed to get some work done. Without this trick I’d have been out of commission. Now, I can get my work done and replace the cartridge on Monday. Go internet!
Wow. Thank you. This gives this printer at least 2 more weeks of life until I take the baseball bat to it.
I’ve used this thing 20 times in 3 years and every fifth time I am putting new ink into it.
Absolutely insane.
You guys rock, I’ve been suffering with this printer for two years now, the ink cart is so not empty when the alarm goes off and suddenly I have a somewhat expensive piece of Ahem, modern art…
I tried the sharpy trick and when that didn’t work, I peeled some of the label off the cart itself (LC-51 in my case) and put it over the little window. I used a Q-tip to push the label in so it fully covered the clear plastic area and it worked a treat. Now I can keep a full cart next to the printer and leave the pseudo-empty one in the printer until I need to print in color.
Too bad I didn’t discover you and this thread BEFORE I left my Brother MFU out by the curb 2 nights ago for some other enterprising soul to scoop it and (ahem) try this trick themselves. Now they have a FREE MFU. And I have a new working Lexmark (having been conned yet again) and I am out 150 bucks.
Thanks. Got mine to stop beeping. Good Pictures.
Hi. the other trick for other Brother printers (Mine is a DCP-150C)is to get some plain old “twink” or white correction fluid. Use the white correction fluid to paint over the clear fluid level indicators. Does the same thing and fools the printer into thinking its full of ink.
Thanks
Thanks about the tip with the white correction fluid. It Worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hi.. it worked for my coloured carts but not for the black one. why?!?
Hi Synwin, I am not sure why — are you certain you applied the sharpie/tape/white correction fluid at the right level? I think it would be MUCH harder to do this with the black ink since it would be harder to see the right place to put it.
If you’d like to email me a picture of your black cart I’ll try to help you. drfaulken@gmail.com
If you do not use the color carts at all, would it be safe and cheaper to use water and food coloring in there, along with the covered indicator trick.
using the different fluids will give the MFC something to clean with even though they are not used.
Is this a bad idea?
Hey CG — I am not sure that colored water would be a good idea, as the residue left by the dye may damage the print heads. But who knows.
This picture is from Synwin, who is having problems with her printer thinking the black cartridge still has ink in it:
Synwin, the correction fluid appears to be in the right place. Since I used tape, I am not sure if the correction fluid you are using is blocking enough light to fool the printer.
Have you tried putting electrician’s tape on your cart? You may also want to try coloring the area you put the correction fluid black with a marker.
I am sorry I don’t have a better answer for you, but it does appear you are coloring the right area.
Keep us posted; I uploaded your picture so that maybe someone else can be more helpful.
What a great idea!!!!!!
I have been fuming over my MFC for the last three years, and had a mild anurism every time I got the “out oif ink” message because there was still SO MUCH INK LEFT. It drove me insane toi have to buy more ink. BTW WalMart has the cheapest ink if you need it “right away”.
What I ended up doing is drilling a small hole in the flat area right above the sensor and using an ink refill kit to fill it with ink. Then I use a piece of electrical tape to cover the hole.
One observation: the color ink cartriges are interchangable (at least the LC41s). Before I figured out how to bypass BIG BROTHERS rip-off ways I would put any color available into the slot. Especially important for faxing on a Sunday night when it goes “out of Cyan”.
Two cautions though:
1) Make sure you use lots of newspaper the first few times, the ink can make a massive mess if it spills, and it does!
2) The color quality of the refills is not that accurate, but then again you are probably not printing photos on this piece of garbage.
My Brother printer is under my desk… I barely see where I stick the cartridge in.
You learned me that I threw away 1/3 of the damn expensive and fucking poluant ink I stupidely replaced for three long years.
Thank you so much! This idea saved me tons of money. I used it to fix my brother 115C printer.
I love you! Thank you! My son had a simple bit of writing he’d done for school — replace cyan it whined and would NOT print, even though it was black & white.
Of course, we figure this out after midnight, because he hadn’t tried printing in the afternoon when he’d finished.
Btw, using a black sharpie on the plastic does not work. Using silver duct tape on the other hand – does.
You are a livesaver. And those folks at brother should be shot for not giving us a b&w mode.
hey i have a Brother MFC-465cn and my cyan ran out. i will try this today. ill first try the sharpie trick then the electrical tape. hopefully it works since i havent printed anything for about 3 months because i didnt want to buy the cyan.thanks for the help
Great tip.
Without your suggestion, my brother can’t print out black color when one of color inks is empty.
so i just tried out the sharpie and it doesnt work. i tried putting electrical tape on the font but it did not work also. then i tried putting it on the front and warpping it around that piece cuz i noticed the sensors go on the sides of the plastic and then it finally worked. worked good.thanks
Great tip – worked well even with non transparent packing tape!
THANK YOU DRFAULKEN! Brother is really putting the screws to everyone who buys one of their printers. Your webpage is the first place I have seen any kind of “assistance” regarding the fleecing of customers who buy/own these printers & the debacle of color cartridges being empty when one wishes to print in only B&W! BRAVO my friend!
You think Brother is holding us hostage over the ink supply, look at this new attempt by Epson at contolling their precious commodity:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/09/02/epson-ec-01-is-a-recyclable-printer/
Designed obsolescence in the guise of recycling–gotta love it.
Oh this is so sweet!!! I tried it and it worked perfectly with my LC-51. As a test I used electrical tape on just the Cyan and Yellow – sure enough the message said the Magneta was low. I slapped some tape on it and- VIOLA! The stupid printer went right into clean mode and I got the printer back.
Thanks so much.
I FEEL GOOD TO BEAT THE STUPID “BROTHERS”. I almost throw away my printer, DCP 115-P.
Thanks for the tips.
Awesome tip! My printer has been unusable for a few weeks because I didn’t want to buy new cartridges for nothing. I really appreciate the help!
P.S. I used this trick on a Brother MFC-465CN
Briliant! Many thanks
Grab some black nail polish and put it on the the little skinny spine of the cartridge, wait til it dries then chuck it in. You can use electrical tape but it kept coming off for me.
Thanks for the tip Eric. I’ve found that it works well if you peel off some of the coloured sticker on the ink too after your advise…
We should all ship in for a good lawyer and sue brother what do you think? ok i am not so serious but you have an idea…
you’re a god! i have had my brother printer (DCP 115c) lying around and useless ever since i run out of just a single ink! your tip just worked so praise to you! XD thank you so much!
Thank you all for hacking the Brother Ink conspiracy. Has anyone figured out how to defeat the ink sensor on the MFC-9200C? I’ve found lots of info about how to refill the cartridges (LC04BK), but the sensor won’t allow refilled cartridges or after-market cartridges. I appreciate any and all tips.
Need help for the cartridges in my MFC-6490cw.
The yellow is: LC65HY-Y
Seems this setup for the inks watches the little black floater MOVE!!!
anybody get past this?
Thanx!
any tips for a lexmark z1300 #29 ink cartridge?
Answer for MFC-9200C. Halleluya!!! The black tape trick works for the MFC-9200C! I just did it today using after-market cartridges. I didn’t do any power on/off tricks.
With the power on, I pulled the black cartridge out. I used a piece of black electrical tape to completely cover the back side of the cartridge (the narrow side furthest from the handle – the side furthest from you when you’re facing the front of the machine). I didn’t trim the sides of the tape at all – just peeled it off the role long enough to cover the side of the cartridge from top to bottom and side to side, without wrapping around the bottom or the top. I put the cartridge back in and closed the lid. It happily cleaned the black cartridge as is now working perfectly. All 4 catridges are after-market.
Big-Brother takes another step back! This is one for the good guys.
Happy printing.
Hey guys,
Thank you so much for the idea!!!
Unfortunately I had previously thrown out my colour cartridges (I don’t even want to print I just want to scan and fax).
I took your idea one step further – I filled the little sensor areas with electrical tape.
Now I can scan and fax – I’m not sure if that will quite let me print but problem solved for the time being.
Thank you so much for sharing your idea.
Dave
The black tape didn’t work for my MFC215 but I found on another site to just wrap each cartridge in a small square of black garbage plastic and cut a hole where the ink comes out.- works a treat.
We just bought a Brother MFC-465cn fax/scanner/printer. Looks real nice, but we printed 1 colour picture and that was it for the colour cartridges. I covered the sensor part of the cartridges with duct tape and wella, it worked!!! THANKS so MUCH!!!
thanks for the wonderful tip… lets see if i can find that spot in EPSON.
drfaulken, Thank You!! I had a 1940CN which I complained enough to Brother that they sent me this replacement MFC-640CW because I was so tired of the fact that every time I went to send a fax I got the ‘ol “Cyan is empty” (or yellow, etc.) when I hadn’t used the darn think since the last fax I sent. So, I pretty much use this machine for sending faxes or doing an occasional scan (neither which use ink) and I was always getting that very frustrating “replace ink” message. I just got off the phone with Brother because they GUARANTEED me that this unit would still function as a fax/scanner even if ink was out…and guess what…no such luck!! Their only bit of advice for me was to “go out and buy more ink”. So, I got out my electrical tape (per the original poster), covered up my cyan cartridge…and I’m scanning again like a champ. THANK YOU. BROTHER, if you’re monitoring these blogs…get a clue…you are a scam!!!
Thanks for the tip, I have a DCP-150C and the tape trick worked a treat. Fuck you Brother!!
Oggi la mia stampante mi ha detto “Cyan esaurito”…non si poteva fare niente. Sono andato subito a un negozio e quel colore anche era esaurito….dopo aver letto questo consiglio sono riuscito a stampare!!! Bravo ! Bravo! Bravo!
I would like to share with everybody that this hack for Brother 5440 inkjet printer also works on Brother DCP-130C. The ink cartridges used are LC57 type of cartridges. LC57 is for use with the following models: DCP-330C, DCP-350C, DCP-540CN, DCP-560CN, FAX-2480C, MFC-240C, MFC-440CN, MFC-465CN, MFC-665CW, MFC-685CW, MFC-885CW, MFC-3360C, MFC-5460CN, MFC-5860CN. This means that by using the “black tape” trick, those people using the above-mentioned models of BROTHER printer can save money.
Thanks!
Now I have one problem solved.
The other problem is when I forget to switch my DCP-115c off than it wakes me up at night with its cleaning noise.
I have a MFC-240C and unfortunately this trick, electrical tape, is not working for me. Help anyone!
I have a better solution. Simply use a dark colored sharpie and write over the transparent window for the light sensor or on cartridge wall where sensor looks, on all the cartridges even the black one. The benefit is two-fold. First of all it won’t mark the ink as empty when its only half empty (the window on my cartridges is on the halfway mark) and secondly it allows one to go on printing even when one or more cartridges are eventually empty. My all-in-one printer is the Brother MFC-465CN and I have it set to grayscale. My blue is empty and my yellow and magenta are low but my printer doesn’t know it. This will be the very last Brother I ever buy even if its the cheapest and best printer on the market. I have principles.
Hi Jules,
Your idea is a good one, and has worked for other people. It didn’t work for me, but glad it did for you.
I am totally with you about not buying a Brother again. I just use mine as a scanner and a black and white copier now. When I run out of my ink stockpile it’s getting the boot.
Brother inkjets mix coloured ink into the black ink when they are printing black.
(This as well as the frequent automatic “cleaning” and the ~11ml of each ink in the cartridges that are initially supplied with the printer are why you can easily be told you have run out of a colour ink without having done any colour printing.)
So putting food colour into the colour cartridges will feed food colouring through your printhead onto your paper. Maybe not good for PH.
If you are sure you do not want to print colour then you could experiment by putting generic BULK INK specifically made for your Brother printer into each colour cartridge. I am not sure how to get bulk ink into a Brother cartridge.
Gotta luv yer Brudda!
SNARL
Hi Jules,
I think perhaps I am not coloring or placing the electrical tape in the right place. I do not know where the “window” is that the sensor looks through. Please anyone with a MFC-240C tell me where the window is. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
Just wanted to offer my thanks as well.
A reminder to those with other printer models:
What’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander. It’s possible Brother has moved the sensor on newer printers or developed some other way to thwart this trick.
So you may want to search the comments to see if somebody else with your printer has had success.
If you do not have the same model printer, you can’t justifiably expect this trick to work, but the idea should be the same (tricking the printer into thinking the cartridges is full). So for example, someone in the comments above suggested wrapping the cart in black garbage bag material, then cutting a hole where the ink comes out. Sounds like that would work, but it might be safer to experiment with a sharpie coloring the exterior of the cart until you find the “sweet spot” where the sensor is looking.
Once again, thanks to the people who are spreading the word.
Thanks for saving my day.
I didn’t have access to electrician tape, so I just painted a white sticker in dark blue and it works just fine.
Once again, thanks for the tip.
Thank you for this!
unbelievable. i just googled “i hate my brother mfc440cn” and found this. thank you.
I love you all – thank you so much for this. I have just started a business from home and haven’t been able to print for weeks. This was my last ditch attempt before I slung the (brand new) Brother MFC 260C out of the window. I have had it a matter of weeks and the black cartridge ran out. I had a whole load of replacement ones (OEMs) so thought I was sorted – oh no, by the time I’d tried the third new replacement black cartridge I was in despair!
I tried the white marker trick on my cartridge as I didn’t have a black marker pen handy. My cartridge is slightly different to the pix above – just a tiny window of plastic showing. Painted the front of it – still didn’t work. Looked at where the sensor was (needed a torch) and realised it went right round the plastic column. Painted ALL THREE SIDES of the transparent window/column on the cartridge and it works!!!!
Yippee. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The trick also works with MFC 260C. Brilliant!!
Thank you for the excellent idea! To make this work with a Brother MFC-240C I had to cut a square of the colored cartridge label off and push this into the cutaway in the back.
The sensor on this model reads through from one side of the clear area to the other so you have to cover the sides. Sharpie marker did not work for this model either, it seemed to be able to sense the color. I was about to give up and throw this printer out until I read Betzalel’s post above suggesting using the colored label of the ink cartridge itself.
Whiteout will not work, as it reflects the light from the sensor and will read as empty. Try a Sharpie or even Nail polish if you do not have any Black electrical tape. Anything that is not a bright or white color that will stop light from comming through will work.
The print head is in the cartridge. Putting water in the cartridge will allow water to come out, and allow the cartridge to clean, but where does that ink go? The Cleaning pad! I have not tried running one with water, but have use rubbing alcohol, and it will dry without smearing other colors or the black if it is tried to be used, and it will not puddle up in the printer anywhere. It also helps keep things clean!
Works!! on MFC-465CN using LC51BK, LC51Y, C, M
I got Near Empty warning and shows about 10~20% remaining level on LCD. But when I check the inks, they looks like more than 30% left.
I just put a small paper tape, 1cm x 0.5cm size,
on the plastic window’s front and 2 sides all around together.
That’s it. for 4 inks, I put 4 paper tapes.
MFC asked if I changed Black ink, I pressed YES.
Now all ink levels are 100% left.
Later if I really can not print anything, then I’ll replace only LC51BK because I don’t print colors. Mostly I just want to use Fax and fax report. LC51BK compatible is about $5 which is good enough for this Fax machine.
And if you don’t use colors,
don’t forget to the printer properties setting to “Grayscale”. and “Pain Paper”.
otherwise, MFC still use color inks to produce even black print outs.
AHASHAHAH IT WORKED!!!
MFC 3240C with this one the black tape didn’t completely work it seemed to work and then got upset again so i thought fuck it i’ll just wrap a cut off piece of plastic bag around the cartridges and shove them back in, NOW it’s happy ha ha! love this trick!!!
Great Tip man!! i just wanted to scan on my MFC420-CN but it was keep giving error about the empty cartridges. Your tip really saved my day! thanks again
Well, I’ve tried all your ideas and I still get “near empty cyan”. It’s even a Brother cart!! Any other ideas? It’s the DCP-115C.
[...] I searched around the internet and found a quick fix: [...]
Guys, my MFC-215C has the same optical ink level system. However, 2 of my sensors are dead. On this printer, if you remove the cartridge and check the levels with the menu option, it won’t show any reading (all the level boxes are clear). In the defective ink colors (black and yellow) the level is still indicated as Low (one black box in the first level). This indicates a defective sensor as it should not read anything at all. You do not have to reboot the printer, the readings happen in real time. You can exit and re-enter the cartridge ink level menu if it doesn’t refresh quick enough. So in my case, the bloody sensors are dead, always reading lowest level of ink. Luckily the printer still prints but keeps warning about low ink levels. Pretty cheap.
Hi all these comments are realy good and was quite helpful as i have just recently purcahse an epson all in one printer.And have not started on it yet.Please help me in getting started with it with all the tricks and tips that i should follow and precautions and care I should take fr my new all in one printer.so that i don’t have to go through all those problems.Will it run out of ink with just one picture printed?I am frigtened and nervous..this would be a too heavy on my pocket.
you are awesome!!! It worked on the brother MFC-685CW- save me some headaches!!!!!
You’re funny…and helpful. Problem solved and I won’t be throwing my 5860 out the window after all.
Thank you all for your postings and help. The electrical tape worked like magic on my Brother MFC9420 printer.
Cursed with a Brother MFC465CN
Eats ink like an addict, I could swear to it being a timed ink outage- I printed nothing for three months and only minimal before and it screams empty.It wont do ANYTHING if its outa ink. It will clean itself more than a house cat..until it runs out of ink, several times a day – even while turned off!
I hate Brother, will never ever buy another one……..
Well sir, you are a genious!
Thank you I just refilled all of my cartridges,using the ‘tape method’…
, black marker did not do the trick.
I know these cartridges are at least half full, there is no diff. in weight compared to a new one.
Did I mention I hate Brother?Now someone figure out a way to re-program or how to set the sensor an actual empty alert
Thank-you SO much. I had an important deadline to print documents and of course, beeping started indicating out of ink. Which actually of course I was not, still 1/3 full…anyway, THANK YOU. I like this printer but this issue is a serious design flaw.
xo
[...] all, There is a way to print with Brother Deskjets with just a filled black cartridge. See Trick your Brother inkjet into working when an ink cartridge runs dry | Gibberish Is My Native Langu… for more details. Mind you, I do not recommend this. It might be a fix when you have to print [...]
Hi, thanks for the sharpie tip, however with my Brother MFC 440CN I tried the sharpie but it didn’t work. So I will try the black tape and get back to you all. Thanks again, I’ve been trying to figure out this problem forever.
i may have posted this below but it doesn’t seem that way so I put it here as well
from brother website
If the unit were to continue printing, print jobs and cleaning cycles would suck air from the empty cartridge and damage the print head
hi again, sorry for the quickie double post I just happened to go to the Brother website to see if they had any ideas for solutions to this and they are claiming the reason they don’t let it print when a color ink is out ” If the unit were to continue printing, print jobs and cleaning cycles would suck air from the empty cartridge and damage the print head”
I don’t know if it’s truth or just an excuse. I supposed it’s possible. Anybody?
TheTrekHippy wrote:
“…I don’t know if it’s truth or just an excuse.”
Calling it an excuse would be putting it too mild. A flat out lie is more like it.
My other printer can still print if one or more of the color carts are empty. I’ve done this for extended periods of time over the course of several years and have never had any problems with the heads being damaged.
The only sucking going on is Brother trying to suck the money out of our wallets.
Thanks for the fix on my mfc-240. I only wanted to scan something and it wanted two cartridges. I used the labels off the carts as the marker pen didn’t work and I had no electrical tape. Perfect!!!
Same problems and complaints as everyone else. I have the MFC-440CN, which I’ve always referred to as “the Mother Fucking Copier” due to it’s great user experience, with the ink in particular.
This technique worked for me with the MFC-440CN / LC-51 cartridges. The key thing was to make sure the tape covered the sides of the ink level window, not just the part that’s parallel to the back of the cartridge.
The technique is also outlined on the following page, which has photos of the LC-51 cartridges and illustrates why it’s key to cover the sides of the ink level window:
http://www.robotification.com/component/content/article/7-hardware/35-trick-mfc-440cn-printer-into-thinking-its-ink-cartridges-are-full.html
Thanks drfaulken!!
Hey Shade (No 18)… there is some poetic justice in using Brother’s own label… and it worked for my Brother DCP-540CN
Thankyou so much for this…cyan was “empty” just as I needed to print something..of course it is Sundayand the shops are closed. So thanks again for sharing this.
By the way I used red electrical tape on the DCP-135C.
X
Dude… you are the shit! I cut a piece of black sticker from the outside of my black print cartrage and put it where you showed. I can fax once more!!!
:)
Thanks so much, all!
-Miz
Hoorrayyy!!! the black electrical tape did the trick for my DCP-135C…
for the days this useless junk kept on nagging me to replace the magenta and cyan cartridges…
while still half-filled…. by the way my printer has been converted to continuous or bulk ink sytem… so now I have years ahead of me to use this printer without the worries of consuming expensive original inks from brother!!! thanks a lot guys you nailed it!!!
Thanks a lot.
I have MFC 240c. And it doesn’t scan with out ink. What a stupid trick “BROTHER” plays to make people buy ink.
Using the same sticker on the cartridge, i sealed the clear plastic area on the back of cartridge. We have to seal both the sides in the groove.
And now, the printer scans and also prints!!!
danm it worked thanks a bunch just sharpied mine and the danm thing worked
Thank you! YOU ARE A GOD!! Please keep this site up!!!
Thankyou so much wow i cant believe i am able to print now. I have a brother DCP-150C and putting white correction fluid really helped. This is a life saving moment lol
WoooHooo!! I was so flippin piss-off at my brother mfc5460cn, with the “no cartiridge” message for cyan. I was ready to throw it out the window. Thanks to this thread, I may just keep my printer a little longer. :)
Awesome tip!! I have a completely differnt Brother and it still worked.
thanks a ton!
Thank you so much! I was about ready to throw this scamming piece of shit out my window. I will definitely never invest in any of “Brothers” items ever again.
Thanks mate, a complete pain in the backside the MFC665CW has been since my brother purchased it… this will allow us to use it until we exhaust every scrap of value from its cartridges… small victory i know..
Cheers champ.
whew! thanks a lot! i felt so frustrated about not being able to print my paper works which were due the next day – good thing i found this site. i already shared this trick with my colleagues who are also having the same problem with their brother printer. in fact, most of them already bought another printer with another brand because they really got annoyed by this brother’s system. the others even had a stack of cartridges still with good amount of ink, but can’t use anymore. nonetheless, this is really a great help.
please keep on posting ideas on how to maximize the use of theses gadgets, anyway we invested on these, and it’s just appropriate that we enjoy its full use – otherwise, we’re just making these companies and manufacturers even richer…
Awesome!!! Thanks for figuring this out. This was such a waste of cash and time
sure as hell i have a brother MFC-440CN and it said the magenta was low and i looked at it ……sure as hell it was less than half full….so i put electrical tape over that clear window and it printed…..hope this helps
Works like a charm…thanks for the tip. I’ll never purchase another Brother printer as long as I live. They should be sued for not putting some type of disclaimer on their fucking box when you buy the damn thing.
Did not work with black perm marker even after repeated coatings all over the cartridge. However, once I covered the transparent end with black elec tape it worked immediately.
Awesome tip!
I will never buy Brother again; this was the second Brother that awarded me this aggravation.
This one is model MFC210; the other is MFC5440CN.
Brother, if you are reading this…GTH from all of us!
Thank you SOOOO much! Cutting out the label and using it for the 240C worked WoNDERS! I was about to lose it! I was trying to print out papers for my doctorate when this thing started acting stupid! You guys saved me.
For any of these optical systems systems detecting ink levels, maybe another solution is to use the printer on a tilt, so that the ink level again covers the optical sensor point (ie raise the front of the printer if this optical sensor is at the rear of the cartridge when inserted.) It may be that more is required, remove the cartridges for 30 seconds etc to fool the printer firmware into detecting cartridges replaced.
I have just successfully done this on my MFC-260C. The cartridge for this looks more similar to that described here http://www.robotification.com/component/content/article/7-hardware/35-trick-mfc-440cn-printer-into-thinking-its-ink-cartridges-are-full.html . First of all I tried a dark green vivid marker around the plastic bit which did not work. Secondly I used blue electrical tape (did not have black) which did not work either. But then a put another *layer* of blue electrical tape on (and making sure to cover even more plastic area) and it seemed to work fine! As for the sensors picking up the actual colour inside I somehow doubt they would do that?
Wow thanks a lot for the tip man. I was getting annoyed at having full black but having to go and buy yellow ink just to print a black and white document.
I have a brother MFC-240C and your tip works great, just gotta cover the little ink window on the spine of the cartridge.
The black tape trick also works on the Brother MFC-665CW cartridges. You don’t have to remove the cover to the cartridge: just apply slivers of black take to the small indented area (less than 1/2 inch wide) containing tne “spine” . Cover both the recessed parts and the spine.
The ink status indicator immediately shows the previously empty cartridges as full, and the printer immediately starts to print again.
Awesome!
Congrats on sharing a life saving tid bit!
If only the net was used more often in this way..
Thanks
This was a GODSEND. This works great on the MFC-240C also. I used the sticker from the label. Kudos to DRFAULKEN; my only complaint about this printer was the frequent need for new ink cartridges. Thank goodness I found this hint after only one set of new color cartridges.
AHAAAAAA!!!!! Friggin genius!!! It worked – I love you! =) THANK YOU!!!
I must say thank you!! for the wonderful and justifiable trick.
I have a MFC-465N, got it 6 months ago, never really prints anything, may be 5? Most work it does is CLEANING ITSELF everyday!
Until one day, i really need to print something, i got this msg “ink low, and will stop printing if JUST ONE of the inks runs out”!!
So I thought there is got to be a command to disable the self-cleaning feature–NO. And the next option is to search for cheap inks, but no matter how cheap it is, it still eats up the ink by self cleaning.
Luckily, I found this site and all the people providing these enhanced tips, I tried a couple of times, didnt really work for the first few times, I guess some people already repeat the tips, since there is no pic, i will try again:
1. Make sure your dark color sticker is big enough to cover the entire spine including the left and right sides of the transparent spine–not just the area of the spine
2. Need to clean it after you are done installing the cartridges
May be i am not smart enough, but it finally works.
Cant tell you how much I appreciate, especially in an economy like this… the way Brother sets this up is REALLY REALLY BAD
Wish everyone found this site.
I just did this for my MFC-885CW that told me I was out of yellow. There was still plenty of ink left.
I put tape on the clear plastic and it WORKED!! Then it told me I would out of cyan, so I did it and that worked too! Then it told me I was out of Magenta, well… I now have it ALL working.
Funny because I have only printed 3-4 color pages and a lot of black and faxes… but my black ink is still working too. I have only had the printer a few months and mostly bought for the FAX.
great fix…
I googled “brother ink cartridge override” and found this, Thanks so much.
IT WORKS!!! THANK YOU!! (By the way, green electricians tape works aswell!)
Thanks. Worked for us – or seems too!
Well, i was in the same boat as the rest of you and was about to fuckin lose it on my MFC-240C printer. Well i did the trick with the cartridge label on the little window and now i can scan…WTF why would you need a full array of all the inks just to scan…
First and last time i buy a brother.
Thank so very much for the help!!!!!!
THANKYOU Your a god it worked with my Brother MFC 260C
thank you.
thank you.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
My MFC-260C works again!!! Thanks for your powerful tips :D
MFC-6490 all-in-one. electrical tape a success.
thanks.
bit of bin liner did it for me down the front of c
sensors i tried tape a few times didnt do it for me i have mfc-5440cn thankyou very much does anyone have manual in english i bought mine in spain dont understand what its telling me tried on site cant seem to get anywhere any ideas thankyou again now i have a good usable printer
Saved my ass on this my dad bought a new printer and gave this old 5440cn to us…found cartridges at ingrabber.com for 4.95 a piece They work great btw..we need for small home office…screw the color printing…THANK YOU!
Awesome thanks for this – it worked a treat!
Thankyou thankyou thankyou… dark blue elctrical tape onthe spine worked first go on the so called empty yellow ink cartridge in my MFC 215C… thanks heap man.. you rock! now i can fax and get a report…
Just had to add my thanks on GP.!!!!!!!
awesome! tried it. worked! you just saved my life!!
genius. saved me a lot of time. thanks!
I just tried this using only a permanent marker on my MFC-465CN. It isn’t working, so I’m about to dig around for some electrical tape.
Anyways, I’ve totally lost faith in the Brother name. What a freaking scam. I’m pissed to say the least.
Marker alone did not work. There is now clear tape and aluminum foil on three of my four ink cartridges. If it destroys the printer I’m returning it as defective. Screw this.
I don’t know why printers have to be such frustrating things ):[
Just went through the process of having my DCP-150C tell me I’d run out of ink just as I started to print out a technical manual PDF.
It’s in Black and white, but my cyan had run out, so everything stopped.
Didn’t want to go all the way into town, just for a cartridge I’m not using, so did a search and found this site.
I initially tried to block out the window with a black ‘Felt Tip Pen’ (as we call them here in OZ), but that didn’t work until I had also painted over the window area with ‘Liquid Paper’ (another Ozzie colloquialism).
Having sorted that I went for lunch, but heard the printer stop.
I had run out of paper!
No problem, reload more paper and go finish my coffee.
Came back and the red light was on, run out of paper again, so I checked the page number last printed to get an idea of how much paper to put in, loaded up and went off again.
When I came back 10 minutes later, THE RED LIGHT WAS ON AGAIN!
NO PAPER!?
Now I know that every time I try to be clever with these damn printers, they screw up somehow.
I’m trying to print a 100 page document, and I’ve set it to print in reverse order all ODD pages in collated format, so all I have to do at the end of the run is turn the block over and print all EVEN pages running forward.
So what’s happened?
Everytime it stopped, either for ink or paper, the damn thing went back and started printing from the beginning!
I’ve now got THREE manuals!!!!!
And I’m probably going to run out of ink before it actually finishes!
OMG Thank you so much!!!!!!! It worked like a charm with our Brother MFC240
hey “brothers”
this is one of the best solutions I ever found on the internet after thousand of searches. but even the cartridge itself provide you a piece of tape on the other side of it. try it, it is nearly loose. thanks thanks thanks
This is reallly AMAZING!!!
i own a DCP 150c
Where is the spine on my dcp150c catridge as my cartridge lookz really different from the one posted..
thnkz !
Thanks this worked for my MFC-490CW as well.
The ink cartridges are a little different, but you just have to slide a thin piece of electrical tape under the thin plastic strip.
Hi totlzas,
The DCP 150C cartridge has a grey plastic body all round the outside, but just between the two round ‘feed’ ports is a cut-out where you can see the clear plastic inner body.
You can’t just cover the window!
You have to cover, paint, obscure the little clear plastic ridge inside the hole.
A good coat of liquid paper will work.
Pylon.
I found that if you use a common cigarette lighter and held the extreme tip of the flame to the ink window, it causes a black residue from the combustion that blocks the light really well, make sure you don’t hold it too long or you might melt something (I didn’t have a problem with that tho in a Brother MFC240-C)
I was ready to buy a new printer due to the frustration of having to replace color cartridges when I never print in color! Thanks so much! Glad I found this post.
I found a small strip of aluminium foil is good enough to cover the eye of my Brother cartridge. No need to open the case, just insert teh strip with something roundish, a q-tip works fine.
Dear Doctor,
What a delight it is to beat the greedy monolith.
Brilliant tip, all credit to you. Thanks.
I was ready to throw the whole machine in the trash. Numerous calls to Brother did not help. They don’t give a damn. Your suggestion did the trick. Thanks much.
This is great!!! The only problem now is that Brother will find a way to fix the cartridges so that you can’t do this any more. I have an Epson sstylus PHOTO R220 with the same problem and the cartridges are not transparent so there is no way to over ride the sensor. If any one knows how, please let me know. Thanks upandatemm@yahoo.com
it worked with a silver marker on the LC61 series cartridges! I just colored in the clear plastic spot…& now it shows it as full ink! Thanks a lot!
Excellent – Thanks a ton!
I’ve been so annoyed for 2 weeks just wanting to print basic black pages. My cartridge is a little different on an MFC-490CW – the clear part is behind a plastic part but I figured it worked the same way. Sure enough!
Thanks again!
Great…Great…Great….
so frustrating…
but this worked great on MFC240C Brother
multi printer…
Thanks a lot…
I wanted to give the tape trick a try on my
MFC 465CN, but did not have electrical and gave some black duct tape a try.
Nope too think to allow the cartridge in.
HOWEVER
I used a sharpie on it and left the doors open for a while and when I closed it The message said did you refill the Magenta I said Yes and it cleaned and is printing no more messages claiming I need to refill
IT had told me the Cyan was empty before I tried this.
I tried this ages ago when it was easier to fool them with a old lexmark I could just take it out and put it back in but yea that was in the mid 90’s before they got hip to what consumers were doing to save money.
JERKS like they loose Any money allowing us to use ALL out ink WE bought.
THANKS I am waiting for my Best Buy Reward zone certificates to be rewarded on the 10th So I can use them to help get new ink so this will buy some time till than :0)
MANY THANX!!!!’
It is so much cheaper to just buy a whole new printer instead of ink replacment which Sucks for the landfill :0( Why can they not get the message?
Greedy dogs Just do not care
Anyone used the cheaper price ink from one of the low price generic ink places online?? Any places that offered good cartidges at a good price?
hell to the yes,it worked!!!!!!!!!
Sharpei didn’t work, but the lectric tape did. Make sure you cover the entre spine (front and sides), or else no go.
I have a MFC 3240-C.
This problem has plagued me many a tossed-out-a-good-cartridge-and-go-buy-a-new-one…..DAMN Brother!
Help! Where EXACTLY do I put the black tape on the mfc-490cw?