Brother 'No Toner': cartridge not detected fix

What causes it

• The toner cartridge not clicked fully into the drum unit
• The drum and toner assembly not pushed all the way into the machine
• The orange or white protective packing not removed from a new cartridge
• The sensor window on the side of the cartridge dusty or obscured
• A compatible cartridge whose chip the machine does not accept

How to fix it, in order

Work down the list and stop when the printer recovers. The steps are ordered from most likely and least invasive to last resort.

1. Take the whole assembly out and look at it

   Open the front cover and pull out the drum unit and toner cartridge together, keeping them level. Put the assembly on a sheet of newspaper away from direct light. Look at how the cartridge sits in the drum frame; the toner cartridge should be flush and locked, not resting at an angle.

2. Reseat the toner cartridge in the drum

   Press the green lock lever on the drum unit, lift the toner cartridge out, and push it back in until it clicks into place. That click is the mechanical latch, and a cartridge sitting a millimetre short of it will not be detected. Rock the assembly gently side to side afterwards to distribute toner.

3. Remove all packing from a new cartridge

   New Brother cartridges have a protective cover and sometimes an orange or white plastic piece and a sealing strip. Take every piece off before fitting. If the cartridge came with a sealing tape, pull it out fully and horizontally in one steady motion, then check nothing is left in the slot.

4. Clean the sensor window and the corona wire

   Look at the flat window on the side of the toner cartridge and wipe it with a dry lint-free cloth. Then slide the green tab on top of the drum unit from left to right several times, ending in the home position, which cleans the corona wire. Both take seconds and both prevent detection and quality faults.

5. Check the sensor inside the machine

   With the assembly out, look into the empty cavity with a torch and find the small optical sensor on the inner wall. Wipe any toner dust off it with a dry cotton bud. Toner dust on that sensor is one of the more common causes of a cartridge that is present but not seen.

6. Refit the assembly squarely

   Slide the drum and toner assembly back in level, pushing until it stops with a firm seat, and close the front cover until it latches. An assembly that goes in slightly cocked will not engage the detection mechanism, and the resulting message looks identical to a faulty cartridge.

7. Test with a genuine cartridge if you use compatibles

   If the cartridge is a compatible or a refill, borrow or buy a genuine Brother TN cartridge to test. Firmware updates change how chips are validated, and a compatible that worked previously can stop being detected. This test takes five minutes and settles the question definitively.

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