My Brother MFC-9840CDW needs new toner, but it seems it prints
perfectly fine until it simply says it's out. The weirder thing is
that the supply level reported by the Brother control panel/print
center on my Macbook Pro running OSX 10.5.5 says all the cartridges
are at 100% until I replace one, then another is suddently at 0-5% or
so, then the next, then the next.

Is this normal behavior for this software/printer? Is is really only
able to detect the level of toner in one cartridge at a time? Or is
this pretty much BS to get me to buy toner?

Anyone else seen this behavior? My HP never did this -- it actually
showed the toner gradually running down.

Comments? Should I keep those old toner carts in case a software
update suddenly "fixes" this?

Thx!

Mark

Although I honestly don't know the answer to this, I would bring this up
to Brother for an explanation. Also, consider weighting a new cartridge
and the "empty" ones, and see if they are all approximately the same
weight when they indicate empty.

Although each color may have slightly different weights due to toner
density, it shouldn't vary tremendously.

Art

If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:

http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> My Brother MFC-9840CDW needs new toner, but it seems it prints
> perfectly fine until it simply says it's out. The weirder thing is
> that the supply level reported by the Brother control panel/print
> center on my Macbook Pro running OSX 10.5.5 says all the cartridges
> are at 100% until I replace one, then another is suddently at 0-5% or
> so, then the next, then the next.
>
> Is this normal behavior for this software/printer? Is is really only
> able to detect the level of toner in one cartridge at a time? Or is
> this pretty much BS to get me to buy toner?
>
> Anyone else seen this behavior? My HP never did this -- it actually
> showed the toner gradually running down.
>
> Comments? Should I keep those old toner carts in case a software
> update suddenly "fixes" this?
>
> Thx!
>
> Mark

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:15:04 -0800, Arthur Entlich wrote:

> Although I honestly don't know the answer to this, I would bring this up


If you do not know then why are you top posting verbage that is taking up
bandwidth.




> to Brother for an explanation. Also, consider weighting a new cartridge
> and the "empty" ones, and see if they are all approximately the same
> weight when they indicate empty.
>
> Although each color may have slightly different weights due to toner
> density, it shouldn't vary tremendously.
>
> Art
>
> If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
> I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:
>
> http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
>
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>> My Brother MFC-9840CDW needs new toner, but it seems it prints
>> perfectly fine until it simply says it's out. The weirder thing is
>> that the supply level reported by the Brother control panel/print
>> center on my Macbook Pro running OSX 10.5.5 says all the cartridges
>> are at 100% until I replace one, then another is suddently at 0-5% or
>> so, then the next, then the next.
>>
>> Is this normal behavior for this software/printer? Is is really only
>> able to detect the level of toner in one cartridge at a time? Or is
>> this pretty much BS to get me to buy toner?
>>
>> Anyone else seen this behavior? My HP never did this -- it actually
>> showed the toner gradually running down.
>>
>> Comments? Should I keep those old toner carts in case a software
>> update suddenly "fixes" this?
>>
>> Thx!
>>
>> Mark

> My Brother MFC-9840CDW needs new toner, but it seems it prints
> perfectly fine until it simply says it's out. *The weirder thing is
> that the supply level reported by the Brother control panel/print
> center on my Macbook Pro *running OSX 10.5.5 says all the cartridges
> are at 100% until I replace one, then another is suddently at 0-5% or
> so, then the next, then the next.
>
> Is this normal behavior for this software/printer? *Is is really only
> able to detect the level of toner in one cartridge at a time? *Or is
> this pretty much BS to get me to buy toner?
>
> Anyone else seen this behavior? *My HP never did this -- it actually
> showed the toner gradually running down.
>
> Comments? *Should I keep those old toner carts in case a software
> update suddenly "fixes" this?
>
> Thx!
>
> Mark


Mark:

Brother has various systems built in to make sure you don't run out of
toner. These systems estimate toner life based on 5% page coverage x
page count. The cartridge for your printer has what is called a flag
gear built in. It increments each time you print and will stop the
printer from printing when it reaches the end of its ESTIMATED life.
The cartridge will generally have lots of toner left at this point.
You can reset this flag gear by unscrewing the end cap of the
cartridge (2 Phillips screws) and carefully removing it. You will see
a spring on the left over a white, partially-toothed gear. This is
the flag gear. Carefully remove the spring and gear, turn the gear
back, and re-install all. The cartridge is now re-set. The machine
also has a counter. There are other things you can do. I suggest you
check additional posts at http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/laser/39806#109