Printing with empty Ink on Brother mfc 3820CN

[Jack]

I have a Brother multifunction printer scanner copier. It has a bug
that you can't print from the printer if one of the color cartridges is
empty. This is true even if you set it to print in black and white
only. It will copy though if a color cartridge is empty????? I called
Brother and they say the software is set that way to protect the print
head.
Anybody know a way around this? I hardly ever print anything in
color. I bet I have printed 3 pages in color in the last 3 months. This
thing cleans the heads just about every night so I assume that is where
my ink is going.

 

[measekite]

I have a Brother multifunction printer scanner copier. It has a bug
that you can't print from the printer if one of the color cartridges is
empty.

THAT IS NOT A BUG. IT IS DESIGNED THAT WAY.

This is true even if you set it to print in black and white
only. It will copy though if a color cartridge is empty?????

THAT IS THE BUG

 

[Jack]

No not a bug in my view but a way to make you buy ink catridges.....

 

[Frank]

No not a bug in my view but a way to make you buy ink catridges.....

Sure is! And that jackass moron idiot sure fell for it!
Happy New Year.
Frank

 

[Tony]

I have a Brother multifunction printer scanner copier. It has a bug
that you can't print from the printer if one of the color cartridges is
empty. This is true even if you set it to print in black and white
only. It will copy though if a color cartridge is empty????? I called
Brother and they say the software is set that way to protect the print
head.
Anybody know a way around this? I hardly ever print anything in
color. I bet I have printed 3 pages in color in the last 3 months. This
thing cleans the heads just about every night so I assume that is where
my ink is going.

Jack
The printer is deliberately disigned this way and it is to protect the
printhead. The printhead technology that Brother (and most other manufacturers
except for Epson) use requires ink to in the head to keep it cool. Epson use a
different technology but they also need ink in the head to prevent clogging.
Having said that, there is a bug in some Brother inkjet firmware that causes
the printer to perform excessive printhead cleaning cycles. I do not know
exactly which models are affected by this because Brother are a little tight
lipped about this. You could try calling Brother and ask them if there is a
firmware update for your printer, or you could call an official Brother service
agent and ask them. I think you will get a better answer from an agent.
Unfortunately you cannot easily update the firmware yourself and an agent will
have to do it for you if this one of the affected models.
Tony

 

[Jack]

Tony,
Thanks, I'm, out of warranty on the printer. I already had one print
head replaced under warranty. The local repair shop was just full of
these units with bad print heads when I brought mine in. I had 3 HP
inkjet printers before this and they all printed when one color was
out. They did not shut down like this Brother does. With the HP you
could also print in black and white too when the color was out. The
Brother is also weird on whether it likes refilled ink cartridges. It
will accept a cyan or yellow taht is refilled but not magenta? Why I
have no idea, but have had this happen twice now with magenta.
I don't use color much at all so I would love to be able to just tell
this thing print in black and white all the time and stop burning
through color ink I never use. Was hoping someone had a work around but
I guess not.

 

[Tony]

Tony,
Thanks, I'm, out of warranty on the printer. I already had one print
head replaced under warranty. The local repair shop was just full of
these units with bad print heads when I brought mine in. I had 3 HP
inkjet printers before this and they all printed when one color was
out. They did not shut down like this Brother does. With the HP you
could also print in black and white too when the color was out. The
Brother is also weird on whether it likes refilled ink cartridges. It
will accept a cyan or yellow taht is refilled but not magenta? Why I
have no idea, but have had this happen twice now with magenta.
I don't use color much at all so I would love to be able to just tell
this thing print in black and white all the time and stop burning
through color ink I never use. Was hoping someone had a work around but
I guess not.

Yes Brother produced a huge number of printheads that failed prematurely
(Machine Error 41).

The only workaround I can think of is to keep the colour cartridges topped up.
Maybe cleaning cartridges would also do the trick. Hardly an imrovement on your
present situation though, just a bit cheaper.
Not sure why the magenta cartridge behaves differently, maybe someone else will
answer that for you.
Good luck
Tony

 

[Arthur Entlich]

What Brother (and Epson) suggested is true, in regard to protecting the
head from drying out and clogging very badly. Most printer with
internal semi-permenent heads will do the same.

Art