Brother Printer Not Printing? Fix It Whether Nothing Comes Out or the Page Is Blank

You hit Print. Maybe nothing happened at all. Maybe the printer woke up, thought about it, and went quiet again. Or maybe a page came out with nothing on it.

A Brother printer that won't print is usually doing one of two things: it never got the job, or it got the job and is refusing to print it until something is fixed. The printer almost always tells you which, if you know where to look. This guide shows you where, then walks through the fixes for Brother lasers and inkjets on Windows 11, Windows 10, and macOS.

If your computer says the printer is Offline, start with our Brother printer offline guide instead. That's a connection problem, and it has its own set of fixes.

Start Here: Where Did Your Print Job Stop?

Look at the printer's screen or lights first, then find the row that matches.

First, Find Out Whether the Printer Can Print by Itself

Before you change anything on the computer, ask the printer to print a page from its own buttons. No computer, no network, no driver. The result tells you where to spend your time.

Before you start, press a button to wake the printer, then clear anything on the screen. A jam, an open cover, or an empty tray will stop every job, including this one. If there's a paper jam, our Brother printer paper jam guide walks through each spot Brother printers jam.

What the result means:

• The page prints normally. The printer works. The problem is between your computer and the printer, or in the job itself. Skip ahead to Fix It on Windows or Fix It on Mac.
• Nothing prints, and the screen shows a message. The printer is stopping itself. Find the message in the laser or inkjet section.
• The page comes out blank, faded, or missing colors. It's a supply or print quality problem. Go to When the Pages Come Out Blank.
• Nothing happens at all, and there's no message. Turn the printer off with its power button, wait a minute, and turn it on again. If it still won't print its own page, see When It's a Hardware Problem.

Why Your Brother Printer Isn't Printing

Brother printers are cautious. When something isn't right, they'd rather hold a job than print a bad page, and they don't always tell your computer why. Nearly every case comes down to one of these:

• A supply has run out, or the printer can't detect it. Brother lasers stop at Replace Toner, and Brother inkjets stop at Replace Ink. A cartridge that isn't seated properly, or one the printer can't recognize, stops printing too.
• The paper doesn't match the job. If the driver asks for the manual feed slot, a different paper size, or a different paper type than what's loaded, the printer waits for you to fix it.
• The printer's memory filled up. Very large or high-resolution jobs can trigger Out of Memory or Print Data Full.
• The job is being held on purpose. On business models, Secure Print keeps a job at the printer until someone enters a PIN, and Secure Function Lock can block printing for some users.
• The job never reached the printer. It went to another printer, to a duplicate entry like "(Copy 1)," or it's stuck behind another job in the queue.
• Windows or macOS can't use Brother's driver. Windows protected print mode, a Windows update, or an old macOS driver can all stop printing cold.
• The problem is inside the file or program. Some PDFs and some apps send data the printer can't handle.
• Something mechanical has failed. This is the least common cause, and Brother's messages for it are very specific.

Brother Laser Printer Messages That Stop Printing

Brother lasers use two separate supplies: a toner cartridge, which holds the toner, and a drum unit, which the toner cartridge clicks into. Each one has its own messages, and people mix them up all the time. If you replace the wrong one, the message stays.

Toner messages

Continue Mode: printing past Replace Toner. Brother rates each toner cartridge by how long it can keep up print quality, so Replace Toner can appear while there's still some toner inside. On models such as the HL-L2350DW, you can tell the printer to keep going:

1. Use the arrow buttons to select General Setup, and press OK.
2. Select Replace Toner, and press OK.
3. Choose Continue, and press Go.

Brother is clear that print quality isn't guaranteed in this mode. The screen keeps showing the toner status, and when it reaches Toner Ended, the cartridge is done. Continue Mode turns itself off when you install a new cartridge. The menu names vary a little from model to model, so check your guide if you don't see Replace Toner under General Setup.

Just put in a new cartridge and the message won't clear? Brother's checklist, in order:

• Make sure you replaced the toner cartridge and not the drum unit.
• Use a brand-new cartridge. Brother says a partly used cartridge from another machine can confuse the toner count.
• Take the cartridge out and reinstall it.
• Clean the corona wire on the drum unit (steps below).
• Update the printer's firmware from the Downloads page for your model at support.brother.com.

Drum messages

Resetting the drum counter. Unlike toner, a Brother printer doesn't notice on its own that you've put in a new drum. You have to tell it. On the HL-L2350DW, with the front cover closed, press OK and the Up arrow together, press OK to select Drum, then press the Down arrow to reset. Other models use different buttons, so look up "Reset the Drum Counter" in your model's guide.

Only reset the counter when you've actually installed a new drum. Brother warns that resetting it on the old drum throws off the drum life reading.

Cleaning the corona wire. Take the drum and toner assembly out and set it on a sheet of paper. Find the green tab on the drum unit and slide it gently from one end to the other several times. Then put it back in its home position, with the arrow on the tab lined up with the arrow on the drum. Brother notes that leaving the tab out of place can cause a vertical stripe down your pages.

Paper messages

Manual Feed is the one that catches the most people, because nothing looks wrong. The tray is full of paper, and the printer just sits there. It's waiting because a setting in the driver, or in the app you printed from, told it to use the manual slot. Set Paper Source to Auto Select in Printing Preferences on Windows, or under Print Settings in the Mac print dialog, and it will pull from the tray again.

Setting the paper size on the printer. On the HL-L2350DW, go to General Setup > Tray Setting, set Paper Type and Paper Size to match what's in the tray, and press Go. In the US, the usual size is Letter, not A4. The printer also has a Check Size setting, on by default, that asks you to confirm the paper whenever you pull out the tray.

Paper jams have their own guide: Brother printer paper jam.

Memory messages

• Out of Memory. The printer's memory filled up while it was working on your job. Press Go, then print again at a lower resolution. Splitting a very long document into smaller jobs also helps.
• Print Data Full. Also a full memory. Press Go, and delete any print data stored on the printer.

Lasers with lights instead of a screen

Brother's LED-only models, such as the HL-L2300D and HL-L2400D, show errors as combinations of lights. The patterns differ between model families, so don't guess from a blinking light. Two better options:

• Open Brother's Status Monitor on your Windows computer. It shows the same error in words, like "Replace Toner" or "Drum !". It's included in Brother's Full Driver & Software Package.
• Check the "Error and Maintenance LED Indications" page in your model's Online User's Guide at support.brother.com.

As an example, this is how Brother describes the lights on the HL-L2300D:

Brother Inkjet Messages That Stop Printing

These come from Brother's error tables for current inkjets such as the MFC-J4335DW, MFC-J4345DW, and MFC-J4535DW. Other inkjet models use the same or very similar wording.

Printing in black and white when a color runs out

This is one of the most confusing parts of owning a Brother inkjet. The black cartridge is full, you only want to print a black text document, and the printer won't do it.

Here's how Brother's system works. When a color cartridge runs out, the screen shows B&W Print Only, and you can keep printing in black and white for about four weeks, depending on how much you print. But only if you set up the job correctly:

1. In the printer driver, choose Grayscale (or Mono).
2. Set the Media Type to Plain Paper.

Any other media type uses color ink, even for a page that looks black. Brother also points out that its driver defaults to Color, and in color mode the printer mixes all the inks to make black. That's part of why color cartridges drain even when you rarely print in color. The printer also uses a little of every color during its automatic cleaning cycles.

There's a catch. Brother says that if you unplug the printer or take out an ink cartridge while B&W Print Only is showing, you won't be able to use it again until you replace the empty cartridges.

Once the screen says Replace Ink, all printing stops until you put in a new cartridge.

"Cannot Detect" with a non-Brother cartridge

Brother's error table says plainly that if you aren't using genuine Brother ink, the printer may not detect the cartridge, or may not be able to read its ink level. Brother's fix is to install a new genuine cartridge. If you'd rather keep using a compatible cartridge, try reseating it first, and if the message stays, contact the cartridge seller. Brother's limited warranty doesn't cover problems caused by third-party supplies.

Ink Absorber Full

Every Brother inkjet cleans its print head on its own, and the ink from those cleanings goes into an absorber box inside the printer. When the screen says Ink Absorber Full, the box has to be replaced, and Brother says this is a service job. Brother treats the absorber as a periodic maintenance item, and its guide states that replacing it isn't covered under the warranty.

Brother lists what fills it faster: frequent cleanings, turning the printer off and on often (it cleans itself at startup), and non-Brother ink that causes print problems needing extra cleaning.

Brother Printer Printing Blank Pages

The paper feeds, the printer sounds normal, and the page comes out white. That's a different problem from "nothing prints," and the fix depends on whether you have a laser or an inkjet.

First, repeat the test at the top of this page. If the printer's own report page prints fine but pages from your computer come out blank, the problem is on the computer side. Jump to Fix 6 in the Windows section, or try the other driver in the Mac section.

Brother laser printing blank pages

1. Check the screen or Status Monitor. If it says Replace Toner, the cartridge is done. Replace it, or use Continue Mode as described above.
2. Look for packing material. Take out the drum and toner assembly. If there's any orange protective plastic still attached, remove it. This is common right after setting up a new printer or putting in a new cartridge.
3. Reseat the toner cartridge in the drum. Pull it out and push it back in until it locks. A cartridge that isn't fully locked in can't deliver toner.
4. Clean the corona wire with the green tab, as described in the laser section, and make sure the tab is back in its home position.
5. Check Toner Save. If the whole page is very light rather than blank, Toner Save may be on. On the HL-L2350DW, it's under General Setup > Ecology > Toner Save. The printer driver has a Toner Save setting too.
6. Think about timing. Brother's own advice for blank pages is simple here: if the problem started right after you installed a new toner cartridge or drum unit, that new part is the likely cause and needs replacing. If you haven't changed anything and pages are still completely blank, the printer probably needs service.

Brother inkjet printing blank pages or missing colors

Blank or streaky inkjet pages almost always come down to cartridges that aren't seated or print head nozzles that are clogged.

1. Reseat the cartridges. Open the ink cover and push each cartridge in firmly until it locks.
2. Print the Print Quality Check Sheet. On arrow-key models such as the MFC-J4335DW, press the Ink button, select Impr. PrintQuality, press OK, select it again, press OK, and start. On touchscreen models such as the MFC-J4535DW, tap Ink > Improve Print Quality > Check Print Quality, then Start.
3. Follow the prompts. The sheet has four color blocks. If lines are missing in any block, answer Yes when the printer asks, pick the pattern that matches, and it will clean the print head for you. Then print the sheet again to check.
4. Use the Special cleaning if regular cleaning doesn't help. Brother offers a stronger cleaning for when you've cleaned the head several times without improvement. It uses a lot of ink, so save it for last. The steps are in your model's guide under "Clean the Print Head."

Don't overdo cleaning. Every cleaning uses ink and adds to the absorber box. And never touch the print head. Brother warns that this can cause permanent damage and may void the print head's warranty.

Use the power button, not the plug. Brother recommends turning its inkjets off with the power button rather than unplugging them. When the printer stays plugged in, it can run the small automatic cleanings that keep ink from drying in the print head. A printer that's been unplugged for weeks is a prime candidate for blank or streaky pages.

How to Fix a Brother Printer Not Printing in Windows 11 and 10

These fixes assume the printer can print its own report page. If Windows shows the printer as Offline, use our Brother printer offline guide first, because that's a connection problem with different fixes. Print a test page after each fix.

Fix 1: Make sure the job went to your Brother

It sounds too simple, but it's common. Windows may have sent the job somewhere else.

1. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
2. Turn off Let Windows manage my default printer. Otherwise Windows keeps changing your default to whatever you printed to last.
3. Click your Brother and choose Set as default.
4. If you see more than one Brother entry, such as "Brother HL-L2350DW series" and "Brother HL-L2350DW series (Copy 1)," only one of them is actually connected. Our offline guide explains how to find the right one.
5. In the program you're printing from, check the printer name in the Print window. Apps sometimes remember an old printer or Microsoft Print to PDF.

Fix 2: Clear the queue and cancel any job stuck in the printer

One stuck job can hold up everything behind it.

1. In Printers & scanners, click the Brother, choose Open print queue, then click the ... menu and Cancel all.
2. Cancel the job on the printer too. On the HL-L2350DW, press and hold Go for about two seconds to cancel the current job, or about six seconds to cancel all jobs. On inkjets, press Stop/Exit.
3. Send the job again.

If jobs won't clear, or keep piling up, our Brother printer job stuck in queue guide covers restarting the Print Spooler and clearing it by hand.

Fix 3: Check the print settings on the job

Several of the printer messages above are caused by settings in the driver. Open Printing Preferences for your Brother (right-click it in the printer list, or click Printer properties or Preferences in the Print window) and check:

• Paper Source is Auto Select, not Manual, unless you really want the manual feed slot.
• Paper Size matches the paper in the tray. In the US, that's usually Letter.
• Media Type matches the paper. On an inkjet with B&W Print Only showing, set Plain Paper and Grayscale.
• 2-sided is off if you're printing on a paper size the printer can't print on both sides.

Fix 4: Check which driver Windows is using

Windows can print to a Brother with Brother's own driver or with one of its own built-in drivers. Brother's troubleshooting starts by checking which one you have.

1. In Printers & scanners, click the Brother, then Printer properties.
2. Open the Advanced tab and look at the Driver box.

Fix 5: Windows protected print mode and Windows Ready Print

Two newer Windows 11 features change how Windows works with Brother's drivers.

Windows protected print mode. Brother's FAQ (updated March 2026) says that when this mode is on, some Brother printer drivers, fax drivers, and apps aren't available. Brother gives two options:

• Turn it off to use Brother's full driver. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, scroll to Printer preferences, and click Turn off under Windows protected print mode. If you see Set up instead, it's already off. Then reinstall Brother's driver. Brother adds a caution: with the mode off, other third-party drivers can be installed too. On a work computer, ask your IT team before changing it.
• Keep it on and print with the Microsoft IPP Class Driver, which only offers basic printing, or install the Brother Print Support App, which adds back many of the features of Brother's driver. Not every Brother model supports this. Brother points to the Mopria Alliance website for a list of compatible Brother models.

Windows Ready Print. Starting in July 2026, Windows 11 sets up new printers with its built-in driver by default whenever the printer supports it. If you just added your Brother and some settings are missing, that's likely why. Look on the Printers & scanners page for the option to install printers with Windows Ready Print by default, turn it off, then remove the Brother and add it again with Brother's installer. The setting only affects printers added after you change it.

Fix 6: Blank pages only from the computer (older Brother lasers)

If the printer's own report prints fine but everything from the computer comes out blank, Brother's US support has a specific fix for older lasers, including the HL-2240, HL-2270DW, HL-5450DN, and HL-3170CDW:

1. Open Printer properties for the Brother and click the Advanced tab.
2. Click Print Processor, choose WINPRINT, make sure RAW is selected as the default data type, and click OK.
3. Clear the Keep printed documents check box and click Apply.
4. Print a test page from the General tab.

If that doesn't fix it, uninstall and reinstall the driver (Fix 7).

Fix 7: Reinstall Brother's Full Driver & Software Package

Save this for when the fixes above don't work, or when printing stopped right after a Windows update. Brother's own instruction for a Windows 11 PC that can't print after Windows Update is to uninstall its drivers and software, then download and reinstall them.

1. Open Brother Utilities and use its uninstall option to remove the Brother software, or remove each Brother entry from Printers & scanners.
2. Restart the computer.
3. If you use Brother's full driver, make sure Windows protected print mode is off (Fix 5).
4. Download the Full Driver & Software Package for your exact model and version of Windows from support.brother.com, and run it.

Our Brother printer driver guide explains which download to choose, and our Brother printer issue after a Windows update guide goes deeper on update problems.

Using a USB cable? Brother recommends plugging straight into the computer, not a hub, with a USB cable no longer than 6 feet. If the first pages of a job print and later pages are missing text, Brother says the printer isn't receiving all the data, so check that cable first.

How to Fix a Brother Printer Not Printing on a Mac

If the Mac says the printer is offline or can't find it, our Brother printer offline guide has the Mac connection fixes. These steps are for when the Mac can see the printer but nothing prints, or the pages come out wrong.

1. Check the queue. On recent versions of macOS, open Print Center (it's in Applications > Utilities, and it opens when you print). Select your Brother. If the queue is paused, resume it, and delete any job marked with an error. On older versions, open the queue from System Settings > Printers & Scanners.
2. Check the print dialog. In the Print window, open the section for Print Settings (or the printer's options) and set Paper Source to Auto Select. Check that the paper size matches what's in the tray.
3. Remove the printer and add it back. In System Settings > Printers & Scanners, select the Brother and click Remove Printer. Then click Add Printer, Scanner, or Fax, select the Brother, and click Add.
4. Try the other driver. Brother Macs can print two ways: with AirPrint or with a Brother CUPS driver. In the Use menu, AirPrint appears as Brother [model] series, and a Brother driver usually shows CUPS in its name. If one isn't working, try the other:
   • For recent macOS versions, Brother points owners of many models to AirPrint. Brother's macOS 26 Tahoe support statements say that if your model isn't on the list, there are no plans to support it with a driver, and AirPrint is the way to print.
   • For some older lasers, Brother's own blank-page steps for Mac say to delete the printer and add it back with the Brother CUPS driver instead of AirPrint.
5. Reset the printing system as a last resort. In Printers & Scanners, Control-click in the printer list and choose Reset Printing System. This removes every printer and every job, so you'll add your printers again afterward.

When Only One Program or File Won't Print

If Word prints but a PDF doesn't, or one website won't print while others do, the printer and driver are fine. Brother's advice is to test with a different program: if that works, the problem is in the original file or app.

PDFs from Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. Brother says missing characters in PDFs happen when the program doesn't have the fonts the document uses. The fix is to print it as an image:

1. In Acrobat or Reader, choose File > Print, then click Advanced.
2. Check Print As Image.
3. Click OK, then OK again to print.

Brother also suggests updating to the latest version of Acrobat or Reader. Printing as an image can take a little longer and produce a larger job, so if you hit Out of Memory on a laser, try lowering the print resolution.

Pages of random characters or symbols. Brother's fix: cancel the job on the computer and on the printer so it's cleared from the printer's memory, confirm the Brother driver is selected in the program's Print window, then send the job again.

Headers or footers missing. Every printer has a small unprintable area at the edges. If headers or footers show on screen but not on paper, increase the top and bottom margins in your document.

When It Won't Print From Your Phone

Phones and tablets print to a Brother with AirPrint on iPhone and iPad, and with the Brother Mobile Connect app or Android's built-in printing on Android. They all need the phone and printer on the same Wi-Fi network. A phone on cellular data or a guest network can't reach the printer.

If an iPhone or iPad prints only the first page of a multi-page document, Brother's guide says to update to the latest iOS or iPadOS version.

If the phone can't find the printer at all, that's a network problem. Our Brother printer not connecting to Wi-Fi guide covers it.

Office Printers: When Your Job Is Held or Blocked

On shared business models, two Brother features can stop one person's job while everyone else prints normally.

Secure Print. On models such as the HL-L5200DW and HL-L6200DW, Secure Print holds a job in the printer until you enter a four-digit PIN at the printer. It's turned on under the Advanced tab in Brother's Windows driver. If your job "printed" but nothing came out, walk to the printer, press Secure, pick your user name, pick the job, and enter the PIN. Keep in mind that Brother says Secure Print jobs are deleted when the printer is turned off.

Secure Function Lock. This lets an administrator restrict who can print from a computer and how many pages they can print. If the printer shows Access Denied, printing is restricted for your account. If it shows Limit Exceeded, you've hit your page limit. Either way, the fix is with whoever manages the printer, not on your computer.

When It's a Hardware Problem

Most "not printing" problems are settings and supplies. These signs point to something inside the printer:

• Print Unable (lasers) or Cannot Print XX (inkjets and newer lasers). Brother says the machine has a mechanical problem. Turn the printer off with its power button and wait a few minutes before turning it on. On an inkjet, first check inside for a paper clip or torn scrap of paper. If the message comes back, the printer needs service.
• Self-Diagnostic on a laser. The fuser, which bonds toner to the paper, is too hot or isn't heating properly. Brother's instruction is to turn the printer off, wait a few seconds, turn it back on, and leave it idle with the power on for 15 minutes.
• All the lights flashing on an LED-only laser. This is Brother's signal for Self-Diagnostic or Print Unable.
• Ink Absorber Full on an inkjet. It needs a service visit.
• Completely blank pages when you haven't replaced any supplies, after you've checked everything in the blank pages section.
• The printer can't print its own report page, even with no message on the screen.