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The Brother MFC-3240C is a 5-in-1 color inkjet printer.

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Printer won't print in black

This printer is about 3yrs. old. I've tried all the cleaning tips the manual suggests, still nothing.

Is there anyone who has a tip and or trick to fixing this? I've replaced the black cartridge several times.

I bought a case of ink for the printer so I'd like to be able to use it up!! Thanks.

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More info needed:

* Are the cartridges OEMs or replacments?

* Are you replacing the cartridge or just refilling the ink?

* Are you refilling the ink and replacing/resetting the cartridge chip?

Make/Model?

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How do I go about getting a diagram to take the printer apart?

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It is a desk jet 3522 & always use original HP ink. The colors work fine

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my black ink cartridge just wont prink

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Fix your printer related problem like won't print black:

https://bit.ly/3EfIP5K

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9 Answers

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I'm not exactly sure what your problem is, but it is probably one of the following:

CLOGGED PRINT HEAD

I usually remove the print head (I believe on your device this requires taking the printer apart and removing the carriage) and soak it in rubbing alcohol. I then use Qtips with rubbing alcohol to clean all of the remaining ink-paths that exist in the printer. It's messy but usually cleans out a clogged head.

CARTRIDGE ISN'T BEING VENTED

First off, make sure that the little piece of plastic covering the vent hole is completely removed. On some models there are multiple holes being covered and it's easy to only pull the cover off of the first one or two. In an extreme case, I've used a small drill bit to create my own vent hole that I knew for certain was open.

MANUFACTURER LOCKOUT

According to this blog, there is an ink-level sensor on your device that might be malfunctioning or otherwise be in need of bypassing. Something to check.

DATA CABLE NOT WORKING

Each print head has a data cable going to it and sometimes they break or get unplugged. If you're getting no black printing whatsoever and the problem is none of the above, take the device apart and verify all the connections. Unplug and replug any connectors that are related to this system - or just be thorough and replug every connector in the entire machine. Oxidation can build up between pins over time and this simple task can fix the problem in many cases.

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7 Comments:

Where is the printer head on the brother printer?

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I was able to fix the said issue by inserting a small pin into the intake nozzle valve and moving it around to clear the clogged ink that was blocking. To find the intake nozzle valve simple remove the ink cartridge and it is the lower valve that the ink travels through from the cartridge into the printer. Gess i got luckey

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I was dreading having to mess with my old brother printer. It wasn't printing with black ink, even with a new cartridge. I used a very very small drill bit to make sure the cartridge was being vented as suggested, then in cleaned the needle or nozzle from the printer to the cartridge, with Qtips and alcohol. It maybe took 3 minutes and its printing great, Thanks for the suggestions!

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I used a large paper clip and bent one end straight to make a 2" long poker. I soaked the end in rubbing alcohol and removed the black ink cartridge. I gently pushed the end into the little ink hole on the bottom and moved it back and forth a few times. Reinserted the black ink cartridge back into the printer and had the machine clean the black print head side about a half dozen times. Each time the test print improved until all the little black rectangles reappeared on the test paper.

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Have been trying to fix this problem for months and just tried the paper clip in rubbing alcohol trick and it worked perfectly! Thank you!

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Seems like may its the only black cartridge which is malfunctioning. However you can attempt to fix it before replacing with the new one. Take your black cartridge out first and try to touch the head on a doubled tissue paper you should see a thick black line if not then keep gently pressing the head over tissue for 4-5 times and you should stop when you see a thick line on it. Hopefully this shall fix your jammed head.

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So now, I ask, where is the printer cartridge head?

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When you try to print something from brother printer but it don’t print in black screen. It shows that the ink cartridge is not properly setup. In such a case, you should uninstall the ink cartridge from your printer and re-setup it.

After applying these steps, if your brother printer won’t print black, you should check the following things.

  1. Check the ink supply make sure it is not dry.
  2. Check the data wire, make sure it is properly plugged in.
  3. Reset the ink cartridge and configure your network properly.

So these are the steps to fix the brother printer issue.

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People often get the brother printer won’t print black ink issue due to the print head. when it gets dirty or it won’t be able to access the printer properly. it may cause the brother printer not printing issue.

  • Go to the ink settings, and click on the ink management.
  • Click on cleaning and press black option.
  • Now click on ok.

Finally, your printer will start cleaning its health. for more information, you may visit: brother printer won’t print black ink.

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I had replaced my Brother MFC-5920DW's black cartridge after the printer alerted me that the black ink was running low; however, after replacing the black cartridge, the printer would only print color, no black.

I ran the self cleaning for the black cartridge a couple of times, but still no black would print.

I further inspected the new black cartridge that I had installed and noted that the white plastic pin in the upper part of the print cartridge was not pointing straight out like the color cartridges white pins, but instead was pointing significantly up. I used a needle-nose pliers to rotate the pin to better center it. After that, the black cartridge worked (the test page showed some black line segments instead of none); however, I did need to run the black cartridge cleaning a couple of times to have all of the test page's black line segments show up.

I'm wondering if the adjustment of the white pin could have actually fixed the problem, or was that just a coincidence?

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March 26, 2016

I contacted Brother today for help with my MFC-240C, which I have owned for many years. The printer does not print black properly, but it prints the other 3 colors well. They led me through the normal cleaning steps (which I had already done), concluded that my after-market ink supply was probably the problem, and sent me on my way. 4 minutes later a nice Brother representative called me and offered a replacement printer, more modern than my old 240C! Wow! Those Brother people really take their reliability issues to heart!

Try it! I bet they have some more replacement printers !

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صفر الطابعة

نضف مسرى اللون الاسود بالكحول اولا اسحب ثم بعدها اسحب وادفع الكحول

ان لم تنجح العملية راس الطباعة عاطل استبدلة

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MFC-795cw: not printing black.

Did not have the same out come with the brothers customer service. After going through all the trouble shooting stuff and using all my ink on a cleaning in maintenance mode. He said he would email me a repair shop so I could get an estimate. No replacement/repairs free of charge for me. Said the repairs may cost as much as the original purchase price. Time to look for a new printer. Wasted $40 in ink just so i can be told I'll waste another 60-100 in repairs. Good times.

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There are (2) kinds of cleaning - let the printer do it, if it does not work you have to clean it yourself. Check Youtube.com for videos on how to clean it and where to clean.

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I purchased a black ink cartridge for my 4620DW printer.

After installing the cartridge no black printing, did 3 clean cycles from the front panel and still no print.

The shop was no help said they could send the printer and cartridge away for testing, which didn't help me as needed the printer working ASAP.

Brought a second black cartridge and had the same issue....

I finally fixed the printer by inserting a cotton bud into the ink pickup on the cartridge.

That worked like a charm.

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I had bought a spare MFC 495 cw because it was on sale and thought I would use it when my old printer died well it sat for a couple years brand new never used and then I tried it and no black printing this is right of the box brand new. I did multiple cleanings called support and explained what happened and basically no assistance other than wasting more ink with the tech support woman. In the end it still does not print black and no advice or help from brother to fix this. Last time I buy a brother, because they could care less I even offered to send it back and they could check that it was never used, but they cared less. They may have helped people in the past but that is long gone. My friend bought one like this and new out of the box it had an error basically the error was saying it was dead, and he ended up with nothing just like me.

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Ink have expiration date, it could be dried up.

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I have Brother MFC-J430W for years and when the Black ink ran out, I bought a new one.. Unfortunately, after several "Cleaning" (using Menu>Ink>Cleaning), it still print blank for the black ink. I tried to wipe the interior of the ink cartridge (holder) with baby wipes, and after the test print.. it worked!!!! Maybe the ink dried out, i'm not sure.. but I'm happy that I can now print using the black ink. :)

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