Brother makes great, inexpensive laser printers. However the technology that they use to determine when you need new toner is a little too conservative. I’ve found that it states that I need more toner when there is still quite a bit of toner left. Unfortunately at this point the printer will refuse to print anymore pages unless you replace the toner, or make it believe there is more toner. Being the frugal person that I am, I like to print all the way to the end of my toner. Here’s what I’ve done to be able to print all of the way to the end of a toner cartridge.

If you have a black and white laser printer, then you need some black electrical tape. Other tape may work, but this is what I’ve used. You pull out the toner cartridge and note that on each end of the cartridge you’ll see a round, clear plastic window. The printer shoots some light down this and if the light reaches the other end, you’re told that you need more toner. If you put a piece of black tape across these windows then the printer believes that the toner cartridge is still full. Granted now the only way to know that you’re low on toner or out is that things don’t print so well. However you are able to print to the end of the toner cartridge.

If you have a color printer, the process is a little different. I purchased a HL-4040CDN and found that the black tape trick didn’t work. Instead I dug up these instructions at fix your own printer.

1. Open the front cover of the printer
2. Press and hold the cancel button
3. Press the reprint button while still holding cancel
4. Here is the reset menu
5. Go to the appropriate cartridge on the menu and reset it and you’re done!

FYI… Pressing the “Go” button and the up arrow gives you the parts life reset menu (drum, laser, fuser, etc.).