I have a Brother MFC-J480DW using refillable cartridges for about 5 years with no problems. Today after printing a one page document, the printer quit recognizing the yellow cartridge. Tried re-installing several times with no success. Cleaned the chip contacts and tried again with same result. Did a power reset of machine... problem continues. I am ordering a set of compatible cartridges to try that in case the chip on the yellow cartridge has gone bad. Any suggestions I haven't thought of? Can I get at the contacts inside the machine? I doubt the problem is there as the failure mode happened while printing and not while inserting cartridge following refill.
Yellow cartridge not detected MFC-J480DW (Auto reset refillable cartridge)
- Thread starter cebtoo
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- Jul 11, 2020
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Once the printer stops recognizing the cartridge, it won't filly reset on its own. You need to put in a genuine Brother cartridge, then once the printer recognizes it, you can swap back in the refillable one.
All Brother ARC chip cartridges that I know of need this occasionally. It's because of the way the printer handles cartridge serial numbers. The instructions that came with the refillable cartridges should have advised you to retain the genuine Brother cartridges that you replaced them with. Even empty Brother cartridges will do. You just need to put a different chip with a different serial number in the printer, then you should be able to go back to the refillable catridge you've been using.
All Brother ARC chip cartridges that I know of need this occasionally. It's because of the way the printer handles cartridge serial numbers. The instructions that came with the refillable cartridges should have advised you to retain the genuine Brother cartridges that you replaced them with. Even empty Brother cartridges will do. You just need to put a different chip with a different serial number in the printer, then you should be able to go back to the refillable catridge you've been using.
I replaced the refillable cartridge with a cheap compatible cartridge and it cleared the error message. I put the refillable cartridge back in and the printer still doesn't detect it. I noticed the refillable cartridge is leaking excessively from the nozzle. Put the compatible cartridge back in and printed a full color test page successfully. It appears the refillable cartridge went south on me. Over five years is a good run in my book. $9.98 for a 5 cartridge set is OK in my book, so I will stop refilling when each cartridge goes empty. Just a note however... after printing the test page, I got a BK cartridge not recognized error message. I removed and reseated the black and the error message cleared with no problem. The printer seems OK with three auto reset chips and one compatible chip. I will return here if I find otherwise.
By the way, this Brother printer is the best inkjet I ever owned. I expect it to reach planned obsolescence any day now, so I'm going to nurse it along as best I can. Decent Brother printers have dried up on the market right now, so I can't replace it. The models currently available (all brands) are crap. I used to be with a computer manufacturer in QA testing, Datapoint, and dealt with a a lot of different printers, including Datapoint manufactured printers. I still don't understand them.
By the way, this Brother printer is the best inkjet I ever owned. I expect it to reach planned obsolescence any day now, so I'm going to nurse it along as best I can. Decent Brother printers have dried up on the market right now, so I can't replace it. The models currently available (all brands) are crap. I used to be with a computer manufacturer in QA testing, Datapoint, and dealt with a a lot of different printers, including Datapoint manufactured printers. I still don't understand them.
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- Jul 11, 2020
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- 137
Happens.
Inkowl.com sells the sets. BTW, have you ever used their elongated versions? They are worth it. Elongated front-loading cartridges are better than any CIS, in my book.
I feel the same way about my MFC-J6945DW.
The 5845/5945/6545/6945 line are available and not a set I would write off. For the first, well, two years they were out I despaired of ever seeing an auto-reset refillable cartridge come available for them but the cartridges are now out. Even without refillable cartridges, those printers have good prices per page. With refillable cartridges and good OEM ink they are amazing. When your printer finally does go EoL, consider one of the above.
I see the 5845 with prices all over the place, from $95 to over 600, and Brother offering it for 250. That kind of price range scares the hell out of me. There's something going on here, because I couldn't find any of them on the Brother website just two days ago. I think there must have been a bunch of them in a container sitting in the bay off Long Beach. I'm glad they weren't showing up when I was looking for one. Mine works now and it's a reliable old friend.