Re: Brother Printer Ink Cartridge Nearly Empty --- After Only 2 Weeks!!!

I have a Brother MFC420CN and am very happy with it.
Keep the printer plugged in to a power source, even when it's off, and you
will use less ink.

You can get ink cartridges from eBay for less than $2.00 per cartridge -
just make sure you use a vendor with a 99%+ rating.

"R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%239jl0Ze1IHA.4476@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ink costs can be excessive for Ink Jet printers. Couple that with the
almost
continuous issue of jets clogging and requiring cleaning. I recommend that
users have two printers - A B&W Laser Jet ( Brother is a good choice ) &
a separate Color printer. Color Laser Jet printers have come down in
price
but might still be too costly for a home user. Most recent Brother Laser
Jet
B&W printers can be ~$120 and many have built-in Wireless capability.

"M.I.5¾" <no.one@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4860c7c4$1_1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<midwest_46@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ce99764b-172e-4d95-8cad-f59ddc2fdfcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have a Gateway computer with the following: 1) a 1400-MHz Pentium 4
processor, 2) 256 MB of RAM, and 3) 40 GB of hard-drive space.

The computer is running Windows Millennium Edition (ME).

Two and a half weeks ago, I bought a Brother MFC-240C printer. This is
a multifunction device: printer, copier, fax, and scanner.

----------

When I installed the ink cartridges, the machine cleaned the ink tube
system. Then I pressed "Color Start" to test the four colors
corresponding to the cartridges (black, yellow, cyan, and magenta).

The machine printed out the Print Quality Check ***. This ***
showed a square pattern in each color. If all small lines were clear
and visible, I had to press 1 for Yes, and the quality check would be
done. If there were missing small lines, I had to press 2 for No, and
the colors would be cleaned. Then the Check *** would be printed
again.

When the Check *** was printed the first time, there were no missing
lines, but (in my opinion) some lines were not clear, especially the
yellow lines. So, I pressed 2 for No, and the colors were cleaned, and
the Check *** was printed out again. The colors were cleaned four
times before I was satisfied that the small lines were clear and
visible.

After the color test, the rest of the installation was done.

----------

In my regular usage, the first thing I printed out was an HTML page (2
sheets). Since the HTML page was in color, the printed pages were in
color as well. After that, during the next 2 weeks or so, I printed
out or copied about 20 - 25 pages in black and white. Today, I printed
out 4 pages in black and white, and then the printer showed the
following message: "Near Empty Yellow", meaning that the Yellow ink
cartridge was nearly empty.

Now, I will admit that I keep the printer unplugged (from the AC power
supply and from the wall phone jack) if I am not using the printer. I
plug in the printer ONLY if I have to print and/or copy something.
However, the printer is ALWAYS connected to the computer via USB
cable.

Also, sometimes when I printed something, the machine cleaned the
print head before the printing occurred. Page 99 of the user's guide
states the following: "To ensure good print quality, the machine will
regularly clean the print head." The user's guide then explains that,
in addition to the automatic cleaning of the print head, the user can
clean the print head manually (by pressing some buttons). The user's
guide then states the following: "Cleaning the print head consumes
ink. Cleaning too often uses ink unnecessarily."

----------

So, here are my questions:

1) How can the yellow cartridge be nearly empty after only 2.5 weeks?
The colors were cleaned 4 times during the color test, and the print
head was cleaned a few times, but I have printed only 2 color pages.

2) If cleaning the print head consumes ink and if the machine cleans
the print head whenever the machine wants to, then how can I stop the
machine from cleaning itself too much? Is this some scam on the part
of Brother to get me to buy more ink cartridges? Can Brother be sued
for this? Do printers from other brands also clean their print heads
whenever they want to?

3) Do I have a defective printer? Should I get a refund? I bought this
particular printer (Brother MFC-240C) because it was the only printer
a) that was compatible with Windows ME, b) that was relatively
lightweight, and c) that was relatively cheap. So, should I try to
find a different printer? Unfortunately, upgrading my computer to
Windows XP would be too much trouble.


You should be aware that the ink cartridges supplied with the most
printers contain a very minimal amount of ink. This is because the
printer is sold with virtually no profit. All the money is made selling
the ink cartridges which are vastly over priced for what the are. The
minimal ink filling of the supplied cartridges gets you buying the full
price cartridges as soon as possible.

Many printer buyers have found that a set of replacement cartridges can
actually cost more than the printer did, partiularly at the budget end of
the market.





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