Brother MFC 290C User Manual

							
Troubleshooting and Routine Maintenance97
B
Telephone Line or Connections
DifficultySuggestions
Dialing does not work. (No dial 
tone) Check that the machine is plugged in and switched on.
Check all line cord connections. Make sure the telephone line cord is plugged into 
the telephone wall jack and the LINE jack of the machine.
Change  Tone/Pulse setting. (See 
Quick Setup Guide.)
Send a fax manually and wait to hear the fax receiving tones before you press 
Black Start  or Color Start . (See Sending a fax manually  on page 31.)
The machine does not answer 
when called. Make sure the machine is in the correct receiving mode for your setup. (See 
Choose the correct Receive Mode
 on page 33.) Check for a dial tone. If possible, 
call your machine to hear it answer. If there is still no answer, check that the 
telephone cord is plugged into the telephone wall jack and the LINE jack of the 
machine. If there is no ringing when you call your machine, ask your telephone 
company to check the line.
Receiving Faxes
DifficultySuggestions
Cannot  receive  a  fax Check all line cord connections. Make sure the telephone line cord is plugged into  the telephone wall jack and the LINE jack of the machine.
Make sure the machine is in the correct receiving mode for your setup. (See 
Choose the correct Receive Mode on page 33.) 
If you often have interference on the telephone line, try changing the menu setting 
of Compatibility to  Basic(for VoIP) . (See Telephone line interference  
on page 100.)
Sending Faxes
DifficultySuggestions
Cannot  send a fax Check all line cord connections. Make sure the telephone line cord is plugged into  the telephone wall jack and the LINE jack of the machine.
Make sure that the Fax   key is illuminated. (See  Entering Fax mode 
on page 26.)
Ask the other party to check that the receiving machine has paper.
Print the Transmission Verification Report and check for an error. (See  Reports 
on page 54.)
Transmission Verification Report 
says ‘Result:NG’ or 
‘Result:ERROR’. There is probably temporary noise or static on the line. Try sending the fax again. 
If you send a PC FAX message and get ‘Result:NG’ on the Transmission 
Verification Report, your machine may be out of memory. If the problem continues, 
ask the telephone company to check your telephone line.
If you often get transmission errors due to possible interference on the telephone 
line, try changing the menu setting of Compatibility to 
Basic(for VoIP). (See 
Telephone line interference  on page 100.)
Poor fax send quality. Try changing your resolution to  Fine or S.Fine . Make a copy to check your 
machines scanner operation. If the copy quality is not good, clean the scanner. 
(See  Cleaning the scanner  on page 113.)
Vertical  black  lines when  sending. If the copy you made shows the same problem, clean the scanner. (See  Cleaning 
the scanner  on page 113.)
 
						

							
98
Handling Incoming Calls
DifficultySuggestions
The machine ‘Hears’ a voice as a 
CNG Tone. If Easy Receive is set to  On, your machine is more sensitive to sounds. It may 
mistakenly interpret certain voices or music on the line as a fax machine calling 
and respond with fax receiving tones. Deactivate the machine by pressing 
Stop/Exit
. Try avoiding this problem by turning Easy Receive Off. ( See  Easy 
Receive  on page 37.)
Sending a Fax Call to the machine. If you answered at the machine, press  Black Start and hang up at once. If you 
answered on an external or extension telephone, press your Fax Receive Code 
(default setting is  l51). When your machine answers, hang up.
Custom features on a single line. If you have Call Waiting, Call Waiting/Caller ID, Voice Mail, an alarm system or  other custom feature on a single telephone line with your machine, it may create 
a problem sending or receiving faxes.
For example: If you subscribe to Call Waiting or some other custom service and 
it signal comes through the line while your machine is sending or receiving a fax, 
the signal can temporarily interrupt or disrupt the faxes. Brothers ECM feature 
should help overcome this problem. This condition is related to the telephone 
system industry and is common to all devices that send and receive information 
on a single, shared line with custom features. If avoiding a slight interruption is 
crucial to your business, a separate telephone line with no custom features is 
recommended.
Menu Setting Difficulties
DifficultySuggestions
The machine beeps when you try to 
access the Setup Send or Setup 
Receive menu. If the Fax   key is not illuminated, press it to turn on Fax mode. The Setup 
Send or Setup Receive setting is available only when the machine is in Fax mode.
Copying Difficulties
DifficultySuggestions
Cannot make a copy Make sure that the Copy   key is illuminated. (See  Entering Copy mode 
on page 56.)
Vertical streaks appear in copies If you see vertical streaks on copies, clean the scanner. (See  Cleaning the 
scanner  on page 113.)
Poor copy results when using the 
ADF  Try using the scanner glass. (See 
Using the scanner glass on page 17.)
Vertical black line appears in 
copies Vertical black lines or streaks on copies are typically caused by dirt or correction 
fluid on the scanner. Clean the glass strip and scanner glass and the white bar and 
white plastic above them. (See 
Cleaning the scanner on page 113.)
Fit to Page does not work properly. Make sure the document is not skewed on the scanner glass.
 
						

							
Troubleshooting and Routine Maintenance99
B
Scanning Difficulties
DifficultySuggestions
TWAIN/WIA errors appear when 
starting to scan. Make sure the Brother TWAIN/WIA driver is chosen as the primary source. In 
PaperPort™ 11SE with OCR, click 
File, Scan or Get Photo  and click Select to 
choose the Brother TWAIN/WIA driver.
OCR does not work. Try increasing the scanner resolution.
Poor scanning results when using 
the ADF. Try using the scanner glass. (See 
Using the scanner glass on page 17.)
Software Difficulties
DifficultySuggestions
Cannot install software or print Run the  Repair MFL-Pro Suite program on the CD-ROM. This program will repair 
and reinstall the software.
‘Device Busy’  Make sure the machine is not showing an error message on the LCD.
Cannot print images from 
FaceFilter Studio.  To use FaceFilter Studio, you must install the FaceFilter Studio application from 
the CD-ROM supplied with your machine. To install FaceFilter Studio see the 
Quick Setup Guide
.
Also, before you start FaceFilter Studio for the first time, you must make sure your 
Brother machine is turned on and connected to your computer. This will allow you 
to access all the functions of FaceFilter Studio.
PhotoCapture Center® Difficulties
DifficultySuggestions
Removable Disk does not work 
properly. 1 Have you installed the Windows
® 2000 update? If not, do the following:
1) Unplug the USB cable.
2) Install the Windows
® 2000 update using one of the following methods.
„ Install MFL-Pro Suite from the CD-ROM. (See the  Quick Setup 
Guide .)
„ Download the latest service pack from the Microsoft Web site.
3) Wait about 1 minute after you restart the PC, and then connect the USB  cable.
2 Take out the memory card or USB Flash memory drive and put it back in  again.
3 If you have tried ‘Eject’ from within Windows
®, take out the memory card or 
USB Flash memory drive before you continue.
4 If an error message appears when you try to eject the memory card or USB  Flash memory drive, it means the card is being accessed. Wait a while and 
then try again.
5 If all of the above do not work, turn off your PC and machine, and then turn  them on again. (You will have to unplug the power cord of the machine to turn 
it off.)
Cannot access Removable Disk 
from Desktop icon.  Make sure that you have correctly inserted the memory card or USB Flash 
memory drive. 
 
						

							
100
Dial Tone B
Setting the dial tone to Detection will shorten 
the dial detect pause.
aPress Menu, 0,  5.
bPress  aor b to choose  Detection  or 
No Detection .
Press  OK.
cPress  Stop/Exit .
Telephone li ne interferenceB
If you are having problems sending or 
receiving a fax due to possible interference 
on the telephone line, we recommend that 
you adjust the Equalization for compatibility 
to reduce the modem speed for fax 
operations.
aPress Menu, 2,  0, 2 .
bPress  aor b to choose  Normal (or 
Basic(for VoIP) ).
„ Basic(for VoIP)  reduces the 
modem speed to 9600 bps. Unless 
interference is a recurring problem 
on your telephone line, you may 
prefer to use it only when needed.
„ Normal  sets the modem speed at 
14400 bps. (Default)
Press  OK.
cPress  Stop/Exit .
Note
When you change the compatibility to 
Basic(for VoIP) , the ECM feature is 
only available for color fax sending.
 
 
						

							
Troubleshooting and Routine Maintenance101
B
Error and maintenance messagesB
As with any sophisticated office product, errors may occur. If this happens, your machine identifies 
the error and shows an error message. The most common error and maintenance messages are 
shown below.
You can correct most errors and routine maintenance messages by yourself. If you need more 
help, the Brother Solutions Center offers the latest FAQs and troubleshooting tips.
Visit us at http://solutions.brother.com
.
Error MessageCauseAction
B&W Print OnlyOne or more of the color ink 
cartridges are empty.
While this message appears on the 
LCD, each operation works in the 
following way:„ Printing
If you click  Grayscale in the 
Advanced tab of the printer 
driver you can use the machine 
as a black & white printer for 
approximately four weeks 
depending on the number of 
pages you print.
„ Copying
If the paper type is set to 
Plain Paper, Inkjet Paper 
or 
Transparency you can 
make copies in black & white.
„ Faxing
If the paper type is set to 
Plain Paper, Inkjet Paper 
or 
Transparency the machine 
will receive and print faxes in 
black & white.
If a sending machine has a 
color fax, the machine’s 
‘handshake’ will ask that the fax 
be sent as black & white. 
If the paper type is set to 
Other Glossy  or 
Brother BP71 , the machine will 
stop all print operations. If you 
unplug the machine, or take out the 
empty ink cartridge, you cannot use 
the machine until you change to a 
new ink cartridge. Replace the empty ink cartridge. (See 
Replacing 
the ink cartridges  on page 110.)
 
						

							
102
Cannot DetectYou installed a new ink too quickly 
and the machine couldn’t detect it. Take out the new ink cartridge and re-install it 
slowly until it clicks.
If you are using genericink the 
machine cannot detect the ink 
cartridge. Use a new Genuine Brother Innobella
® Ink. If the 
error message is not cleared, call Brother 
Customer Service.
An ink cartridge is not installed 
properly. Take out the new ink cartridge and re-install it 
slowly until it clicks.
Cannot Print
Replace XX Ink
One or more of the ink cartridges 
are empty. The machine will stop all 
print operations. While memory is 
available, black & white faxes will 
be stored in the memory. If a 
sending machine has a color fax, 
the machines ‘handshake’ will ask 
that the fax be sent as black & 
white. If the sending machine has 
the ability to convert it, the color fax 
will be stored in the memory as a 
black & white fax. Replace the empty ink cartridges. (See 
Replacing the ink cartridges
 on page 110.)
Clean Unable XXThe machine has a mechanical 
problem.
—OR —
A foreign object such as a clip or 
ripped paper is in the machine. Open the scanner cover and look on the left, 
middle and right hand side under the covers for 
foreign objects and paper scraps. If the error 
message continues, see 
Transferring your faxes 
or Fax Journal report  on page 106 before 
disconnecting the machine so you will not lose 
any important messages. Then, disconnect the 
machine from the power for several minutes and 
then reconnect it.
Close Ink CoverThe ink cartridge cover is not 
completely closed. Firmly close the ink cartridge cover until it clicks.
Comm.Error Poor telephone line quality caused 
a communication error. Send the fax again or connect the machine to 
another telephone line. If the problem continues, 
call the telephone company and ask them to 
check your telephone line.
Cover is Open The scanner cover is not closed 
completely. Lift the scanner cover and then close it again.
Data RemainingPrint data is left in the machines 
memory. 
Press 
Stop/Exit . The machine will cancel the job 
and clear it from the memory. Try to print again.
Disconnected The other person or other persons 
fax machine stopped the call. Try to send or receive again.
Document Jam The document was not inserted or 
fed properly, or the document 
scanned from the ADF was too 
long. See 
Using the ADF  on page 17.
See  Document jam  on page 106.
DR Mode in UseThe machine is set to Distinctive 
Ring mode. You cannot change the 
Receive Mode from Manual to 
another mode. Set Distinctive Ring to off. (See 
Turning off 
Distinctive Ring  on page 42.)
Error MessageCauseAction
 
						

							
Troubleshooting and Routine Maintenance103
B
High TemperatureThe print head is too warm. Allow the machine to cool down.
Hub is Unusable.A Hub or USB Flash memory drive 
with Hub has been connected to the 
USB direct interface.A Hub or USB Flash memory drive with Hub are 
not supported. Unplug the device from the USB 
direct interface.
Init Unable XXThe machine has a mechanical 
problem.
—
OR —
A foreign object such as a clip or 
ripped paper is in the machine. Open the scanner cover and look on the left, 
middle and right hand side under the covers for 
foreign objects and paper scraps. If the error 
message continues, see 
Transferring your faxes 
or Fax Journal report  on page 106 before 
disconnecting the machine so you will not lose 
any important messages. Then, disconnect the 
machine from the power for several minutes and 
then reconnect it.
Ink Low Black
Ink Low Yellow
Ink Low Cyan
Ink Low Magenta
One or more ink cartridges are 
running out of ink. If a sending 
machine has a color fax, your 
machine’s ‘handshake’ will ask that 
the fax is sent as black & white. If 
the sending machine has the ability 
to convert it, the color fax will be 
printed at your machine as a black 
& white fax. Order a new ink cartridge. You can continue 
printing until the LCD shows 
Cannot Print. 
(See  Ordering accessories and supplies  
on page ii and  Replacing the ink cartridges  
on page 110.)
Low TemperatureThe print head is too cold. Allow the machine to warm up.
Media Error The memory card is either 
corrupted, improperly formatted, or 
there is a problem with the memory 
card. Put the card firmly into the slot again to make 
sure it is in the correct position. If the error 
remains, check the media drive (slot) of the 
machine by putting in another memory card that 
you know is working.
Media is Full.The memory card or USB flash 
memory drive you are using already 
contains 999 files.
Your machine can only save to your memory 
card or USB flash memory drive if it contains less 
than 999 files. Try deleting unused files to free 
some space and try again.
No Caller ID  
There is no incoming call history. You 
did not receive calls or you have not 
subscribed to the Caller ID service 
from your telephone company.If you want to use the Caller ID feature call your 
telephone company. (See  Caller ID on page 43.) 
No Cartridge An ink cartridge is not installed 
properly. Take out the new ink cartridge and re-install it 
slowly until it clicks. (See 
Replacing the ink 
cartridges  on page 110.)
No File The memory card or USB Flash 
memory drive in the media drive 
does not contain a .JPG file. Put the correct memory card or USB Flash 
memory drive into the slot again.
Error MessageCauseAction
 
						

							
104
No Paper FedThe machine is out of paper or 
paper is not properly loaded in the 
paper tray. Do one of the following:
„ Refill the paper in the paper tray, and then 
press  Black Start  or Color Start .
„ Remove the paper and load it again and then 
press  Black Start  or Color Start  (See 
Loading paper and other print media  
on page 8.)
The paper is jammed in the 
machine. Remove the jammed paper by following the 
steps in 
Printer jam or paper jam  on page 107.
No Response/BusyThe number you dialed does not 
answer or is busy. Verify the number and try again.
Not RegisteredYou tried to access a Speed Dial 
number that is not programmed.
Set up the Speed Dial number. (See 
Storing 
Speed Dial numbers  on page 51.)
Out of Memory The machines memory is full. Fax sending or copy operation in progress
Press Stop/Exit  and wait until the other 
operations in progress finish and then try again.
The memory card or USB Flash 
memory drive you are using does 
not have enough free space to scan 
the documents. Delete unused files from your memory card or 
USB Flash memory drive to make some free 
space and then try again.
Paper Jam Paper is jammed in the machine. Open the Jam Clear Cover (at the back of the 
machine) and pull out the jammed paper by 
following the steps in Printer jam or paper jam  
on page 107. 
Make sure the paper length guide is set to the 
paper side.
Print Unable XXThe machine has a mechanical 
problem.
— OR —
A foreign object such as a clip or 
ripped paper is in the machine. Open the scanner cover and look on the left, 
middle and right hand side under the covers for 
foreign objects and paper scraps. If the error 
message continues, see 
Transferring your faxes 
or Fax Journal report  on page 106 before 
disconnecting the machine so you will not lose 
any important messages. Then, disconnect the 
machine from the power for several minutes and 
then reconnect it.
Replace XX Ink
Cannot Print One or more of the ink cartridges 
are empty. The machine will stop all 
print operations. While memory is 
available, black & white faxes will 
be stored in the memory. If a 
sending machine has a color fax, 
the machines ‘handshake’ will ask 
that the fax be sent as black & 
white. If the sending machine has 
the ability to convert it, the color fax 
will be stored in the memory as a 
black & white fax. Replace the empty ink cartridges. (See 
Replacing the ink cartridges
 on page 110.)
Error MessageCauseAction
 
						

							
Troubleshooting and Routine Maintenance105
B
Scan Unable XXThe machine has a mechanical 
problem.
—OR —
A foreign object such as a clip or 
ripped paper is in the machine. Open the scanner cover and look on the left, 
middle and right hand side under the covers for 
foreign objects and paper scraps. If the error 
message continues, see 
Transferring your faxes 
or Fax Journal report  on page 106 before 
disconnecting the machine so you will not lose 
any important messages. Then, disconnect the 
machine from the power for several minutes and 
then reconnect it.
Unusable Device 
Disconnect 
device from 
front connector. 
Turn the machine
off & on by 
pressing On/Off 
button on 
control panel.A broken device has been 
connected to the USB direct 
interface. Unplug the device from the USB direct interface, 
then press 
On/Off to turn the machine off and 
then on again.
Unusable Device 
Please Disconnect
USB Device.A USB device or USB Flash 
memory drive that is not supported 
has been connected to the USB 
direct interface.
(For more information, visit us at 
http://solutions.brother.com.) Unplug the device from the USB direct interface.
Wrong Paper SizePaper is not the correct size. Check that the machine’s Paper Size setting 
matches the size of paper in the tray. (See  Paper 
Size  on page 20.)
Error MessageCauseAction
 
						

							
106
Transferring your faxes or Fax 
Journal reportB
If the LCD shows: 
Clean Unable XX
Init Unable XX
Print Unable XX
Scan Unable XX
We recommend transferring your faxes to 
another fax machine. (See Transferring faxes 
to another fax machine  on page 106.) 
You can also transfer the Fax Journal report 
to see if there are any faxes you need to 
transfer. (See  Transferring faxes to another 
fax machine  on page 106.)
Note
If there is an error message on the 
machines LCD, after the faxes have been 
transferred, disconnect the machine from 
the power source for several minutes, and 
then reconnect it.
 
Transferring faxes to another fax 
machine
B
If you have not set up your Station ID, you 
cannot enter fax transfer mode. (See  Set your 
station ID  in the Quick Setup Guide.)
aPress Menu, 9,  0, 1 .
bDo one of the following:
„ If the LCD shows  No Data, there 
are no faxes left in the machines 
memory.
Press  Stop/Exit .
„ If the LCD shows  Enter Fax No., 
enter the fax number to which faxes 
will be forwarded. 
cPress  Black Start .
Transferring Fax Journal report to 
another fax machine
B
If you have not set up your Station ID, you 
cannot enter fax transfer mode. (See  Set your 
station ID  in the Quick Setup Guide.)
aPress Menu 9 , 0 , 2.
bEnter the fax number to which the Fax 
Journal report will be forwarded.
cPress  Black Start .
Document jam B
Documents can jam in the ADF unit if they are 
not inserted or fed properly, or if they are too 
long. Follow the steps below to clear a 
document jam.
Document is jammed in the top of the 
ADF unit
B
aTake out any paper from the ADF that is 
not jammed.
bOpen the ADF cover.
cPull the jammed document up and to the 
left.
 
dClose the ADF cover.
ePress Stop/Exit .
Note
To avoid document jams close the ADF 
cover properly by pressing it down gently 
in the middle.