Brother MFC 297C User Manual

							Safety and Legal
81
A
 
When using your telephone equipment, basic safety precautions should always be followed to 
reduce the risk of fire, electric shock and injury to people, including the following:
1 DO NOT use this product near water, for example, near a bath tub, wash bowl, kitchen sink 
or washing machine, in a wet basement or near a swimming pool.
2 Avoid using this product during an electrical storm. There may be a remote risk of electric 
shock from lightning. 
3 DO NOT use this product to report a gas leak in the vicinity of the leak.
4 DO NOT dispose of batteries in a fire. They may explode. Check with local codes for possible 
special disposal instructions.
 
Important safety instructionsA
1 Read all of these instructions.
2 Save them for later reference.
3 Follow all warnings and instructions marked on the product.
4 DO NOT use this product near water.
5 DO NOT place this product on an unstable cart, stand, or table. The product may fall, causing 
serious damage to the product.
6 Slots and openings in the cabinet and the back or bottom are provided for ventilation. To 
ensure reliable operation of the product and to protect it from overheating, these openings 
must not be blocked or covered. The openings should never be blocked by placing the product 
on a bed, sofa, rug, or other similar surface. This product should never be placed near or over 
a radiator or heater. This product should never be placed in a built-in installation unless 
adequate ventilation is provided.
7 Use only the power cord supplied with this machine.
8 This product is equipped with a 3-wire grounded plug, a plug having a third (grounded) pin. 
This plug will only fit into a grounded power outlet. This is a safety feature. If you are unable to 
insert the plug into the outlet, call your electrician to replace your obsolete outlet. DO NOT 
defeat the purpose of the grounded plug. 
9 DO NOT allow anything to rest on the power cord. DO NOT place this product where people 
can walk on the cord.
10 DO NOT place anything in front of the machine that will block received faxes. DO NOT place 
anything in the path of received faxes.
11 Wait until pages have exited the machine before picking them up.
 
						

							82
12 Unplug this product from the power socket and refer all servicing to Brother Authorized Service 
Personnel under the following conditions: 
„If liquid has been spilled into the product.
„If the product has been exposed to rain or water.
„If the product does not operate normally when the operating instructions are followed, 
adjust only those controls that are covered by the operating instructions. 
Incorrect adjustment of other controls may result in damage and will often require extensive 
work by a qualified technician to restore the product to normal operation.
„If the product has been dropped or the casing has been damaged.
„If the product exhibits a distinct change in performance, indicating a need for service.
13 To protect your product against power surges, we recommend the use of a power protection 
device (Surge Protector).
14 To reduce the risk of fire, electric shock and injury to people, note the following:
„DO NOT use this product near appliances that use water, a swimming pool, or in a wet 
basement.
IMPORTANT - For your safetyA
To ensure safe operation, the supplied three-pin plug must be inserted only into a standard 
three-pin electrical socket that is effectively grounded through the normal household wiring.
The fact that the equipment operates satisfactorily does not imply that the power is grounded and 
that the installation is completely safe. For your safety, if in any doubt about the effective 
grounding of the power, consult a qualified electrician.
Wiring information (U.K. only)A
Important
If you need to replace the plug fuse, fit a fuse that is approved by ASTA to BS1362 with the same 
rating as the original fuse.
Always replace the fuse cover. Never use a plug that does not have a cover.
Warning - This machine must be earthed.A
The wires in the mains lead are coloured in line with the following code:
„Green and Yellow: Earth
„Blue: Neutral
„Brown: Live
If in any doubt, call a qualified electrician.
 
						

							Safety and Legal
83
A
Radio interferenceA
This product complies with EN55022 (CISPR Publication 22) /Class B. When connecting the 
machine to a computer, ensure that you use a USB cable which does not exceed 2.0 meters in 
length.
EU Directive 2002/96/EC and EN50419A
 
This equipment is marked with the above recycling symbol. It means that at the end of the life of 
the equipment you must dispose of it separately at an appropriate collection point and not place 
it in the normal domestic unsorted waste stream. This will benefit the environment for all. 
(European Union only)
International ENERGY STAR® Compliance StatementA
The purpose of the International ENERGY STAR® Program is to promote the development and 
popularization of energy-efficient office equipment.
As an ENERGY STAR
® Partner, Brother Industries, Ltd. has determined that this product meets 
the ENERGY STAR
® guidelines for energy efficiency.
 
European 
Union Only
 
						

							84
Legal limitations for copyingA
It is an offence to make reproductions of certain items or documents with the intent to commit 
fraud. This memorandum is intended to be a guide rather than a complete list.We suggest you 
check with relevant legal authorities if in doubt about a particular item or document.
The following are examples of documents which should not be copied:
„Money
„Bonds or other certificates of indebtedness
„Certificates of Deposit
„Armed Forces Service or Draft papers.
„Passports
„Postage Stamps (cancelled or uncancelled)
„Immigration Papers
„Welfare documents
„Cheques or Drafts drawn by Governmental Agencies
„Identification Documents, badges or insignias
Copyrighted works cannot be copied. Sections of a copyrighted work can be copied for ‘fair 
dealing’. Multiple copies would indicate improper use.
Works of art should be considered the equivalent of copyrighted works.
Licenses and Certificates of Title to motor vehicles may not be copied under certain 
state/provincial laws.
 
						

							Safety and Legal
85
A
TrademarksA
The Brother logo is a registered trademark of Brother Industries, Ltd.
Brother is a registered trademark of Brother Industries, Ltd.
Multi-Function Link is a registered trademark of Brother International Corporation.
© 2008 Brother Industries, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Windows Vista is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the 
United States and other countries.
Microsoft, Windows and Windows Server are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in 
the United States and/or other countries.
Macintosh and TrueType are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.
Adobe, Flash, Illustrator, PageMaker and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or 
trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Nuance, the Nuance logo, PaperPort and ScanSoft are trademarks or registered trademarks of 
Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.
Microdrive is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.
Memory Stick is a trademark of Sony Corporation.
SanDisk is a licensee of the SD and miniSD trademarks.
xD-Picture Card is a trademark of FUJIFILM Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and Olympus 
Optical Co. Ltd.
PictBridge is a trademark.
Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick Duo, MagicGate Memory Stick, 
Memory Stick Micro and M2 are trademarks of Sony Corporation.
FaceFilter Studio is a trademark of Reallusion, Inc.
Each company whose software title is mentioned in this manual has a Software License 
Agreement specific to its proprietary programs.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 
						

							86
B
TroubleshootingB
If you think there is a problem with your machine, check the chart below and follow the 
troubleshooting tips. 
Most problems can be easily resolved by yourself. If you need additional help, the Brother 
Solutions Center offers the latest FAQs and troubleshooting tips. Visit us at 
http://solutions.brother.com
.
If you are having difficulty with your machineB
Troubleshooting and Routine 
Maintenance
B
Printing
DifficultySuggestions
No printout Check the interface cable connection on both the machine and your computer. 
(See the Quick Setup Guide.)
Make sure the machine is plugged in and that the On/Off key is on.
Check to see if the LCD is showing an error message. (See Error and 
maintenance messages on page 92.)
One or more ink cartridges have reached the end of their life. (See Replacing the 
ink cartridges on page 100.)
If the LCD says Cannot Print and Replace XX Ink (where XX is an 
abbreviation of the colour), see Replacing the ink cartridges on page 100.
Check that the correct printer driver has been installed and chosen.
Make sure the machine is online. Click Start and then Printers and Faxes. 
Choose ‘Brother MFC-XXXX (where XXXX is your model name)’, and make sure 
that ‘Use Printer Offline’ is unchecked.
When you choose the Print Odd Pages and Print Even Pages settings, you may 
see a print error message on your computer, as the machine pauses during the 
process. The error message will disappear after the machine re-starts printing.
Poor print quality Use only Genuine Brother Consumables as ink from other manufactures can 
cause print quality problems.
Check the print quality. (See Checking the print quality on page 105.) 
Make sure that the Printer Driver or Paper Type setting in the menu matches the 
type of paper you are using. (See Printing for Windows
® or Printing and Faxing for 
Macintosh® in the Software Users Guide on the CD-ROM and Paper Type 
on page 19.) 
Make sure that your ink cartridges are fresh. The following may cause ink to clog:
„The expiration date written on the cartridge package has passed. (Brother 
Original cartridges stay usable for up to two years if kept in their original 
packaging.)
„The ink cartridge was in your machine over six months.
„The ink cartridge may not have been stored correctly before use.
Make sure you are using Brother Original Innobella™ Ink.
Try using the recommended types of paper. (See Acceptable paper and other print 
media on page 13.) 
The recommended environment for your machine is between 20° C to 33° C.
 
						

							Troubleshooting and Routine Maintenance
87
B
White horizontal lines appear in text 
or graphics.Clean the print head. (See Cleaning the print head on page 105.)
Make sure you are using Brother Original Innobella™ ink.
Try using the recommended types of paper. (See Acceptable paper and other print 
media on page 13.) 
The machine prints blank pages. Clean the print head. (See Cleaning the print head on page 105.)
Characters and lines are stacked. Check the printing alignment. (See Checking the print alignment on page 106.)
Printed text or images are skewed. Make sure the paper is loaded correctly in the paper tray and the paper side 
guides are adjusted correctly. (See Loading paper and other print media 
on page 8.)
Make sure the Jam Clear Cover is closed properly.
Smudged stain at the top center of 
the printed page.Make sure the paper is not too thick or curled. (See Acceptable paper and other 
print media on page 13.) 
Smudged stain at the right or left 
corner of the printed page.Make sure the paper is not curled when you print on the back side of the paper 
with the Print Odd Pages and Print Even Pages settings.
Printing appears dirty or ink seems 
to run.
Make sure you are using the recommended types of paper. (See Acceptable paper 
and other print media on page 13
.) Dont handle the paper until the ink is dry.
Make sure you are using Brother Original Innobella™ ink.
If you are using photo paper, make sure that you have set the correct paper type. If you 
are printing a photo from your PC, set the 
Media Type in the Basic tab of the printer driver.
Stains appear on the reverse side 
or at the bottom of the page.Make sure the printer platen is not dirty with ink. (See Cleaning the machine printer 
platen on page 104.)
Make sure you are using the paper support flap. (See Loading paper and other 
print media on page 8.)
The machine prints dense lines on 
the page.Check Reverse Order in the Basic tab of the printer driver.
The printouts are wrinkled. In the printer driver Advanced tab, click Colour Settings, and uncheck 
Bi-Directional Printing for Windows
® or Bi-Directional Printing for Macintosh®.
Cannot perform ‘Page Layout’ 
printing.Check that the paper size setting in the application and in the printer driver are the 
same.
Print speed is too slow.  Try changing the printer driver setting. The highest resolution needs longer data 
processing, sending and printing time. Try the other quality settings in the printer 
driver Advanced tab.
Turn the borderless feature off. Borderless printing is slower than normal printing. 
(See Printing for Windows
® or Printing and Faxing for Macintosh® in the Software 
Users Guide on the CD-ROM.)
Smudged stain at the right or left 
corner of the printed page.Make sure the paper is not curled when you print on the back side of the paper 
with the Print Odd Pages and Print Even Pages settings.
Photo paper does not feed 
properly.When you print on Brother Photo paper, load one extra sheet of the same photo 
paper in the paper tray. An extra sheet has been included in the paper package 
for this purpose.
Clean the paper pick-up roller. (See Cleaning the paper pick-up roller 
on page 104.)
Machine  feeds  multiple  pages Make sure the paper is loaded correctly in the paper tray. (See Loading paper and 
other print media on page 8.)
Check that more than two types of paper are not loaded in the paper tray at any 
one time.
Printing (continued)
DifficultySuggestions
 
						

							88
Printed pages are not stacked 
neatly.Make sure you are using the paper support flap. (See Loading paper and other 
print media on page 8.)
Machine does not print from 
Adobe
® Illustrator®.Try to reduce the print resolution. (See Printing for Windows
® or Printing and 
Faxing for Macintosh
® in the Software Users Guide on the CD-ROM.)
Printing Received Faxes
DifficultySuggestions
Condensed print and white streaks 
across the page or the top and 
bottom of sentences are cut off.You probably had a bad connection, with static or interference on the telephone 
line. Ask the other party to send the fax again.
Vertical black lines when receiving. The senders scanner may be dirty. Ask the sender to make a copy to see if the 
problem is with the sending machine. Try receiving from another fax machine.
Received colour fax prints only in 
black & white.Replace the colour ink cartridges that have reached the end of their life, and then 
ask the other person to send the colour fax again. (See Replacing the ink 
cartridges on page 100.)
Left and Right margins are cut off or 
a single page is printed on two 
pages.Turn on Auto Reduction. (See Printing a reduced incoming fax on page 35.)
Telephone Line or Connections
DifficultySuggestions
Dialling does not work. (No dial 
tone)Check that the machine is plugged in and switched on.
Check the line cord connection. 
Change the Tone/Pulse setting. (See Quick Setup Guide.)
Lift the external telephone’s handset, (or the machine’s handset or cordless 
handset if available), and then dial the number to send a manual fax. Wait to hear 
fax receiving tones before pressing Mono Start or Colour Start.
The machine does not answer 
when called.Make sure the machine is in the correct receiving mode for your setup. (See 
Receive modes on page 32.) Check for a dial tone. If possible, call your machine 
to hear it answer. If there is still no answer, check the telephone line cord 
connection. 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 the line cord connection. 
Make sure the machine is in the correct receiving mode for your setup. (See 
Receive modes on page 32.) 
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 91.)
If you connect your machine to PBX or ISDN, set the menu setting of Telephone 
Line Type to your telephone type. (See Setting the Telephone Line Type 
on page 36.)
Printing (continued)
DifficultySuggestions
 
						

							Troubleshooting and Routine Maintenance
89
B
Sending Faxes
DifficultySuggestions
Cannot send a fax Check the line cord connection. 
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 48.)
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:ERROR’ 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 91.)
If you connect your machine to PBX or ISDN, set the menu setting of Telephone 
Line Type to your telephone type. (See Telephone line interference on page 91.)
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 glass on page 103.)
Vertical black lines when sending.
(MFC-290C only)If the copy you made shows the same problem, clean the scanner. (See Cleaning 
the scanner glass on page 103.)
Handling Incoming Calls
DifficultySuggestions
The machine ‘Hears’ a voice as a 
CNG Tone.If Fax Detect 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 Fax Detect to Off. (See Fax Detect 
on page 35.)
Sending a fax call to the machine. If you answered at the machine, press Mono Start and hang up at once. If you 
answered on an external or extension telephone, press your Remote Activation 
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, an alarm system or any 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 
its 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 (Error 
Correction Mode) 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.
 
						

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Menu Setting Difficulties
DifficultySuggestions
The machine beeps when you try to 
access the Setup Receive menu.If the Fax   key is not illuminated, press it to turn on Fax mode. The 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 50.)
Vertical streaks appear on copies If you see vertical streaks on copies, clean the scanner. (See Cleaning the 
scanner glass on page 103.)
Poor copy results when using the 
ADF (MFC-290C and MFC-297C 
only)Try using the scanner glass. (See Using the scanner glass on page 17.)
Vertical black line appears in 
copies (MFC-290C and MFC-297C 
only)Vertical black lines or streaks on copies are typically caused by dirt or correction 
fluid on the glass strip. Clean the glass strip. (See Cleaning the scanner glass 
on page 103.)
Fit  to  Page  does  not  work  properly. Make sure your source document is not skewed. Reposition the document and try 
again.
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.
Fit to Page does not work. Make sure the document is not skewed on the scanner glass.
Poor scanning results when using 
the ADF. (MFC-290C and MFC-
297C only)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.