For some reason every now and again when a new toner is installed in the Brother MFCL8600CDW MFCL8850CDW and MFCL9550CDW the reset switch isn’t triggered and the toner counter doesn’t get reset. The following is a manual reset for you printer that you can use to reset the counter.
- Open the front cover of your Brother MFC laser printer where you can access its toner cartridges.
- Press and hold the STAR (*) button for 5+ seconds to see the toner menu on the screen (it will not be lit up – you can light it up by selecting the fax option with the cover closed and remembering where it is).
- Select the toner you need to reset. Press “yes” to reset the selected toner cartridge. Repeat for each toner cartridges colour as required.
- Close the front cover.
DONE.Note: for selecting the correct toner you need to understand the cartridge code system Brother uses:
- Black is K, Magenta is M, Cyan is C and Yellow is Y
- TNR = toner
- STR = starter cartridge (the toner cartridges that came with your printer)
- STD = standard toner or TN341
- HC = high yield toner or TN346
Please leave a comment if you find this guide useful or there is anything I can add to it to make it easier to follow.
This has been tested on the MFC-L8850CDN but should also work on MFC-L8600CDW and MFC-L9550CDW as they are the same series.
Some users have worked out that if there are any jobs in the printers memory it will not let you into the reset menu.
To fix the please Switch off the printer and remove the USB or network cable. If you use wifi you may have to disable the printers wifi.
After that power up the printer and try the reset again.
THANK YOU!!! I have trying to figure this out for days!!! I SOOOOO appreciate your online help! Nicole
It is so wonderful that we have people assisting people. This was so frustrating a problem until I found this site to reset my brother mfc L8600cdw toner cartridge counter.
What is so annoying that Brother dont bother to assist their customers in what is a simple reset. It is further frustrating that the the keypad with the star does not light up. I used a piece of blue tack to show where it was. mmm now that was high tech
Thank you so much
This did the trick! Thank you, thank you!
Thank you. I wish I knew what the default toner # was but this has allowed me to use my heavy duty printer for the first time in 4 months. Bought a refill kit because a black refill cartridge is $70 which is ridiculous but couldn’t figure out how to reset. Successful test page is now sitting in my lap. Eternal gratitude.
unable to reset toner on MFC-L8600CDW. Tried the above instructions but could not access the star at the fax location.
Hi Ann
For your printer it may be the X below the home button.
Please let me know how you get on.
I cannot get the toner reset menu to show up by pressing the location where either the red “X” would be, or the “*” under the faxing menu is. I open the toner access panel, pull the tray out, press either location and hold, and nothing. I have the MFC-L8850CDW…
What model is your printer?
FYi you may need to hold down the star/ asterisk key for about 5 seconds. Please let me know how you get on.
It did not work for me. tried both the Star key and the # key. The X key would flash briefly but never pulled up.
What model is your printer?
FYi you may need to hold down the star/ asterisk key for a bout 5 seconds. Please let me know how you get on.
Brothers MFC-L8850CDW
Hi John
On the MFC-L8850CDW it is the Star key (right next to the X key) you will need to hold it down for about 5 seconds.
Note BE SURE TO OPEN THE FRONT TONER DOOR. If that doesn’t work just pop the toner tray out a little and try again.
I figured out Johns problem. The instructions you gave work but only if you clear out the current print job. Otherwise the printer sits in “waiting for info mode” and does not register the front toner door is open.
I have the same printer MFC-L8850 CDW, tried EVERYTHING everybody wrote and nothing happens when I press the star button. Did someone tryed it with the same printer and figured it out ??? Thanks
Hi Sylvie
Other users have worked out that if there are any jobs in the printers memory it will not let you into the reset menu.
To fix the please Switch off the printer and remove the data cord USB or network. If you use wifi you may have to disable the printers wifi.
After that power up the printer and try the reset again.
Also the key needs to be pressed for about 5 seconds.
John same issue — here’s what you do: 1. Open the door where toner is located 2. turn printer off 3. turn printer back on 4. you should see a message telling you to close the door 5. now press the * key (from the phone key pad which lights up when you click on the fax to locate do this before shut down) for 5 seconds and the menu does appear! Yeah, this was very frustrating!
Thank you. Got no help from Brother help site but this finally solved my problem.
It is worth noting that on the MFC-L8850CDW, you need the memory empty before the star menu will work. Its quite often the case on a lot of brother machines. If you have items in memory the toner reset menu doesnt want to appear.
I tried all of these solutions and still no luck. This is very annoying as I have not even had this copier for 6 months and I am getting recurring issues that involve strange resolutions like “Turning it on and off while leaving the tray open while the room is exactly 65 degrees”
When you say clear the memory, what exactly do you mean? I removed all print jobs for the printer from our server. Rebooted multiple times, removed the network cable multiple times so I am really out of ideas about this.
Is there another strange method that I can try to resolve this?
The best way to do the reset if you are having issues is to remove the network cord turn off and unplug.
Plug the printer back in and do the reset (with the network still removed).
If that doesn’t work I am out of ideas – there maybe another fault.
I have mfc-l8850-cdw. what worked for me is: open door. You should see on screen: !cover is open – scrolling across. Beside that is the word ‘detail’ Press ‘detail’. Next screen is a pic of printer with the red ‘x’. Now press where the * button is (even though you can’t see it – figure out where it is). Hold it for 5 seconds and reset menu comes up.
Thank you Jan. Your way worked.
Jan you are a star, this was VERY frustrating, now are back in business 🙂
Yeah! Jan, this worked!! Thank you!!
Thank you Jan, I have tried so many things from the tech support that sold the toner to utube videos none worked…. My copier was out of commission for 2 weeks….
BUT YOURS DID!!!!! THANK YOU.
Pressing the detail button was also required on my mfc8600.
Nothing works!!
Yours was the instruction that got me over the hump with my MFC-L8600CDW to success, after two days of trying everything else! Thanks, you are the best!
Holy crap that was frustrating! I have a Brother MFC-L5850W but this was still the most info I could find on the issue. With mine you have to hold down the pound # not the star. Thanks for the help!
IT Worked!!!! Thanks so so much!!!
Excellent! Finally got it. Thanks so much for posting!
Jan, I could kiss you! Thank you so much for saving the day!
Thank you! Lifesaver!
Your way is the only way I could make this work!
Thank you!
Jan, Bless you, bless you. This entire string was helpful, but your way finally worked. I am clipping it and holding on. My repair guy told me I might as well kiss the $400 worth of new cartridges goodbye because it’s not worth fixing. (To be fair, he also told me to check here, so I still love him). Thx!!!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This worked on mine. Thank you. Pressing “detail’ first did the trick.
Works
I know its been years since you first posted this but this was the only thing that worked for me after scrolling through all the comments and wanted to thank you!
Yes! Weeks of frustration solved. Thank you Jan.
JAN U DA MVP!!! WORKED!!!
Sweet this worked like a charm Jan! Thank you.
So frustrating how there is still so much toner left in the cartridge. What a waste.
I found it useful and now I will be able to help other officials in our department(Rural Development and Land Reform-North West).Thank you very much for your support.
Jan – All others were guessing and full of S–t. You the man. Thanks so much 🙂
Do you happen to have instructions for MFC-L8900CDW?
Sorry being such a new model we don’t have instructions for that one yet.
Open the toner door and press the back and cancel buttons at the same time (it will almost certainly take a couple of tries). You must be on the open door message, if you back out of it, just touch the message again in the top left corner. Hope that helps you.
I have the 8900CDW and C.J.’s suggestion worked. As they stated, I had to press the back and cancel buttons at the same time several times.
Thank you!!
Thanks for this. It worked great, once I opened the front cover as instructed. Thanks for all of the comments and questions and responses. That’s what clued me into the fact that I hadn’t opened the front cover.
Thank you so much for the help. I got my L9550CDW going again. Whew! It stopped cold and gave the low toner message with no warning in the middle of printing out some things (with no fading) for my business two days ago.
Original Easylink Support was spot on for my MFC-8600CDW!!! Thank You so much for the help!
This has worked a treat but maybe need to say 5 to 10 seconds. However will thr printer tell you when it really runs out of ink or do you just have to check the print quality??
Hi Emma I have addjusted the wording a bit.
The printer will keep running but you will know when it has run out as the print quality will drop off.
Thank You so much
Thank you thank you thank you — 3 toner cartridges and a new drum unit later (the drum unit was needed…) that yellow cartridge still would not reset. Finally can print in color again!
the open cover and * (star) for the reset menu did the trick. I did try it before, but it didn’t work because even though the drum unit said 16%, it still needed replacing. So it you are still struggling, check the parts life and see if the drum unit is about to die early.
Triad all above and still not working, i have the MFC-L5800DW
Hi Max
The MFC-L5800DW is a mono printer, this reset is for a diffrent series of colour printers.
Sorry I dont have a reset for your printer as it is not a New Zealand model and not one we deal with.
I found the reset instructions. Open front cover, then press, at the same time, the back arrow and the red X. Might have to do it up to 8 times. It will go to the reset menu. Choose the color you need to reset. Click on it, mine was a standard cartridge so I chose that one. Then hit reset. It WORKED!!!
Hey,
We have a MFC-L8690CDW, any ideas on how to reset?
I read on a german website that the fix may have been patched in an update.
Hi Ben
I have not heard of any update to fix the reset.
There is another way to reset those toners (required a little bit of skill). The toner counter is reset by a black gear with half its teeth missing.
It is possible to remove the side cover and reinstall the reset gear in the “new” position. The counter will then be reset when you install that toner.
BROTHER MFC-L9550CDW
Magenta toner keeps saying needs replacing. All new toners we have put in the message still comes up. Any suggestions on how we get the toner to be accepted?
Have you tried the reset procedure?
It does work on your model. the tricky bit is locating the * key and make sure the front door is open (the one you use to access the toners).
YES! this works on the MFC-L8850CDW
just did this to get me a thru a weekend copy job.
it is imperative that the print queue be cleared. unplugging for a minute solved that issue.
TIP – go to the copy or fax menu first then mark the location of the * button with a post it. makes life easier.
thank you so much!
I have a MFC-9840CDW. What worked for me was to open the door (drum unit door), then go to the menu and press ¨Clear/Back”. That brought me the reset menu for each of the toner cartridges. it took me quite a while to figure it out. I hope this helps.
it worked, just on fax menu find the area where * is located. then when in toners menu press that area (*). it took me few minutes, but it worked. thanks for great help.
I have a Brother MFC-L3710CW and I’m using non-Brother toner. The “reset” procedure worked once, but after printing about a hundred pages “replace toner” came back and the “reset” procedure isn’t working anymore. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Hi Kerry Not sure on that one
I have DCP-L3550CDW. I have similar problem.
I could perform reset once, but not any more…
The difference is I have toner I got with my printer.
YES, it worked. THANK YOU!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I left the printer off all night, turned it on and used a SILVER SHARPIE to mark where the asterisk/Star * button on the fax number pad is located – followed your instructions and boom problem solved!
Fantastic! Thank you so very much for sharing!!!!
THANK YOU!!!!
Thanks was very useful in resolving issue faced
This worked for my MFC-L8600 CDW, thanks so much!!
Key point for those who think it doesn’t work — you have to press the star WHILE the cover is OPEN. 🙂 (It took me a few tries, btw.) Thank you again!!