The brand Brother offers one of the best quality printers in the market. However, like printers of other famous brands, it also encounters numerous technical snags. Brother printer in error state renders its users unable to perform any printing task. As a result, they need to find ways to fix this problem. Note that there are not one but many reasons behind your printer coming in an error state. But now that you are reading this article, you can relax. It covers some of the most effective ways to eliminate the error state in this printer.
Ways to Resolve Brother Printer in Error State?
There are multiple methods to fix this problem. But before implementing them, you should conduct a basic troubleshooting process. Read on to know how to implement this process, along with some other fixes.
The basic troubleshooting to fix the error state
In this troubleshooting process, you need to check various things. They are as follows.
- Check your Wi-Fi and internet connection. If you find your printer not connected correctly, reconnect it. Also, see whether you have a good internet connection.
- Now, check whether the printer is securely plugged. To ensure this, take it out from the plug and plug it back again. Now, see if you are still facing the error.
- Stay away from sub-standard quality ink or toner. It will cause the printer to show this error. Moreover, a bad-quality ink or toner can also cause printer damage.
- Inspect the ink levels. If you find that there’s not much ink, fill the toner with it.
Check if your printer has gone into an offline mode.
When a printer doesn’t print or has lost the connection for a lengthy time, it can go into an offline state. So, you must check if the printer is active.
- Click the Windows button and select the ‘Control Panel’ option.
- Next, select ‘View devices and printers.’ It is below the ‘Hardware and sound’ option.
- Right-tap the printing device and select the ‘Set as a default printer option.
- Click the ‘Printer’ option from the top-left part. Then select to untick ‘Pause printing’ and ‘Use printer offline.’
- Restart your Brother printer.
Restart the print spooler service
Print spooler manages printing jobs from PC to printer. If you face the Brother printer in an error state Windows 10 problem, restarting the spooler can fix it.
- Input ‘cmd’ in the search box. Right-click to choose ‘Run as administrator.’
- Click ‘Yes’ to enable a user control account.
- On the screen that is in front of you, type ‘net stop spooler and press ‘Enter.’
- On noticing that the printer spooler service has stopped, input ‘net start spooler and hit ‘Enter.’ You’ll get the message that the spooler service is turned on successfully. Now close cmd.
- Restart the PC printer, and print a test page.
Turn on PnP detection.
If you’re a Windows 10 user, you can enable the ‘Legacy Plug and Play Detection.’ Follow the steps here to enable it.
- Navigate to the ‘Search’ box on Windows 10.
- Input ‘Device Manager’ here. Launch the ‘Device Manager.’
- Tap ‘Visible’ and click ‘Show Hidden Devices.’
- Now, find ‘Ports (COM and LPT).’ Tap on it to expand your list.
- Right-tap on ‘ECP Printer Port (LPT1).’
- Open ‘Properties.’
- Next, click ‘Ports Settings’ beside the ‘General’ tab.
- Select the option ‘Use any interrupt assigned to the port.’
- Now, tick on ‘Enable Legacy Plug and Play detection.’
- To apply all the changes, tap ‘OK.’
- Start your printer again. You’ll no longer face this error.
Update Brother printer drivers
It is another effective fix to try when you notice the Brother printer in an error state. Follow the steps below to update your printer driver automatically.
- Input ‘devmgmt.msc’ on the Windows 10 Run box. Now, click ‘OK.’
- Tap ‘Device Manager’ followed by ‘OK.’
- Select the ‘Show Hidden Devices’ option.
- Click on ‘Print Queue.’
- Right-tap on Brother driver and select the ‘Update Driver’ option.
- Select the option ‘Search automatically for updated driver software.
- Let Windows find the software. Adhere to the prompts you find on-screen.
Remove and reinstall the Brother printer.
Another good way to resolve the error state problem in the Brother printer is to uninstall the device and reinstall it again. Follow these steps for doing so.
- Launch the ‘Settings’ option and go over to ‘Devices.’
- Choose the ‘Printers and Scanners’ option. Select ‘’Brother printer and tap ‘Remove Device.’
- Click ‘Yes’ then input ‘Printer’ in the search box.
- Next, click the option ‘Add a printer and scanner’ from the list.
- Opt for the ‘Select the printer’ option and click the name of your printer. then tap ‘Add device.’
- Let the printer get installed.
Final Words
These resolutions will be very useful when you notice Brother printer in error state windows 10. Follow them carefully and start printing from your device. If you face any issues executing these measures or have any queries, reach out to Brother printer customer support.