Brother HL 2140 Toner Life End Error Hack

One of the most frustrating issues for a college student is receiving a toner error after printing 18 of the 20 pages of your final paper due the next day. All of this could have been easily avoid if I didn’t procrastinate, but as a student, this is all not possible. Thankful to my stubbornness, I’ve research and figured out a reliable hack forcing my printer to print although my toner was allegedly empty.  

Background Info

According to my research, a lot of printer companies are scamming their consumers into buying new and expensive toner cartridges although there is little to no evidence of low toner. This often works through a mechanical device that tracks the number of prints. At the end of just say 1000 or 1500 prints depending on your cartridge rating, the printer will refuse to print regardless of the toner capacity. This hack is a simple hack that anyone one can do with any specific tools.

One disclaimer, this hack is printer specific, is appropriate for starter toner and may not work on all Brother printers, but it’s worth a try. If sucessful, the toner should yield another hundred pages or so.

Step 1 Remove Drum and Toner Assembly

1.       Remove the front access panel to access the drum and toner assembly.

2.       Remove drum assembly by pulling on the drum handle.

3.       Once the drum assembly is removed, press on the green tab (left) and lift the handle (grey) on the toner cartridge.