Brother printer drum error is one of the most common errors of Brother Printers. Therefore, in this article, we will show you how to solve this error and get your printer functioning properly again.
Table of Contents
Why Does My Brother Printer Say Drum Error? [Reasons]
What causes drum error on the Brother printer includes:
i. Dirty corona wire.
ii. Incorrect installation of the toner cartridge, drum unit, or drum unit assembly.
iii. The drum unit is close to its life’s end.
How Do I Fix the Drum Error On My Brother Printer? [Solved]
The following will guide you on how to fix your Brother printer drum error:
1. Clean the Printer’s Corona Wire
How to Clean Brother Printer Corona Wire
The following steps will show you how to clean your Printer’s corona wire in order to fix drum error on a brother printer:
Step 1: Before you begin the cleaning, let the internal parts of the printer get cool by leaving your Brother printer to stay on for about 10 minutes. Within this period, the fan inside the machine will cool those hot parts.
Step 2: Press your printer’s release button for the machine’s front cover before opening the cover.
Step 3: Remove the drum and toner cartridge unit assembly from your printer.
- To prevent burns from hot parts, you can still wait for your printer to get cool some more before taking out the above components.
- You should also put the components you just took out from the printer on a sheet of paper or disposable cloth. This will protect the area from accidental toner spillage.
- If the toner spills onto your clothes or hands, ensure that you wash it using cold water or wipe it off immediately.
- When you bring out the toner cartridge, ensure that you don’t inhale the toner. The substance can be harmful to your health when inhaled.
- Avoid touching the electrodes within the printer to avoid static electricity that could damage our printer.
Step 4: Clean your drum’s unit corona wire by carefully moving the green tab from one end to the other a couple of times.
- Do not clean the corona wire or any part of your Brother machine with any cleaning substance that has alcohol, ammonia, any spray type, or flammable substance. Using such a cleaning substance could lead to electrical shock or fire.
Step 5: Move the tab back to its original position. If you fail to do this, you could end up with a vertical line on your print jobs. Read this article to learn how to fix vertical lines on your print jobs.
Step 6: Put the components that you took out in step 3 back into your Brother printer.
Step 7: Close your printer’s front cover.
This process should fix the drum error on Brother printer if incorrect installation of toner, drum unit, or drum unit assembly was the problem of the error in the first place.
If this Brother Printer drum error fix does not work, then try the next option…
2. Replace the Toner
If your Brother Printer keeps saying drum error, then you can fix it by replacing the toner. Note that this is different from reinstalling your toner into the printer. That has been covered in the method above.
How to Replace Brother Printer Toner
The following steps will guide you on how to replace Brother Printer toner to solve your Brother laser printer drum error:
Step 1: Before you begin the cleaning, let the internal parts of the printer get cool by leaving your Brother printer to stay on for about 10 minutes. Within this period, the fan inside the machine will cool those hot parts.
Step 2: Press your printer’s release button for the machine’s front cover before opening the cover.
Step 3: Remove the drum and the toner cartridge unit assembly from your printer.
Step 4: Press down the lock lever to remove the cartridge from the printer’s drum unit.
- The lock is easily recognizable thanks to its green color.
- To avoid explosion, do not throw into fire a cartridge or a cartridge assembly.
Step 5: Put the old toner cartridge into a well-sealed bag to prevent it from spilling. Then dispose of it properly according to the regulations in your locality.
Step 6: Take out the new cartridge from its packaging. Then ensure that you hold the toner cartridge level using both hands before shaking it gently from one side to the other a number of times. This action helps the toner spread properly within the cartridge
- Do not unpack the cartridge until you are ready to put it into your printer. Unpacking a cartridge for a while before putting it into your printer could shorten the life.
- Do not leave the unpacked cartridge under direct room light or sunlight. This could damage the item.
- Ensure that you use genuine Brother Toner cartridges. Using third-party cartridges could lead to Brother Printer issues.
Step 7: Remove the toner cartridge’s protective cover.
- Ensure that you install the cartridge into your printer’s drum unit as soon as the protective cover is removed.
- Avoid touching the shaded areas on the toner to prevent future print quality issues.
Step 8: Install the toner cartridge into your drum unit and ensure that it is locked and secured in its place. Once you fix it as it should be, the lock lever automatically lifts without being forced.
Step 9: Now clean the main corona wire using the method we showed you earlier.
Step 10: Place the toner cartridge and the drum unit assembly into your printer.
Step 11: Close your printer’s front cover.
- Once you have replaced the cartridge, ensure that you do not power off your Brother machine or open your printer’s front cover. Instead, wait until the message “Please wait” on the LCD is cleared and the printer is back to “Ready”.
3. Replace the Drum
If you are having a Brother Printer drum error message, then you can solve it by replacing the drum. Replacing the drum is different from reinstalling the drum which we have already addressed.
How to Replace Brother Printer Drum
Follow the steps below to replace your Brother Printer drum:
Step 1: Before you begin the cleaning, let the internal parts of the printer get cool by leaving your Brother printer to stay on for about 10 minutes. Within this period, the fan inside the machine will cool those hot parts.
Step 2: Press your printer’s release button for the machine’s front cover before opening the cover.
Step 3 Remove the drum and the toner cartridge unit assembly from your printer.
- Clean the inner part of the printer each time you perform a drum unit replacement.
Step 4: Press down the lock lever to remove the cartridge from the printer’s drum unit.
Step 5: Put the old drum unit into a well-sealed bag to prevent it from spilling. Then dispose of it properly according to local regulations.
Step 6: Take out the new drum from its packaging.
- Do not unpack the new drum unit until you are ready to install it into your printer.
- Avoid exposing the unit to direct room light or sunlight to avoid damaging it.
Step 7: Install your toner cartridge into your newly acquired drum unit and ensure that it is locked and secured in its place. Once you fix it as it should be, the lock lever will automatically lift without being forced.
Step 8: Place the cartridge and the drum assembly into your printer.
- Don’t close the printer’s front cover if your Brother model is not a touchscreen. However, if yours is a touchscreen model, you can close the cover.
Step 9: Reset the printer’s drum counter.
How to Reset Brother Printer Drum Counter
Do the following to reset your Brother Printer drum counter:
i. Press “Clear” while the cover is still open.
ii. Press 1 to verify that a new drum is being installed.
iii. Close the cover when “Accepted” is shown on the LCD.
For Touchscreen Brother Printer Models do the following:
i. To temporarily interrupt the drum error, tap “Stop/Exit”.
ii. Tap “Menu”.
Iii. Use the navigation “Up” and “Down” arrow keys till you get to “Machine Info”.
iv. Tap “Machine Info”.
v. Tap “Reset Menu”.
vi. Tap “Drum”. This will cause “Reset Drum?” to be displayed.
vii. Tap “Yes”.
viii. Tap “Stop/Exit”
- Do not carry out this step if it was the toner cartridge you replaced instead of the drum unit.
If after replacing the drum, the Brother Printer drum error is not solved, then you need to contact Brother for further assistance.
To read more awesome articles, click any of the links below…
Brother Printer is not Printing [Reasons and Solutions]
Brother Printer Not Working [How to Fix]
Brother Printer is not Responding [Solution]
Brother Printer Drum Light [Issues & Quick Fixes]
Computer Won’t Recognize Brother Printer [Quick Fix]
How to Fix Brother Printer Dust on Drum Error
To fix the Brother Printer dust on drum error, try the following options:
1. Clean the Corona Wire
Simply follow the instructions on how to clean corona wire which we have shared earlier in this article.
If cleaning the corona wire does not clear the error message, then troubleshoot this Brother Printer drum error using the next solution…
2. Clean the Roller in the Drum Unit
Do the following to clean the roller in your Brother Printer Drum unit:
i. Following the steps we’ve shared above, take out the toner cartridge from the drum unit.
ii. Locate the black yet shiny roller within the cartridge.
iii. Dampen a dry lint-free fabric with isopropyl also known as rubbing alcohol.
iv. Wipe the roller gently with the fabric to get rid of surplus toner.
– Do not scrub; this could permanently damage the roller.
– To properly clean the roller, you need to turn it by rotating the white gear at the extreme left side.
iv. Follow the steps we shared earlier to place the toner back into the drum and the assembly unit into your printer.
If these solutions do not work, then you have to replace the drum unit completely. Simply follow the instructions we shared above on how to replace the drum unit.
Brother Printer Drum Error Light [Quick Fix]
If your Brother Printer drum error light is flashing, then it means the drum unit is almost at the end of its life. We recommend that you read this article to learn more about this and what you can do.
Brother Printers and Toner Errors that can be fixed using the solutions in this article
The solutions shared above should work for:
i. Brother HL printer series drum error
Brother hl-2170w, Brother hl-l2321d, Brother hl-2270dw, Brother hl 2140, Brother hl-5450dn, Brother hl-l23200, Brother hl-2240, Brother hl 2130, Brother hl-2035, Brother hl 4150cdn, Brother hl-4570cdw, Brother hl 4140cn, Brother hl-5250dn, and brother 2250dn.
ii. Brother MFC printer series drum error
Brother mfc-7440n, Brother mfc 7320, Brother mfc 9460cdn, Brother mfc-9340cdw, Brother mfc 7420, Brother mfc-7840w, Brother mfc 7340, Brother mfc-8480dn, and Brother mfc-9840cdw.
iii. Brother DCP printer series drum error
Brother 7065dn, Brother dcp 7040, Brother dcp 7030, and Brother 7055
iv. Brother Toner Cartridges
Brother tn-420 and Brother tn-310.
