Brother MFC laser "cycles" a few times per day, why?

[Joerg]

It began last week. The Brother MFC-7820N multifunction laser printer
starts up out of the blue and sounds as if it wants to print something.
Fan comes on, display lights up, motors in there run. But no paper comes
out and nobody requested any print via the LAN. Then it goes idle again
as if nothing had happened. I know that ink jets do that to keep
cartridges primed but lasers normally don't, and this Brother printer
never did that before. It's about five years old.

Could it be power dips due to capacitor plague? Did someone experience
it? Not that it bothers me much but if this is a sign that something is
going to fail soon I may have to reach in there.

 

[Joerg]

My HP CP1525's (color laser) do that all the time. Start up for no
reason, make a bunch of noise, then shut down.

Hmm, maybe it learned that from an HP it secretly communicates with

 

[Snark]

My HP CP1525's (color laser) do that all the time. Start up for no
reason, make a bunch of noise, then shut down.

It's to avoid marking the rubber roller where the hot fuser touches
it. The fuser is kept at or just below operating temperature to ensure
quick startup, so it's rolled over a bit from time to time.

- YD.

 

[Greegor]

Sounds plausible but has only just started happening ??

Could this be something that was updated in firmware?
Could the printer have obtained a firmware update?

Could an update have arrived in a toner/fuser cartridge?

 

[[email protected]]

Sounds plausible but has only just started happening ??

Winter.

 

[Joerg]

That's normal. To prevent the toner from packing, the printer spins
the toner drum a bit to mix it. The idea is to make the printer ready
to print with minimum delay. Other laser printers like to do it just
after they weak up from sleep mode, which adds to the irritating
startup delay.

The strange thing is that it's random. It hasn't done this the first
five years. Then during the day it's different, for example three such
cycles this morning but none from noon until now (eight hours).

 

[Joerg]

It did, after never cycling for five years.

Could this be something that was updated in firmware?
Could the printer have obtained a firmware update?

Could an update have arrived in a toner/fuser cartridge?

It would have to have come over the LAN, so possibly it called home. But
then it never cycled in the last eight hours.

Toner was changed a couple years ago. This printer is also some kind of
eco model so it doesn't keep stuff hot all the time. Uses just a few
watts when in standby (then it acts also as a fax machine listening to
the phone line).

 

[Joerg]

Not exactly, although that's the way some laser printer work.

In this case, the Brother MFC-7820N has 3 power modes. When printing,
it burns up to 1032 watts. If you want fast startup, you gotta get
the fuser hot quickly. In standby mode, it burns 75 watts, with the
fan running and fuser at low power. In sleep mode, it consumes only
10 watts and turns off the fuser power.

Last time I measured it sat well below 10W.

 

[[email protected]]

Stuxnet. Be very afraid.

NSA

 

[Joerg]

NSA

If the drum unit starts spinning at several ten k/min some day then I
know ...

 

[[email protected]]

The Brother MFC-7820N multifunction laser printer starts up out of the
blue and sounds as if it wants to print something. Fan comes on,
display lights up, motors in there run. But no paper comes out and
nobody requested any print via the LAN. Then it goes idle again as if
nothing had happened.

Try unplugging it from the LAN to see what happens. It may interpret
some kinds of packets addressed to it as "wake up" commands, and perhaps
those are more frequent for some reason now - a Windows update or a new
device on the network, maybe.

Not that it bothers me much but if this is a sign that something is
going to fail soon I may have to reach in there.

You might also look at the sensors that decide when you have stuck an
original into the document feeder to make a copy, or when you have
lifted the lid to put an original on the glass. Sometimes these are
mechanical and sometimes they are optical. There might be a shred of
paper (mechanical or optical) or some dust (optical) that makes it think
somebody wants to make a copy sometimes.

Another possibility in this direction are the switches or sensors that
detect when one of the doors is open, but those tend to cause red lights
and warning messages when they go off.

Matt Roberds

 

[miso]

It's to avoid marking the rubber roller where the hot fuser touches
it. The fuser is kept at or just below operating temperature to ensure
quick startup, so it's rolled over a bit from time to time.

- YD.

I don't think so. That would be a waste of power. I have a old
enterprise type Samsung laser printer and it doesn't do that. Of course,
coming out of sleep mode, the first page out take a while.

 

[Martin Brown]

If there is an internal bronwout the CPU generally notices that it was
rebooted by the watchdog tiimer and grumbles on the lCD display or
flashes the lights in a distinctive "I'm unhappy" pattern.

My HP CP1525's (color laser) do that all the time. Start up for no
reason, make a bunch of noise, then shut down.

That tends to be something daft going on in the power management of
another networked PC somewhere. Some of them broadcast the equivalent of
"wake up" to all peripherals at the least provocation. I have known
certain (broken) printer drivers that did that all the time on Vista
even when they were *supposed* to be printing a real job!

You may find that it doesn't do it when isolated from the network / USB
connection to a PC. Check power management settings.

 

[RobertMacy]

The strange thing is that it's random. It hasn't done this the first
five years. Then during the day it's different, for example three such
cycles this morning but none from noon until now (eight hours).

*IF* related to capacitor failures, then what happens when you shut down,
let cool, and turn on?

Interesting you mention time of day:
*IF* related to maintaining some type of standby temperature to keep ready
for printing, Has the room ambient changed? Temperature sensor?
temperature setting? Our ambient house temp has dropped from 82-88 down
into the 78 - 82 range we all to follow the outside temps ...a bit. You
can't believe how happy all the electronics have become.

 

[Joerg]

It began last week. The Brother MFC-7820N multifunction laser printer
starts up out of the blue and sounds as if it wants to print something.
Fan comes on, display lights up, motors in there run. But no paper comes
out and nobody requested any print via the LAN. Then it goes idle again
as if nothing had happened. I know that ink jets do that to keep
cartridges primed but lasers normally don't, and this Brother printer
never did that before. It's about five years old.

Could it be power dips due to capacitor plague? Did someone experience
it? Not that it bothers me much but if this is a sign that something is
going to fail soon I may have to reach in there.

Gents, I think the printer may have given the answer in one last
message. This morning it kept cycling every few minutes. Turned it off,
back on ... only the display backlight is left, otherwise dead. I am not
sure I want to repair it.

Does anyone know if the Brother software on the individualy PCs also
works with other models?

 

[Joerg]

It began last week. The Brother MFC-7820N multifunction laser printer
starts up out of the blue and sounds as if it wants to print something.
Fan comes on, display lights up, motors in there run. But no paper comes
out and nobody requested any print via the LAN. Then it goes idle again
as if nothing had happened. I know that ink jets do that to keep
cartridges primed but lasers normally don't, and this Brother printer
never did that before. It's about five years old.

Could it be power dips due to capacitor plague? Did someone experience
it? Not that it bothers me much but if this is a sign that something is
going to fail soon I may have to reach in there.

Does anyone know whether Brother TN450 and TN350 toner cartridges are
interchangeable (disregarding toner amount)? Mostly, whether a TN350
goes into a TN450 slot.

Reason is that newer printers seem to all employ the TN450 and that
would render already bought TN350 useless. From pictures they look very
similar.

 

[Joerg]

Well, that's a new one for me. I deal with about 100 assorted Brother
lasers printers and haven't seen that yet. Something died. The
symptoms sound like the high-ESR electrolytic in the power supply. The
ESR is reasonably low when hot, but when cold, the ESR climbs.


At the price of a replacement AOI printer, it's probably not worth it.
<www.staples.com/Brother-Refurbished-MFC-7360N-Laser-Multifunction-Printer/product_424336>

Well, I don't like refurb for gear with lots of mechanical stuff in
there and the electronics boards are that long-lived either. I can get
an older model new MFC for that price.

Some parts work, others don't. The BRadmin software is uniform across
the most of the small AOI machines. The individual print drivers are
not uniform. To avoid the inevitable mess, I suggest you uninstall
everything, and reinstall from the replacement printer CD. Then,
update online. Be sure to check for firmware updates.

The driver needs to be re-installed, that's for sure. For scanning I use
the Brother Control Center, hopefully that can stay. It only shows the
MFC-7820N as available but maybe it will recognize the new one.

 

[Joerg]

I'm about 90% certain that they are NOT interchangeable. The TN420 is
the underfilled "starter" cart version of the TN450. The TN420 can be
refilled to full capacity by installing the missing gears on the cart.
It's not worth the effort since clone TN450 carts are available on
eBay for about $15. Random example:
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/141113834867> Two for $25.
There were "starter" cart versions of the TN350, but they were sold
under the same TN350 part number. I have both TN350 and TN450 carts
in the office. Let me know if you want me to try it.


For the very low cost of an eBay cart, I don't think it's worthwhile
trying to preserve your investment in TN350 carts, unless you have a
large quantity.

I think you are right, I'll just order a new one then. Is it worth
salvaging any other parts in the 7820N if I get a 7460DN?

Interestingly, they offer a 3rd party 2-year warranty for around $9 with
covered shipping, might be worth it.

 

[Jasen Betts]

It did, after never cycling for five years.

Toner was changed a couple years ago. This printer is also some kind of
eco model so it doesn't keep stuff hot all the time. Uses just a few
watts when in standby (then it acts also as a fax machine listening to
the phone line).

Perhaps there's a warm standby feature that was recently enabled.

could it br responding to something it's hearing on the phonne line?

 

[Joerg]

It began last week. The Brother MFC-7820N multifunction laser printer
starts up out of the blue and sounds as if it wants to print something.
Fan comes on, display lights up, motors in there run. But no paper comes
out and nobody requested any print via the LAN. Then it goes idle again
as if nothing had happened. I know that ink jets do that to keep
cartridges primed but lasers normally don't, and this Brother printer
never did that before. It's about five years old.

Could it be power dips due to capacitor plague? Did someone experience
it? Not that it bothers me much but if this is a sign that something is
going to fail soon I may have to reach in there.

I just ordered a Canon MF4890dw since the Brother model I was after went
out of stock during the few minutes (literally) I spent perusing its PDF
manual. The good thing is that this one not only has duplex printing but
also duplex intake on the sheet feeder for scan and copy.

My hope is also that the mechanical quality is a tad better, similar to
my first Canon copier. That thing was nearly indestructable.