Posted by GOLDGIRL/CA on 1/16/12 5:32pm
Msg #409195

YuK! Brother HL-5370DW ink splotches. Help!

As soon as I changed the toner cartridge (from LD Products) on my somewhat new Brother HL-5370DW, it started printing 3 or 4 ink splotches down the left side of the page. Immediately tried another cartridge and same problem. I've tried cleaning some inside stuff and other trouble-shooting, but nothing works. Any ideas? Thanks!

I'll probably call Brother support tomorrow but they'll know I'm not using an official Brother cartridge ....

Reply by Stoli on 1/16/12 5:37pm
Msg #409197

Have you tried cleaning the corona wire? n/m

Reply by MistarellaFL on 1/16/12 5:38pm
Msg #409198

Sounds like you need to replace the drum

You might try cleaning the drum for a quick fix.

Reply by BrotherOwner on 1/16/12 6:22pm
Msg #409201

PM sent

Reply by enotary/va on 1/16/12 7:23pm
Msg #409205

brother owner . do you know the fix???

Reply by Bee_CA on 1/16/12 7:24pm
Msg #409206

Yes, BrotherOwner...share your knowledge. I too have a Brother HL-5370DW and will soon be putting my first LD Products toner cartridge into the printer....Please share your fix!

Reply by LMS on 1/16/12 8:20pm
Msg #409212

Best advice: Do NOT buy anything from LD products. They are the worst! I've had the same problem, but only when I made the mistake of buying from LD. I quit buying from them years ago and about a year ago, I tried inkjet products, and almost died when I got home one day and saw the LD boxes (didn't know it's the same company) and all SIX toner cartridges I bought were bad and had to return them. They did give me a refund. When I bought from them before they wouldn't do anything about their crappy products.

I personally use supermediastore dot com, now. Have been for the past year and every single one of their drums/toner cartridges have been perfect. They last a really long time, longer than any other remanufactured cartridge I have bought and the arrive super quick (3 days on the order I just rec'd) using the free shipping and not paying extra for faster shipping and the prices are awesome. I bought 4 cartridges, 1- 2 cartridge/drum pack and they threw in 2 extra cartridges. Total $134 for 8 toners and 1 drum. I have the brother 5370DW. Actually, have 3 brothers but this order was for the 5370.

Of course this is just mho...

Reply by bob/IA on 1/16/12 8:33pm
Msg #409213

I had the exact same problem 2 weeks ago and it turned out to be a bad LD Products cart. Stuck another brand cart. in and it worked fine. I will say this is the only problem in 3 years with LD Products.

Reply by GOLDGIRL/CA on 1/16/12 9:12pm
Msg #409216

Thanks, all!

Yes, Katrina - I did the wire clean thing right off, but I think the trouble is way beyond that. Judging by all the responses, including a PM from Brother Owner, the problem appears to be not one but two bad LD cartridges. Whether they have ruined the drum has yet to be determined. BO said that's possible.

(I use LD because I seem to have fewer problems with them than other suppliers, but I'm certainly going to check out supermediastore.)

BO also suggested putting in a real live Brother cartridge to see if that helped ... and certainly to have one in if I call Brother support, who, he said, wouldn't give me the time of day if they knew I had an LD toner cartridge in. BO also said to vacuum (very carefuly) inside .. which I'll do later tonite.

Tomorrower I'll call LD and see what they have to say ... then bite the bullet and buy a Brother cartridge, install that and see what happens.

I'll report results as they unfold.

Reply by Joan Bergstrom on 1/16/12 10:18pm
Msg #409224

I like LD Products

I have used them for over 8 years and have had only 1 problem and they quickly replaced the toner.

Reply by Richard Ingram on 1/17/12 12:18pm
Msg #409242

Re: I like LD Products

I have recently experienced 2 bad LD refill cartridges. I just installed another that seems to be working. Hopefully, this will be my last issue as I also like LG and have gotten better services and prices from them on refills. My printer is an HP Laserjet 2430dtn and would like to know if anyone else has had problems with the NT-6511XCQF Toner Cartridges.

Reply by BrotherOwner on 1/17/12 2:40am
Msg #409230

Re: YuK! Brother HL-5370DW Didn't really have a FIX....

Just suggested a careful clean up of possible toner spill IN the 5370. I have a recent purchase of a MFC 8680 that uses the same print engine ( guts ) as the 5370, so I'm interested as well in this issue. I had noted previous complaints about LDproducts, so I ordered my 1st replacement cartridge from....Supermediastore.com!
Very satisfied, brand shipped is LINKYO brand. Linkyo is the parent company of SMstore.com and others I believe. My next purchase W/B 2x TN-650 an a DR-620 for about $45. Free shipping at $50 I think. By the way, LDproducts also operates/ships under a gazillion other website names, so be careful out there!

Also, a note of caution. Toner(dust) is VERY fine particles, and may go through a filter/bag. Therefore, you may want to do any vacuuming/cleaning of toner in the garage or outside.

By the way, MFC-8680 with an optional LT-5300 2nd lower tray.......awesome

Reply by Larry/IL on 1/17/12 9:44am
Msg #409237

Brother Printer Info, Very Long Read

I have been using Brother printers for the last 10 years and can't think of a more efficient way to print loan packages. We currently have have 6 Brother printers in the house. MFC-8480, HL5370DW, HL-2240, two HL-2140s ($49 each, staples sale) and my old MFC-8460N

My main printer is a new in October 2011, MFC-8480DW. This printer in normally $399. Staples had an instant $150 off and I got an extra $50 just for turning in any old printer, ink or laser even DOA, didn't matter. I had a 10 year old printer that didn't work any longer and was procrastinating on recycling it, glad I procrastinated. When I called to check to be sure they stocked it, I asked if on top of all those savings could I still use my rewards, surprisingly they said yes. I elected to use my rewards toward legal paper instead and got the 8480 out the door for about $230. That is a very good deal for a MFC.

CAUTION; The new Brother printers that are capable of using the optional lower trays are not coming with the plug for the optional trays. This was due to the earthquake in Japan. Not sure how long this will happen. I found out as I opened the new 8480, there was a yellow notice stating that if you needed the plug to call customer service. I immediately thought of the stories on here I had heard about poor or no customer service, even if sometimes it was by others trying to steer inquiring notaries to HP. I had even turned over my old MFC-8460N to see how hard it might be to change the plug from the old to the new. Before I did, I decided to call Brother Customer Service to ask if the plugs were the same and to ask about the new plug for the new MFC. I got through right away and to someone here in the states. He told me that putting my old plug in might void my new warranty and that he could get my new plug right away and have it installed. This was a Friday, I got the plug UPS the next Monday morning, received a call from a Pitney Bowes field tech asking if I had received the plug. He was at my house in an hour and installed the new plug in 30 minutes. He said he was really surprised Brother contracted Pitney to do these as Pitney charges about $200 an hour for printer repairs and said he only usually sees printers that cost several thousand dollars. I was extremely impressed by the whole customer service process.

This new MFC8480DW was to replace a 7 year old MFC-8460N with an optional tray, but not quite yet. I had a recent toner refill and was trying to squeeze the life out of the ole MFC. Through the years the 8460 had printed over 200,000 pages with little or no trouble. If I had ten paper jams this whole time that would have been a lot! A couple of years back, I got the replace the fuser message. I got a new fuser (probably from China) off Ebay for about $50, is was easy to change. Lately the very first page of any legal size printed, comes out wrinkled, it's that fuser soft roller. I have lived with that but recently I had the replace the laser message come on. I have been watching ebay for a broken for parts 8460 and missed the bid of $75 for one. I couldn't pass up on the Staples deal as they are pretty much the same MFCs. I will be able to put my old one on Ebay for $50-$75 for parts.

TONER; This is what I have learned. Every time I ever had any toner splotching, it was the cartridge. It never hurt the printers, just needed a slight blowing out and vacuuming, NEVER ATTEMPT THIS IN DOORS (garage, OK). Sometimes it's not even needed. Never use the same vacuum that you use in the house as well. Get the cheapest hand held or shop vac you can find for this task.

When your toner runs out, take the cartridge out and reset the gear! I usually get another 200-300 pages by doing this. Then depending on the cartridge I refill them. I use the high yield cartridges that are advertised to print 7,500-8,000 pages. You can by the toner to refill off ebay for about $8 a bottle to fill your high yield cartridge. $8 for another 7,500-8,000 pages! The process is very easy, but can be messy if your not careful or have a shaky hand. No matter who's cartridge it is they can only be successfully refilled a 2-4 times in my experiences. PM me if anyone would like any other tips.

Back to the cartridges whether it's an OEM Brother, a Cartridge World or anyone else's, you can only refill the cartridges so many times before the seal will not seal correctly and start to leak, causing splotching. I have had one new OEM Brother do this. I have had a few each, Cartridge World and LD Products cartridges do this. When they rebuild them they are suppose to change the seal or wiper. I am not sure they always do this or it's done right, they use minimum wage labor to do these tasks. The LDs and other discount cartridges you find on the internet all come from china. NO MATTER WHO you order from, you run the risk of a leaker as I believe they all come form a handful of the same places in China and we know China's copying and workmanship leaves much to be desired.

While refilling is my most economical solution, the wore out wiper/seal after a few refills is the limiting factor. To be able to continue having good cartridges to refill, I have to obtain usable cartridges. My first choice for this is the discount cartridges off the internet, i.e. Ebay first, then LD products or the like. I always order at least two in case I get a leaker. One time I had an LD leaker, popped in the second one and it didn't print at all. Apparently after shipping from China, sitting in containers and warehouses and then shipping to the end users, the toner can settle and even get compacted. I turned the toner over and shook it good for about a minute it printed fine and lasted as it should have. I can not stress how important the shaking of a cartridge is, even near it's end of life toner level. At the same time I always have at least one bottle for my own refilling. This gives me three options if with that particular printer.

About 4-5 years ago, Staples had one of those rare deals for the HL-5370DWT($149). The T is for the optional tray. I brought it home and have used that tray on my MFC-8460 this whole time. The MFC would print letter and legal both from PFD source and at the same time, I would be duplexing the borrower's copies on the HL-5370. 32ppm for the 8480 and 32 ppm for the 5370 unless duplexing, (probably half the 32). That is of course if for some reason the three options in the above paragraph do not work. I simple take the optional tray and sit the 5370 on it and continue printing from PDF source, (option #4). Keep in mind I follow the same rule of having at least one OEM cartridge and one refill bottle or at least two discount internet cartridges and one refill bottle for the 5370 as well.

The two 2140s? Again a Staples deal, $49. How can you pass that up, I bought two. One was for printing mobile, fairly light and small, only prints letter and does not use a hi-yield cartridge, broke my rue and only have one bottle for a refill as I don't use it much. The other has been in the garage still in the box, I am going to give it to my Mother to get her off that old expensive inkjet she uses. And the 2240? I don't use that one, another house hold member uses it for working one day at week from home for a major corporation, again with LD cartridges and yes two are always ordered and one refill bottle is on the shelf.

Because of the long read, all of this may seem complicated, it's not. Anyone that doesn't mind using or getting there hands a little dirty so to speak can do it. Some HP users might say hey just buy one HP and be done with it. Over time, my printing cost are so ridiculously low, I quit trying to figure cost per page and just keep over all costs for tax purposes. Beside I have three printers sitting behind me that I can use all at once, many time using two at once. The power would have to be out before I couldn't print. I forgot, only if my laptop's battery was low.

I know this was a long read, please excuse any grammatical errors as it was a lengthy post for me. For the price and expense to run them, I love the Brother printers, Staples too, when they run those printer deals.

Off topic but Staples will run 10 ream cases of letter size paper for $19 at times, two limit. I and another family member buy the four and then I use the rewards to buy my legal paper at a good discount. Other that that I am stuck buying legal at Sam's Club for $22 for a 5 ream case and $26 for a 10 ream case of letter.

I think I have posted enough to last a couple of weeks now but I hope some of the information will help some of you.

Reply by jba/fl on 1/17/12 10:04am
Msg #409238

Thanks Larry - long but so informative. I also love Brothers n/m

Reply by BrotherOwner on 1/17/12 11:40am
Msg #409241

Re: Brother Printer Info, Very Long Read

Fabulous post, Larry! Pretty much sums it all up the way I see it also. Couple comments/questions. I have older dual tray Brothers, other than 8680 that do not require reset. You might detail how that's done. I've not done it yet as I took out my OEM Brother cart partially used in case I need it for warranty or trouble shooting. I am into my 1st aftermarket replacement I bought as a test, and am ordering the two toner/drum combo from Supermedia for backup. Where do you buy toner refill for $8 a bottle? My former supplier raised prices, and I decided it wasn't worth my time to refill at the new price, when I could buy new well under $20 shipped. At $8, I might refill again. TIP for refillers: remove plastic hole plug, holding cart with hole up, place plastic baggie prophylactically(sp?) over top, poke hole in baggie just big enough to easily insert refill bottle tip. This saves making a mess of the cartridge/gears if you spill. Best done outdoors/garage/laundry tube on a NON windy day.

I concur RE: Staples. put Brother refurb in search bar. Brother refurbs come with SAME warranty as non refurb and may only be an unused/return/ quality control item. NOT to be feared at all.

Reply by Larry/IL on 1/17/12 1:01pm
Msg #409253

Re: Brother Printer Info, Very Long Read

Hi Brother Owner,

The printers I have been getting from Staples have all been new, not refurbished for those prices. Staples usually only run those deals a few times a year and you have to really watch for them.

As far as the reset, each printer can be different. On the 5370 some just install a piece of tape over the window. I have found shaking the cartridge usually lets some toner stick to the window. Google is your friend here and read a few opinions if no manual or it's not clear.

As far as drums, I do not but the Whole drum unit just the drum, much cheaper! Remove one e-clip on the end, slide the axle out exchange drums and reassemble, maybe a whole two minutes involved.

$8 a bottle toner is all over Ebay, some with buy it now and free shipping. Stick to sellers with a lower PERCENTAGE of complaints against them. Here is a good link to see how a cartridge is refurbed.

http://iwt.kiev.ua/files/BrotherHL5300.pdf

Those of you thinking of refilling need to only check out the section on filling and resetting the gear, remember you need the black gear for Hi-Yield.

Hope that helps.