Solved New Printer Updates Help Needed

[Clive744]

Hi
Can someone out there help me.

I will shortly be buying a new printer, namely a Brother MFC-J5740DW.
It will be hardwired to my desktop pc with an ethernet cable and I may also use it as a fax by hardwire connection to my phone line.

I’m running Windows 11 64bit and Microsoft Office Professional 2021.
I will continue to use genuine Brother ink until the guarantee expires but after that I want to use compatible ink.

I used to own a HP OfficeJet Pro 8730 printer which someone set up for me, but I want to try and set this new printer up myself.
With regard to the HP printer if the latest software or drivers were installed by way of updates HP would lock the printer up so only their genuine “In Orbit” priced ink could be used in it and I don’t think there was a way of reversing it once done.
I never did updates, just used it.

Now this is where I need some help, the last thing I want to do when setting this new printer up is make it so I can only use Brother’s genuine ink for evermore.
I’m assuming the printer will come with a setup disk but I need to know what to install and what not to, so I’m trying to get some info up front.

How do I go about setting it up?

My thanks to anyone who can help me along the way.

Clive

 

[Bruce]

Perhaps you are using the wrong terminology, so let's start at the basics.

If you want to connect the printer straight to your PC, you'll be using the USB port.
If for some reason you do intend on using the ethernet cable, you'll need a cross-over Cat5 or 6 cable, and will need to play with IP addresses in your Network and Sharing Centre options.

If you have other people in the house who you want to share the printer with, you'll want to connect the Brother to your home network modem/router - either wirelessly or straight to the modem.

Once connected to your network, you install the software onto whichever PC wants to print.

As to cartridge refills.
I used to be a big Brother user, still got a mono laser Brother HL model.
With my inkjet models I always brought the self fill cartridges and brought good quality ink and filled them myself, no issues.
It may depend on model, but I never had an issue using that method on my machines.
Brother never lock me down like that, I just made sure the empty cartridges had the appropriate chip and had those little plastic 'nipples' you pull out to allow them to be refilled.
I actually can't remember if they even had a chip at all!

The included picture is very similar to the cartridges I used to get, the image shows Canon ones but they looked the same for Brother.
I actually used to make sure the printer I was getting had these blank refillable toners available, if not, I would find a Brother that did.

From memory, the set of four empty refills were about $40, and each 200ml ink bottle was about $20 - in other words, way cheaper to do yourself than buying any off-the-shelf version.

 

[PeterOz]

When you buy a generic toner you are buying something that is made to go across different models.
No supplier of generic toners can carry the full range of toners that are needed.
Different manufacturers have different fuser temperatures for the ink.
The same manufacturer will even have different fuser temperatures on different models.

A laser printer puts the image onto the drum it then passes through a Fuser unit which dries the ink.
If the ink does not dry quick enough you then have the image repeat on the drum.

 

[Clive744]

Hello again Bruce

Thank you for your reply, as usual I’ve got it completely wrong, I guess that’s why I come on this forum so someone can give me a crash course on things.

My mistake the HP was hardwired to my modem not the PC as I previously said.
My wife has a laptop in another room downstairs and the connection was wireless but constantly kept dropping out, so in the end I hardwired it to the modem yes, I ran a cable under the floor to downstairs, so both the HP and laptop were hardwired to the modem.

Ok, are you telling me I will need to install the software for the new printer on both the desktop pc and on the laptop?

You mentioned I will need to play about with the IP addresses on my Network and Sharing Centre is this something I will still need to do, sorry if it all sounds elementary to you?

I’ve been doing a bit of investigation and got a couple of good results regarding compatible inkjet cartridges before I buy the printer, in fact I got even better results by doing an internet search using the cartridge number rather than searching by the printer name.

The cartridges for it are LC422 and the higher yield LC422 XL, as for being chipped I haven’t bought the printer yet so I don’t know.
Having said that I was under the impression they were all chipped these days and thought it was how the printer could indicate how much ink is left in the cartridges, of course I may be completely wrong again.

As for refilling them if I go down that avenue it will be a job for my wife, my hands aren’t steady enough for that job LOL.

This may be another daft question, but isn’t there some kind of membrane on the cartridges which pierce as they are pushed into the printhead, would they not start to leak after being repeatedly taken out for refilling?

 

[Clive744]

Peter

Thank you for your reply, Wow that sounds complicated, thank heaven its an inkjet printer I need.

 

[PeterOz]

I will post about ik jet when I find it again

 

[Bruce]

Yes, whatever PC/laptop you want to use the printer will need the Brother software installed.
No, you would have only needed to play with IP addresses if you were going to ethernet cable connect the printer straight into your PC, and you aren't so, Phew!
Lastly, the membrane you speak of is for while they are in transit, or on the shelf waiting to be used, so they don't leak or dry up.
There is another 'hole' beyond that membrane where the ink travels from the cartridge to the printer.

All I can say is in my experience with using refills with Brothers, I never had an issue - yank it out, refill it, push it back in. All very civilised.
My one cautionary note - wear gloves! No matter how hard I tried, I usually got ink on me somewhere.

 

[PeterOz]

All the different printer manufactures make the ink to fit through the print head of the equipment they make.
I don't know the actual size but as an example Let's say The print head on a HP is 1 micron.
Hp ink is made to fit through a 1 micron print head.
Canon make a print head that is 1.3 Micron and the ink is made to fit through a 1.3 Micron head.
Mr generic ink supplier is not going to have an ink that is 4 different(or 6) colours at 1 Micron and at 1.3 Micron.
He is going to sell an ink at about 1.2 micron that hopefully will push through a 1 Micron head and not fall out of a 1.3 Micron head.
That is one reason that you end up with either a clogged head - won't fit through or you end up with marks over the print as the ink falls through.
And all the print heads on a HP and canon will not be 1 or 3 Micron They change the print heads to suit the machine model and what it does.
Hence you cannot take the ink from just an example an HP 2130 and use it in a HP 7720 printer.
Then add in all the other printer manufactures x how many printers they make = a lot.

For things to work at the optimum level. Especially for photos.
You should have a printer with the manufactures ink AND the manufactures photo paper.
Because the paper is also calendared to work with the ink.

 

[PeterOz]

You mentioned I will need to play about with the IP addresses on my Network and Sharing Centre is this something I will still need to do, sorry if it all sounds elementary to you?

With printers my advise it to always set a fixed ip address in the printer.
If you have a power out or reset the modem the printer will still work once things are restarted.
We can help you find and fix the printer ip address.
To set ip address on print driver
In the search box next to the start button
Type in control panel press enter
If control panel is in Category mode
Click on View devices and printers – Under Hardware and Sound
Right click on the printer icon left click on printer properties

Click on the Ports tab

Click on Add Port
Click on standard TCP/IP Port
Click on new port
Click on next
Next to Printer name or ip address put in the ip address

Port name will auto fill
Click next
When the wizard has finished
Click on Finished.
Close out of control panel

 

[PeterOz]

If you print a lot of things, have a look at ink tank printers they may work out cheaper.

 

[Clive744]

Bruce and Peter
Thank you for your valued replies guys,


Bruce
Thank you for letting me know I need to install the software on the laptop as well as the pc.

The membrane I was referring to is not the tab which has to be peeled off, I thought there was one over the discharge nozzle which gets a hole pierced as the cartridge is shoved in, but from what you have said, sounds as though you have not had any issues.

I like the sound of everything being very civilised, yank the cartridge out fill it and bung it back in .

All I can say is thank heaven I don’t have a union card for doing that, if any ink filling has to be done I’ll pass that job over to my wife, two reasons my hands aren’t steady enough and the other which is the main one, if it goes on anything I can’t be blamed for it; OR CAN I

I’ve given that last comment a bit more thought.




Peter
To be honest I only used HP genuine ink until the printer guarantee expired and then went onto compatible inks, there is simply no way I could afford the printer manufactures swa*ky ink prices.

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8730 lasted 5 years on compatibles, so going by that it would be cheaper for me to buy a new printer every now and again rather than pay the genuine ink prices, which everyone knows including the manufactures is a complete rip off.

Having said that I do understand what you are saying about using the precise ink and paper, but for my needs and what I’ve been using so far compatibles have suited me.

It’s certainly educational what you said about ink viscosity and makes perfect sense to me, no doubt all printer manufactures are going to make their ink and jet sizes slightly different in the hope they can railroad people into buying their ink only, in other words a closed shop.

I’m hoping to get my new printer on Thursday 20th March a Brother MFC-J5740DW so won’t be able to have go at setting up the IP until then.

I have Bitdefender and VPN installed on my computer so I don’t know if that affects things like IP addresses, hopefully you can let me know?

Bitdefender and VPN was on my computer when using the HP printer so have no idea how it all worked, all I know is it did.

I will give your instruction on setting up the IP a go once the new printer is to hand and will defiantly come back on the forum to let you know how I got on, so hope this thread stays open until then.


Thank you both once again for your help


Clive

 

[Bruce]

so won’t be able to have go at setting up the IP until then.

Let's get away from talking about IP addresses - they are not going to factor in to the install of the Brother at all.
They were merely mentioned if you were going to plug an ethernet cable from the Brother straight into your PC's ethernet port - and you aren't, so let's move on and not confuse matters.

The printer will come with an installation CD, use that in each PC you want to access the Brother.
If a computer doesn't have a CD player, copy the disc contents onto a USB stick and use that for installation.

 

[Clive744]

That’s great Bruce, one less thing for me to bother about.

The nearest I can get to plug and play, suits me just fine, I’ll let you know how it all goes.

 

[Clive744]

Ok Guys, I’m back

I’ve got my new printer a Brother MFC-J5740DW, it’s a plug and play job, no CD and Iv'e managed to get it running via my desktop PC but ended up clicking all over the place on the laptop in order to get it to print even though the laptop is hardwired to the router as is the PC.

Anyway, as said I got it to print from both machines in the end, the only problem is I can’t get it to duplex print.

I’ll try my best to explain this, I was able to have a single page word document open and tell the printer I wanted two copies of it and I wanted it printed back to back and the printer would do it, but now if I ask for that I end up with two sheets with one copy on each sheet.

If I open a TWO-page word document and ask it to print one copy and I want it back to back, sure enough it does it.

I’m using Windows 11 and MS Office 2021, can you guys try out doing a single page doc and see if it will print back to back because I just can’t understand what’s going on?

I can send some images of my setup screens if it’s any help.

 

[Bruce]

As you probably know, duplex is when a print job has more than one page and the printer can print 2 pages onto the one paper sheet, page 1 on front and page 2 on back - and so on until the job is printed.

Printing a one page job, but wanting multiple copies, should only print on one side of a page, and do that multiple times until the required number of copies are achieved. Just tested that theory on our Ricoh printer at work and sure another the one page doc, wanting 2 copies, with duplex turned on, printed the one page, twice, on separate sheets.

Not that I've seen it, but maybe the Brother does things differently.

Also check in the Brother menu options on the printer's screen, or by going to its web page portal using its IP address, what the settings are for duplex.
Maybe you want it on by default if you want all jobs to print back to back and save paper.

How did you install the printer driver?
If there was no CD, did they expect you to go to the Brother website and get it?
If you installed no driver yourself, and let Windows do it, that would have installed a generic one, so may not have all the customisable options available that the Brother one would have.
And if you let Windows do it, it probably used the WSD driver, which is basic at best.

 

[PeterOz]

Edit

 

[PeterOz]

I wanted two copies of it and I wanted it printed back to back and the printer would do it, but now if I ask for that I end up with two sheets with one copy on each sheet.

Are you sure this was not done as a manual feed.
You print 1 page then reinsert the page and print again?

 

[PeterOz]

Answer;
When you want to print the same page on both sides of a sheet of paper use the above and do it manually.
OR for automatic.
When you have it set for 2 sided print.
Choose to print range - Pages
put in page 1 and page 1

 

[Bruce]

@PeterOz - just making sure I'm not losing the plot here, but the Brother printer is capable of Duplex printing.
A page will half come out the output tray then get pulled back in so it prints on the other side, all handled by the printer if told to do double sided.
With Brother model numbers, the D stands for Duplex, and the W for wireless.
Don't mean to teach you how to suck eggs, your last post confused me though, just getting my ducks in a row.

 

[PeterOz]

You are correct.
However, From my reading, the op wants the exact same page to print on both sides of the paper.
So you turn on duplex (or 2 sided printing)
If you say two (2) copies it will not put them on one sheet.
You have to tick Duplex (or 2 sided printing) and then tell it the print range is page 1, Page 1, only one (1) copy.
It will then print page 1 pull it back into the machine and turn it over and print page 1 again.

See sample above under Page Range