What if the printer runs out of toner?

Many users are faced with a situation when an inscription about a lack of toner appears on the printing equipment. In this case, a notification may appear even if the paint was recently changed. In this case, it is important to understand the real cause and take appropriate action. Let's consider the options and find out what to do if the printer runs out of toner.

Toner Is a particulate powder used in printers to print characters or images on paper. Many users simply refer to it as paint or ink. If the equipment says “replace toner”, “toner out”, or shows another similar notice, you should first find out what happened... The fact is that such an inscription does not always mean that there is little ink in the printer.

If the powder really runs out, the sensor is triggered, after which a notification... After that, you can print no more than 200 sheets. The print will then be automatically locked even if the ink is not completely empty. Therefore, we must not hesitate.

You can make sure that you need to renew the toner by looking at the print quality. In this case, the color becomes faint, and in some places letters or fragments of images are not even printed. Can be used to check the amount of paint remaining a special computer program. If your printer has a button that displays toner status information, press it. If the ink is behind a transparent housing, it is even easier to assess the situation.

If there is no message about the need for refueling, but printing is not performed, you should diagnose manually. To do this, go to the menu, find the "devices and printers" section and click on the button that displays the state of the paint. If you need to renew the toner, you just need to refill the cartridge. If there is not enough ink, then an error has occurred.

So, if the ink in the printer runs out, it needs to be added.

1. First, unplug the printer. This is important, otherwise some elements may be damaged if they are started accidentally.
2. Prepare some newspapers to protect your furniture, floor and other surfaces from paint accidentally falling on them. It will be impossible to wash it. You will also need a syringe, solvent, disposable gloves, and a piece of tissue.
3. Take out the cartridge. Fill the syringe with paint. Open the cap and carefully fill in toner. It is best to do this slowly to minimize the possibility of spills. Replace the cartridge after replacing ink.

Some models only assume installing a new cartridge. In this case, simply adding paint to the old element and inserting it back will not work. You will need to buy a new one. It is important to consider the type of cartridges suitable for a particular printer.

If there is sufficient ink in the printer, there may be another problem.

If you do not use the printer for a long time, the toner may dry out. If you open the case and are convinced that this is the case, you need to clean it (soak the element in distilled water or flushing liquid, "boil" it for 2-3 minutes or use the ultrasonic bath method).

The product may not “see” toner if cartridge is not shipped correctly or contacts are dirty.

Some manufacturers do not allow other brands to be installed on the printer. In this case, the inexpensive analogue will be recognized by a special chip built into the equipment. The printer will not work, and the user will see a message about the need to change the toner. The problem can be solved by flashing the device, after which it will no longer distinguish between cartridges.

A false notification may appear if the number of prints from the previous cartridge has not been cleared. In this case, you can go in two ways:

• if there is a window on the side cover of the printer that is involved in starting the reader, you just need to seal it with opaque tape;
• if there is no window, you should change the parameters in the hardware setup (there should be a button in the menu with the name "reset toner counter" or something similar).

If the toner container is damaged, replace it with a new one.... Trying to seal the cartridge or fix the damage in another way is not worth it.

Perhaps there is another problem that you cannot fix on your own.

See the video below on how to refill the cartridge.