When you see an error ‘Unable to Clean’ on a Brother MFC printer, the following solution may help resolve the problem without bringing it in for service.
1. Machine off
2. Switch on the machine while holding down the “menu” button until all the leds are flashing on/off. Now you are in “maintenance” mode
3. Press 80
4. Press the “mono start” button several times until you see “purge: xxxx”
5. Press “2783” in order to reset the purge counter. You will see: “purge:0000”
6. Press the “stop” button
7. Press “99” to exit the maintenance mode
If pressing “99” does not exit the maintenance mode, just unplug and plug the power cord back to restart the printer. This solution works on MFC-420CN; it may work on other models as well.
Solved prob. Thank you. Can you answer a 2nd, 3rd & 4th question, Re: the MFC-420cn.
How to get to & clean the holding tray/sponge for cleaning? Or, as a last alternative: How to get to and remove the collector tray and find a new part for replacement (maybe an authorized Brother office supply store?)
Lastly: Know where to find an exploded diagram of the MFC-420cn? Or, how to stop the “low on ink” notification when using a MacroEnter external, constant ink supply syst (CISS)? It appears, after a few years, not to effect operations at all; just a minor irritation.
Saw several other similar solutions but yours was the most succinct re: the purge counter & not rescuing saved FAXs. Had that sneaking suspicion it was a “counter” which had been tripped. But I see the cleaning (or, hopefully-not, replacement) of the purged ink collector tray is something I need to figure out.
Tank you again,
D. P. Thompson