Brother MFC-J6540DW printer: "clear paper jam" when there is none

I posted this question in a Brother users' forum and got no replies. Let's see if I have better luck here.

I have a Brother MFC-J6540MFC printer. I was trying to print an envelope from the single-sheet feeder.

When I told the computer to print, it replied that the printer had suffered an error. I tapped the printer's touch screen and it displayed five-step instructions for clearing a paper jam. But there was no paper jam.

When I reached the last screen it said, "1. Install the paper tray. 2. Press Stop X."

But there is no "Stop X." No button anywhere on the control panel that's labeled "Stop" or "X." I tried tapping "Stop X" where it appeared in the message on the touch screen, but that did nothing.

I tried to reset the printer by turning it off and back on. When I pressed the power button for "off," the touch screen said "Busy... try again later." The printer wouldn't let me turn it off. I had to reset it by yanking the power cord.

This happened to me several times, and it's messed up in every possible way. Why did the printer think it was jammed when it wasn't, and how can I prevent it from sending me into a recovery procedure with no exit?

Did you change the paper size and paper type?

My Brother has a button marked stop/exit, but it's not same model as yours.

Inkjet printers in general can detect a paper jam (when there is none) when one of the a small controller boards goes bad.

You can try removing printer/restarting PC/then reinstalling the printer but I don't think it will do any good.
Brother has excellent technicial support. You might give them a call.

Open the printer and see if there is a small bit of paper jammed in the rollers. That can mess up the jam sensors. It did on my Brother laser printer. Pulling it out and hitting it with a little compressed air did the trick.

Be careful though. Don't spray compressed air on the actual part of the rollers that makes the image. It's only one roller and at the back, so try to avoid dusting it off.

@jhsachs


Sometimes the sensor gets dirty, and will "sense" a paper jam when there is none.

@Banjoman301 "Did you change the paper size and paper type?"

I did not. I assume that the Mailing>Envelope process does that automatically (and temporarily). If it doesn't, what does it do?

@Catnip "Open the printer and see if there is a small bit of paper jammed in the rollers."

I've already done that several times, although I was not looking for the specific situation you described. Apart from that, it seems unlikely to me that a problem of that nature would present almost every time I try to use the sheet feeder, but absolutely never when I'm using the paper tray.

@Ghot "Sometimes the sensor gets dirty, and will "sense" a paper jam when there is none."

That's a possibility. Can I reach the sensor and clean it? Where is it, and what should I try?

jhsachs said:

Can I reach the sensor and clean it? Where is it, and what should I try?

Click to expand...

I have no idea if you can reach it.
Paper jam sensors are usually ON the path the paper takes.

They usually have 2 parts. A send part and a receive part.
If the receive part doesn't "see" what is sent by the send part... it registers as a paper jam.

After a bazillion sheets go through... one or the other part can get "dusty" from paper fragments.
They're usually like an LED (maybe a laser lens), and a sensor that can tell if light is hitting it or not.

I always worked on BIG printers and copiers... back in the day. They were easy to get apart.
And... we had the tech manuals.

But as I mentioned above the sensors will be somewhere ON the paper path.
Also, both the send and the receive part have to be clean.


It might be easiest to just call... Brother, and ask them where the sensors are, and how to clean them.
They may use light, electricity, heat... etc. So there may be different cleaning methods.

During the print cycle they will be disabled, because paper "should" be there.
After the print cycle, they will be enabled again, and if the sensor is blocked (or dirty), it throws an error.
That's how they can detect a paper jam.

Here's the user's manual if you misplaced yours: Manuals | MFC-J6540DW | Others | Brother

Paper jam: FAQs & Troubleshooting | MFC-J6540DW | Others | Brother

You said you have this issue when printing an envelope or a page from manual tray. It looks like the printer is not properly notified about the paper source and size change and expects a standard page size from tray 1. It doesn't see that page coming and throws a paper jam error. Check the paper settings on your application.

jhsachs said:

it seems unlikely to me that a problem of that nature would present almost every time I try to use the sheet feeder, but absolutely never when I'm using the paper tray

Click to expand...

That's new information.
I suggest you add it to your OP & your Brother forum OP.


Denis

sorry, this doesn't help you, but more advice... I quit the inkjet nightmare 15 years ago, and never looked back, I got a laser printer from Brother and it has been fantastic. MFC-9130CW. The Black Color cartridges last forever, and the Color last 4 forevers (I don't use color much at all) and are very reasonably priced and easy to swap out. The software is fine, I use wireless. The fax is good, though I seldom use that feature. I have been using computers since the 1980's.

jhsachs said:
it seems unlikely to me that a problem of that nature would present almost every time I try to use the sheet feeder, but absolutely never when I'm using the paper tray

That's pertinent info we were not aware of. Since that completely changes the picture not much of what has been suggested applies.

Have you ever successfully used the sheet feeder to print envelopes? How long ago? Microsoft likes to remove print drivers (for security reasons) and replace them with generic Microsoft drivers that will print standard paper but may not have all the functionality of the orginal driver. Go to Device Manager Control Panel / Printer and tell us the name and manufacturer of device driver.