The Brother printer brand has been one of the leading ones in the printer market for a long time. However, even though its printer models are high performing, they throw up certain glitches from time to time. Many users find their Brother printer offline whenever they need to print something urgently. It practically renders them unable to carry out their printing and scanning jobs. That’s why it’s always good to have knowledge of troubleshooting that you can use to navigate this scenario. You will feel surprised to know that this offline problem takes no time to disappear if you use the right measures. In this post, you’ll find out about these fixes in detail.
What Makes Your Brother Printer Offline?
The printer glitch can arise due to many factors. Here are the significant ones you should know and fix.
- The printer is not connected well to your computer.
- The Brother printer model you are using is not the default one.
- There are various pending print jobs you need to remove.
- The printer drivers are damaged.
- Misconfigured printer settings can also lead you to see the offline status.
Resolutions for the Brother Printer Offline Issue
Before implementing these measures, check that your Brother machine is powered on. It shouldn’t be in sleep mode. The printer must be plugged into a functioning socket. Check if it’s still offline. If so, use these resolutions.
Examine the connectivity
Your printer should be properly connected to your computer or Wi-Fi. You can examine the connectivity by taking these steps.
- Start your Brother machine and don’t use it for a couple of minutes.
- Do you employ a USB cable connection? The USB must be plugged in properly on your system and printer.
- Those using a wireless connection must check that they are linked to the correct network. Look for the Wi-Fi light.
- Now try running a print.
Check if your Brother printer is configured as the default printer.
Many printer users make the mistake of not setting the printer they are using as default. You will undoubtedly find your Brother printer offline if it isn’t configured as default.
- Using the Search bar in Windows, go to the area of ‘Control Panel.’
- In there, choose and open ‘Devices and Printers.’
- You will notice your printer showing up. Just right-click it.
- From the options, choose ‘Set as Default Printer.’
- Restart the Brother machine and see if it is online.
Remove pending print tasks.
If there are some pending print jobs, you will need to delete them to fix the glitch. You can delete them by heading to the ‘Devices and Printers’ window.
- Right-click the symbol of your Brother printing machine.
- Next, select the ‘See what’s printing’ option.
- Now tap ‘Printer.’
- After that, click ‘Cancel All Documents.’
- Now check if your Brother machine shows an online status. It is likely that the offline status problem would have been resolved.
Remove and restart the print spooler service.
You can also fix Brother printer offline by clearing and restarting the print spooler service. Many users have found this method highly effective for getting their printers online.
- Launch the ‘Service’ window. You can use the command’ services.msc‘ in the Run dialog box.
- Next, click the option of ‘Print Spooler.’ This option is there in the right panel of the window.
- Right-tap the Print Spooler option. After that, hit ‘Stop.’ This action will stop the service.
- Now, head to the ‘File Explorer’ window. Once you are there, input the command ‘C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS’ on the address bar.
- You will find many files in the printer folder. Remove all of them. Just hit the Delete key.
- Next, head over to the ‘Print Spooler’ option again.
- This time, right-click on the option and pick the ‘Start’ option. This action will run the service.
- Check the ‘Startup Type‘ of the spooler. It should be configured as ‘Automatic.’
See if your printer driver is causing the issue.
Corrupt or obsolete printer drivers almost always cause Brother printer offline. But you can quickly fix it by updating the drivers. Just follow these simple guidelines.
- Select the ‘Device Manager‘ option by right-tapping on the Windows Start area.
- You will see the ‘Print Queue’ option. Double-click this option so it can expand.
- You can now right-tap on your Brother printer. Choose the ‘Update the driver’ option from the drop-down.
- in the subsequent screen, pick ‘Browse my computer for driver software.’
- Hit the ‘Browse’ button you see on the incoming screen. This option is adjacent to the ‘Search for drivers’ option.
- Select a preferred folder where the new driver will get downloaded.
- Tap ‘OK‘ after that, followed by clicking the ‘Next’ button.
- Your driver has been successfully updated. You can now check if your printer is still offline.
Use the troubleshooter tool in Windows 10
Windows 10 has a great in-built troubleshooter. You can employ it to fix minor technical problems.
- Enter ‘Printers & Scanners’ in the box for searching applications.
- Tap your printing device’s model.
- Hit the ‘Manage’ button.
- Next, tap ‘Run The troubleshooter.’
- Windows will detect the glitch.
- Let the screen display the error behind the issue.
- Click ‘Next’ for the problem to be resolved and finally close the troubleshooter.
Final Words
Evidently, there are many simple ways to fix the Brother printer offline issue in Windows. They are highly effective at troubleshooting the glitch preventing the connection between your printer and PC. Additionally, you can avail yourself of the help of an expert printer technical support expert for diagnosing and resolving this error.
