My printer MFC-J491DW started printing in light gray color instead of normal black and white color. I restarted my printer a couple of times to see whether the default print options would be restored but it's not and felt stupid as the print options are saved in the printer storage system. The google search led me to try couple of options one is try setting the printing preferences and here is the link
I followed the instructions but I wasn't able to find print density option on my windows 10 machine. The instructions on the site is not good as it didn't had any instructions if the required option is not there and not any alternate solutions. Technology has become easy to use and complicated to debug. In these ERA of DIY, instructions has to be precise and clear so that the customer is not stressed out in fixing the problem and not wasting his time. If a customer doesn't know to fix such simple things they will end up in throwing and buying similar product wasting money when a simple fix would have solved the problem.
I had new cartilages so I replaced the old one with the new ones. This printer require four cartridges they are yellow, blue, maroon and black. The model is LC3013XL. I thought may be the printer ran out of ink though the printer will alert you on low ink ahead of time before the ink runs out. I was stupid here as well thinking that the replacement would work but it didn't. So I was angry and stressed out because printer has become a necessity as we buy product from amazon and we end up returning some of the product. To return a product at a UPS store requires sometimes a printed label and sometimes the store do not accept QR Code on the smart phone. Googled multiple times to find a solution but found nothing.
I played with the printer options on the printer looking for a key word density as that's the solution came up in many sites. I saw an option clean the head and said Ok to clean the head. The machine cleaned the head and tested the print out still no luck. The machine cleaned the head again but this time it worked. The printer was printing in normal thickness.
1. Click on setting in the printer.
2. Click on general set up.
3. click on maintenance
4. click on Print Head cleaning.
5.Choose the color.
6. I chose the black color.
The printer accumulates lot of dirt over a period of time and it's required to clean the printer header periodically to get good quality print outs and save money without buying new ones. The brother printer cleaned the head but I think it uses some cleaning solutions which should be inside the printer. The cleaning solution will run out as it will be used the printer to clean the head. Here is the link to start looking for printer head clean solution.
https://www.amazon.com/BEST-PRINTERS-Print-Head-Cleaning-Epson-Canon/dp/B07K1B4GSJ
bottom line try the following approaches to fix the issue.
1. Play with printer options both on the printer and computer
2. The printer is smart enough to alert you to change the printer but still go ahead and trying putting new cartridges.
3. Try targeted not generic print head cleaning solution specific to the printer brand. different manufacturer might use different technology to manufacture head so one size fits all will not work.
4.Check with some one who knows about gadgets. We have too many geeks around us like neighbors, colleagues and friends who can hand a solution without much soul searching on our part. This will save a lot of time and frustration. The mantra is get help to fix the issue.
The instructions what we find on the internet is not good enough to fix some of the problems that we face using electronic gadgets.
