How to Fix Brother Printer Not Responding Error?

When it comes to printer brands, Brother is a popular name that pops in your head especially because of its features. Some amazing features, like the advanced technology, high-quality printing services, and ease of use make the Brother printers unique from others. However, sometimes you may find your Brother printer is not working properly or is in an error state. In such cases, you need to find the exact cause and proper troubleshooting method to fix the issue. Here, in this article, we have mentioned the answer to the question of how to fix brother printer which is not responding.

Why Is My Brother printer Not Responding Properly?

There are many reasons why your Brother printer may not work properly or displays the Brother printer offline issue. Given below are some of the common causes of the same:

• Both computer and printer may be connected to a different network.
• USB wire is not working fine.
• Corrupted or outdated Brother printer drivers.
• Improper installation of Brother printer.
• Firewalls or antivirus are blocking the printer.
• Hardware-related issues.

Now you are familiar with the reasons for Brother printer not responding errors on your system. It’s time to apply some troubleshooting methods to fix the issue on your Windows or Mac PC.

How To Fix Brother Printer Not Responding Error On Mac or Windows Device?

When you are getting Brother printer in an error state on Windows 10/11 or Mac device, you should apply the following methods to fix it:

Method 01: Cancel All Print commands

Once you find that your printer fails to understand the commands on the Windows system, you can cancel all pending print commands. This will bring your printer back to its normal state. All you have to do is: 

• Firstly, click the Start button and type services in the search box located at the bottom-left corner of your Windows system. Click Services to open it.
• Right-click Print Spooler and choose Stop from the menu that appears on the screen. Then, minimise the Services window.
• Now, press the Windows + E keys simultaneously to open File Explorer.
• Copy and paste the address: %windir%\System32\spool\PRINTERS in the address bar. Then, press Enter key on your keyboard.
• Delete all the files that you found in that folder. 
• Re-open the Services window and click Print Spooler and press the Start button.

Once you are done with the above steps, restart your PC to check if the changes are. For this, print a sample document to ensure that your Brother printer is working fine. If not, move to the next method.

Method 02: Set your Brother Printer as the Default one

If you are still facing the Brother printer connected but not printing issue, you need to set your Brother printer as the default printing device. For this: 

• Press the Windows + R keys at the same time on your keyboard to open the Run prompt. 
• Type control in the box and press Enter key or click the OK button.
• Now, select Small icons from the drop-down menu adjacent to View by and then click Devices and Printers.
• At last, right-click on your Brother printer and choose the “Set as default printer” option.

Now perform a sample print to check if this method helps. If not, then go to the following fixes.

Method 03: Update your printer driver

If you are a Mac user and facing Brother printer not responding on Mac issue, check the exact cause of it. Sometimes, the printer driver installed in your system is outdated and causes problems while printing your documents. You can follow the below-given steps to update the printer driver:

• Connect your Brother printer to the computer with which you want to print. 
• Download and run the Brother printer updater tool or visit its official site.
• Select the printer model that you are using. 
• Click on the Update button to complete the process.

Wrapping Up:

So, this brings us to the end of troubleshooting methods to fix the Brother printer not responding issue. We hope now you are familiar with everything about the fixes to troubleshoot the issue on your device. If your Brother printer is not responding even after the methods mentioned above, you can contact the technical support team of Brother printer. The professional experts are available 24*7 to troubleshoot all your issues.