You need to print those last few reports before the big meeting. You’re rushing, you just want to go home. You go to pick up your prints and there’s an alert on the printer that says the toner is low. It’s late. You’re tired. You won’t have time to order a new cartridge before the meeting tomorrow morning. Don’t panic. Your friendly ETB Account Manager always has useful advice!
If the toner on the page hasn’t faded and the cartridge is still producing good prints, you can safely ignore the “low toner” or “replace cartridge” alert on your printer. Most of the time this alert is automatic based on the length of time since you installed the cartridge, or the number of pages the cartridge has printed.
Your printer doesn’t detect the amount of toner left in your cartridge, so you may be fine to use the cartridge for a few weeks yet. For some printers you may have to dismiss the “replace cartridge” warning on the printer before you can print. You aren’t doing any damage to the printer or the cartridge by dismissing the “replace cartridge” alert.
When the printer warns you that your cartridge is running low on toner, and the prints you are getting are faded, you can get a few extra prints out of the cartridge before replacing it. Just remove it from the printer and sway it from side to side. This means keep it in the same orientation as it was in your printer (don’t flip it upside down). Gently tip it back and forth, front and back. Toner is a powder, so this helps to redistribute the toner in the cartridge.
Don’t shake the cartridge! This can do damage and that’s the last thing you need. Reinsert the toner cartridge. This often will give you several more prints. You can usually repeat this process a few times to get extra life out of your printer cartridge.
If you have any questions about this or have other questions about your printer, please get in touch with your ETB Account Manager! We are always happy to help you with your printer consumables! 🙂