Brother MFC J6520DW won't turn on

READ THIS: There are suggested solutions for the issue outlined in the video in the comment section. read comments bellow. David Calow's comment (which is pinned) seems to have worked for many people, including myself when the issue reoccurred.
This video does not show the solution, merely the problem. I recorded it to send it to the support team at Brother. I ended up exchanging the printer under warranty where I bought the printer from.

[@davidcalow4273]

Was having the same problem. I found on another site someone said to remove the printer trays. I stole some ideas from here and a few ideas from the other site and this is what worked for me.. 1)Turn off and wait (some places said 30 seconds, others said 10+ mins) 2) Remove paper trays 3) With power still off press and hold power button 4) While still holding power button down plug printer in 5) When you hear the start up music release power 6) It worked! It told me to put the trays back in so I did and then everything has worked fine since

[@jaylennon5886]

+David Calow your a champion mate thanks bud

[@vivianeharangozo4339]

+David Calow Thanks Davd! That has worked - you have saved me a few hundred bucks, I am relieved that I don't need to go out and buy a new printer.

[@zhenderson43]

+David Calow thank you!!!! this worked and I only left the printer unplugged for about one minute.

[@jeremysuggs1820]

+David Calow worked for me as well MFC-J4510DW

[@frankiesmall5393]

+David Calow THANK YOU!!!!!

[@kevinwhittle4113]

I had the same problem. Unplug the power cord. Leave it unplugged for several minutes. Press and hold the power button while reconnecting the power cable. Keep holding the power button on for a minute or so, until the start-up process has fully completed. (Note: I had to do this 3 times. It worked on the 3rd try)

[@Arison27]

Kevin Whittle Yes, this worked for me as well. Thanks!

[@billgregory1782]

Kevin Whittle thankyo also worked for me

[@jvonfurstle7025]

Kevin Whittle Thanks! worked for me. Any idea why this occurs?

[@TravisHoglund]

Kevin Whittle This also worked for me. Push the power button down and hold it down while someone else plugs the machine in. Hold until you see the time, wifi, settings etc. and you know it is fully booted up. Worked for me on the first try - thanks Kevin.

[@sophieweate1299]

Kevin Whittle Thanks - worked for me too.

[@ramonaross2840]

Praise the Lord! Thank you Kevin, I followed your instructions and on the 1st try after approximately 15"of being unplugged, I held the power button while reconnecting the power cable and voila, like magic the miracle happened. I thank my God for all of you inquisitive folk who seek, find and share. Blessings to all of you, Kevin Whittle by name.

[@marilynlake2652]

Re dead Brother printer 4510 . Yesss!! It finally worked after three tries. Don't give up! What worked was waiting 10 minutes after unplugging machine, removing paper tray, removing and reinstalling Ink cartridges , before holding down power switch, and then plugging back in printer. This has helped a year ago as well. So strange that the video doesn't give this information. If I hadn't read David Calow's solution, and Kevin Whittle's comment this printer would have been trashed. Thanks David and Kevin ! Its people like you that make youtube great.

[@lees.9520]

The solution by David Calow worked perfectly on my Brother MFCJ6920DW (a similar model), resurrecting my apparently dead 4 in 1 printer. thank you David Calow and also Caio Ronnau for posting the problem shared by us all.

[@tonydelariva7163]

The help here about unplugging it for a while, then plugging it back while you're holding down the power button worked perfectly for me. My printer had been dead for more than a month. I'm glad I found this thread here of people who had the same problem and knew what to do.

[@gaborzsamboky1292]

David's solution worked for me too. Thank you! - Wonderful engineering from Brother.

[@koffibanan3099]

Doesn't turn on after standby. This seems to be a common problem on many printers of this series, but the solutions presented here are just a workaround. You have to go and unplug your printer each time you want to use it. Quite silly for a WiFi printer... I've dug a bit deeper; the problem lies in a supercapacitor 5,5V 0,22F on the main pcb motherboard. It's unable to keep a charge and therefore the printer fails to come out of standby. You can get to the pcb by removing 9 screws, unplugging a few connectors and a bit of fiddling. Go in from the top, remove the scannerbed and work your way down. The supercap itself is a throughhole part that's easily replaceable with a standard soldering iron and costs around €2. Good luck fixing this chinese piece of shit and getting your money's worth out of it!!

[@erniem.2722]

Thank you David Calow! I have an MFC-J6920DW that would shut down as soon as I plugged it in to wall power. Your technique fixed the problem! Luckily Brother has a 2-year limited warranty, and this problem started about two weeks before the 1-year mark. So if this persists more frequently, I'll return it for a new one.

[@gerardmcchrystal4116]

Thanks Guys. Initially my printer was blowing fuses as well as showing the error message in the video above before it switched itself off. I thought it was dead. I unplugged the power cable. Then I took out the paper trays and cartidges as others have suggested. Then held the power button down when I reconnected the power cable. The key seems to be as David suggested to make sure you keep the power button down whist the printer boots up. I did have the message "no ID" come up during the process and I kept the power button down whilst I clicked the OK button for with my other hand for the ID error message. It worked first time and my now dead printer is working again. Just delighted as A3 printers are not cheap and I'm on my 4th! Delirious in Leicester now. Thanks all you lovely KZbinrs x

[@flocarrigan7763]

THANKS David !! I did every step and it turned on, then turned back off, wouldn't come back on. After reading the comments left by others, I did what was suggested.1. Unplug from wall for 30 sec. 2. Take out paper tray3. Plug back Works Great !!

[@steaseru]

Kevin Whittle than you so much....I just bought my printer 5 months ago..I just used it once...when it was new...and when i tried to use it again....it couldn't turn on...i just tried your method once...and it worked..thank you so much for sharing your skills..God Bless you

[@grahamm4297]

You clever people. What would we ever do without you.Same problem with my MFC-j6920DW printer. Fixed the problem fine. Never look at the "Troubleshooting" in the book - straight to KZbin.Thank you.

[@micaela2807]

Thank you so much, worked first go. My model was MFC J67200W, unplugged for 30sec then plugged back in then the same message appeared held down the on/off for 15-20sec and it reset and is working fine now!

[@texasblingmissy]

David Calow you rock! Thanks for posting how to fix the printer! You just saved me a lot of frustration and $$$!

[@tonyioannoni4951]

To everybody, I have to express my gratitude, my printer is back alive, you guys are geniuses....Thanks a million!!!

[@stevenb4668]

Almost a year later from post date, this thread saved me from buying a new printer. Awesome! I originally thought it was a 3rd party ink cartridge problem since it started acting up when I installed the new cartridges and called their support line, they had me power it down and unplug it and...BOOM, I now have the dreaded Brother MFC j6520 BRICK on a cart. Support was embarrassed and had no clue as to what to do. They generously offered my a full refund on the 9 cartridge set. I was resigned to purchase a new printer. Just before I hit the buy button on Amazon, I did a search and stumbled upon this thread. The brick was brought back to life. Perfect! Here are the steps again from +David Calow 1)Turn off and wait (some places said 30 seconds, others said 10+ mins) 2) Remove paper trays 3) With power still off press and hold power button 4) While still holding power button down plug printer in 5) When you hear the start up music release power 6) It worked! It told me to put the trays back in so I did and then everything has worked fine since

[@sandbathes]

just used this to save my printer- it worked! thanks!

[@dekfungton]

UPDATE: The fix below only worked for a couple of days. My machine will not turn on at all now. Good new for anyone who has a Brother MFC J4710DW: the fixes explained in the comments below work! Thank you Kevin and everyone else who pitched in! My printer was also having problems; it would shut off, stay off and if it came on, it would immediately power down. What I did (as advised in the fixes below...it took me two tries) was unplug my printer for about 30 seconds. After that, I put (pressed) and *held* my finger on the power button and then plugged in my printer. During the first attempt, the printer died after it booted up (I released my finger after it booted). The second time, I repeated the above process and after it booted, it attempted to shut down again. As it attempted to shut down, I pressed and released the power button several times until it stayed on. :) I'm not sure if this additional step was necessary, but it worked for me.

[@raymondhoyte136]

Well done David Calow and all that contributed to the solution as it worked for me, thank goodness

[@freedomhomesfl]

Unplugging for at least 30 seconds and holding down the power button while plugging in worked. I also suggest continuing to hold down the power button until all screen actions are on.

[@peterm6389]

My MFC-J4510DW just did exactly the same thing. I discovered this site in 5 mins and Kevin's solution works like a charm. Bravo! Now I'd like to find a way to stop the damned thing from always going offline, requiring a restart (which triggered the present problem because it wouldn't restart).

[@whteveruwnt]

+peterm6389 same problem for me. Wireless printing works for a few hours then it drops offline, has to be set up again. Expected better from Brother. Let me know if you find a solution.

[@dennisnewson4906]

Have had same problem with similar brother printer, try as you did ie unplug then repower but before returning power open the print cartridge door, then repower, the printer will register the door is open and bypass the auto shut down, close the cartridge door ,print . This does'nt fix the cause of problem but at least you can still use the printer.

[@thomasmillbrow]

I had the same problem, thanks for the comments below as it helped me fix it. The solution for me was to turn the printer off at the plug for 30 seconds and then whilst holding the power button, turn the printer back on. It then booted up as normal and I released my finger once I had seen the normal home screen.

[@DavidRedman1963]

Thanks David Calow this fixed my problem.

[@buckaroosky]

thanks SO much Kev I also opened the ink cover ( and took out the paper tray ) to make sure it was going to work - keep holding down the start button or at least 10 seconds - also if it doesn't work the first time - keep doing it until it does

[@ProToolsPros]

It worked for me. Just unplugging the printer for 30 seconds and plugging the mahine back in while holding the power button down the whole time. Thanks it worked!!!

[@lonelydoc8794]

Thanks guys for helping It worked for me -Unplug The printer -Hold down power button -plug in the printer holding the power button till main interface is shown

[@LindaMable1]

This fix by David Calow worked for me too. Thank you so much for these tips

[@johnfalez5172]

You are a life saver! Taking tray out and switch the power on worked for me. Thanks David.

[@bjornmeulenbergtuinontwerp283]

thanks for the tips saved my day! David Calow's tips worked for me :D 1)Turn off and wait (some places said 30 seconds, others said 10+ mins) 2) Remove paper trays 3) With power still off press and hold power button 4) While still holding power button down plug printer in 5) When you hear the start up music release power 6) It worked! It told me to put the trays back in so I did and then everything has worked fine since

[@trentphippen2732]

Thanks Kevin! Worked first time. Grateful for guys like you that are willing to take time to help others. Here I was blaming my 18 month old for destroying my printer. You saved my kid from adoption ;)

[@wendychaloner6071]

Holding power on button when reconnecting power cable worked for me. Thanks everyone, for your assistance.

[@328noodles]

The solutions worked for me. I was going away for a period of time so I shut my printer down. I could not get it to come back on. HOLD THE POWER BUTTON IN WHILE PLUGGING IN THE MACHINE. DO NOT LET GO UNTIL THE PRINTER IS FULLY OPERATIONAL. HAD TO DO IT 3 TIMES.....BROTHER WAS NO HELP AT ALL. THANKS YOU TUBE

[@sandigascon954]

Thank you David Calow! You're a lifesaver!

[@landiadhupat9471]

Brilliant thank you all working again in 5 mins

[@rachelchiu7359]

Have a Brother MFC J6920dw and Thank you Kevin. This has worked immediately for us... hopefully this will work more than 2 days!

[@philipsmart3895]

Thanks David, much appreciated. That was doing my head in.

[@shagmens]

thanks guys, Kent Williams suggestions helped me, printer now works!

[@sassysb1]

I had this problem tonight. Thank you David for posting the solution, it worked for me too!!!

[@catalinsalomia6381]

i replaced supercapacitor 5,5V 0,22F on the main pcb motherboard and the problem is resolved start ok after stand by...thenkh you Koffi Banan

[@KentWilliams1]

Holding the hold power button down whilst turning on at mains trick worked for me too on a MFC-J5720DW which was doing the same in this video. I needed to reconfigure the station id afterwards though. Doesn't appear to reset back to factory defaults because my short cuts for scanning still exist.

[@shnyby1]

Thanks for posting this and thanks Kevin. Your method worked 1st time for me.

[@kathyannco]

Thanks to all the helpful hint. I won't have to install a new window where this printer was about to go through.

[@haaksify]

Unplug the power chord for 30 secs, hold down the power button while replugging the power cord. Dont release the power button before you are back at the main menu. IT WORKS!!!!

[@willzuber562]

holding down power button while plugging in worked!!! Thank you, Kevin!!!!

[@shirleybarclay8866]

Happened to me too! Thanks for your demonstration so I was able to identify your problem as the same as mine ... my fix happened when I followed your advice firstly of leaving it awhile before plugging in again. Until then ... no response from pressing the power button ... but now the logo came up and as soon as it said it was about to shut down again I pressed the 'power' button again and it seemed to override the shutdown procedure. Phew - thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction ... got heaps of work to do! (MFC-J4510DW)

[@lggomez07]

Holding power button down while plugging in the power cord worked, thank you

[@lisakissin87]

Ah thank you Kevin!! I've been trying to get it to work for a couple of days. I've had it a few months and never turned it off. A week ago I tuned it off and then could;t get it going Just tried your solution Kevin and 2nd time it worked!! thanks again

[@jokr7818]

I unplugged the power cord for 30 sec or so. Then I opened the ink cover and put the cord back in. It starts up in a different mode then normal. Close the ink cover and it works fine. Did this twice in the last year.

[@cacatuarosa1393]

Thanks a lot! I was having the same problem, this video save my mother's work today!

[@mt81000]

Had the same problem. Read everyone's comments, so followed those, and it worked. My solution: disconnect cord from printer, wait 30secs, plug cord back into printer, then hold on/off button, until you hear the rollers move, then wallah!

[@webbside01]

Great - read Kevin's response below. Works a treat. Onya Kev!

[@jeffboivin3886]

6. While holding down Power Key, plug your machine back into the electrical outlet. Hold Power Key for 20 seconds after plugging your machine back in.

[@helgithoringason]

After 1 hour waste of time while looking for help in the troubleshooting section of support.brother.com, Kevin's solution works perfectly - thank you!

[@jonathanzhong1466]

MFC-J2720 with the same turning on problem. 1. Unplug the power cord. 2. Remove the paper tray. 3. Press and hold down the power button for about 5 seconds, plug in the power cord with the power button still hold on. 4. Release the power button when the logo "brother" appear on the lcd screen. 5. Printer will prompt that paper tray not detected. 6. Push back the tray and printer is working fine. Took me 2 tries with the above mentioned steps and the printer is working fine turning off and on. Solution from the many different comments I read. Thank u Internet.

[@simonvanderpol3369]

Worked for me I have a MFC-J3520. Thanks guys!!

[@Daniel456324]

I have the same problem. My brother printer is 2 years old and was working great. The reset procedure does work. Is anyone able to verify that the underlining issue is the 5.5 .22F supercap on the main board? If so, how long has it been stable without going through the reset procedure?

[@adrianbilei8778]

Third time works for me. Thanks!

[@twalsh1490]

Thanks Kevin. Worked on my MFC-J4710DW.

[@ProToolsPros]

Unplugging the power cord from the wall 30 seconds and Plugging Power Cord back in WHILE HOLDING the Power Button worked for me. Hurray!!!

[@johnpa2006]

This just worked for my printer, its barely used and it started to not turn on. Followed these steps and it came back. Hooked up a separate power strip so I can unplug it without having to crawl under the desk. So I turn it off from the power strip (its the only thing on that strip), then tap power on printer a few times while strip is off. Then while holding the power button on printer, I hit the button on the strip. Each time that brings this printer back to life.

[@DimitriosTsiapkinis]

Hi! I had the same issue. Itried to follow your steps and it worked. What I did : while it was going off I kept pressing many times the ON/OFF button and in a few seconds it started! I hope it works for you too! :-)

[@epic011]

Thank you guys for your help. Holding power button and turning on helped. It works :)

[@fabioparaguassu4158]

1. Unplug the printer for at least 10 minutes. 2. Take out all printer trays. 3. Hold down the on/off button 4. Plug in the power (no success).

[@hunterchan8152]

Thanks Kevin Whittle. Your procedures really work for us too.

[@therealbeel]

Wow, this worked for me too. What a crazy thing to have to do. Nice that it's working now though. Thank you so much!!!!!

[@dawannamenzies2717]

Thanks David, It worked. I thought I would have to get another printer. God Bless!

[@nickkiriakakis4809]

Kevin Whittle: Thanks a lot it worked the first time for me my best wishes to you.

[@LoriKrafft]

Here is the answer for you "won't turn on " problem. I had the same thing with my 6920 and was given these instructions and the directions worked. Please try unplugging the printer from the power outlet for a full minute, and then press and hold the power button down, before powering it back on. Continue to hold the button down for another 20-30 seconds and the printer should power back on. Good Luck!

[@nancymetzger1369]

Thanks! I never would've thought to hold the power button "on" while restarting!

[@polljc]

SOLUTION: If you press the power On/Off button before it shuts down (when it says "On/Off to Resume"), it will not shut down. This worked for me this one time. Lets hope it continues.

[@caroleroberts7243]

Thanks for this tip. I only cared to get it back up 'cause I just put new ink in it. All kinds of problems with this Brother 4510. Will be looking for a new printer, even though it's only 1 1/2 years old.

[@varshapatel872]

i! I had the same issue. Itried to follow your steps and it worked. thank u

[@JLombard12]

Yes! It worked!! Unplug for a minute and remove paper tray. Hold power button and plug back in. While still holding power button listen for sound start up and as soon as you hear the sound, release power button. Machine screen will say paper tray...at this point put tray back in and presto!

[@superbaja72]

Thank you. Worked for me first time.

[@Cari111111]

Thanks so much! Removing the paper tray worked for me!

[@donnawilson6565]

I have a Brother MFC- J4510DW and I was experiencing the same problems. Drove me mad...enough to want to smash the printer and buy another one! I'm hoping the solutions I've seen in this will work for me! Fingers crossed...seriously Brother should get it's act together and offer a downloadable fix for this problem seems it appears to be a common error/fault across the series.

[@craigkrause6629]

Awesome! Unplugged, plugged back in while pressing the power key. It started up, then went to shut down again, displayed something like "press power key to continue" whch I did a few times. It shut down and cycled back on and is now working!!! MFC-J6920DW

[@georgek3879]

Thanks. I found some of the responses below very helpful. ALSO, my printer is printing very faint, even with new ink. Has anyone else experienced this?

[@TimJohnsonBizNet3]

Scan quality is good, too. And, yes, this little technique fixed it.

[@TheNmg101]

The same thing happened to my MFC-J4420DW. I did what David Calow said in the comments and the printer finally turned back on!

[@MrSwisscheesy]

Mine was going through the same thing... Figured out how to turn it on. The power button only seems to work to shut it down right? Unplug the printer let it sit for half a minute. Plug it in.... As soon as you plug it in IMMEDIATELY HOLD THE POWER BUTTON DOWN UNTIL IT CUTS ON... Maybe 10 secs

[@jodiejones518]

Thank you Thank you Thank you. Worked for me too. In the middle of important document printed you saved me!!!!

[@Bnardini8]

Like someone else already said: 1) Unplug the power cord for 30 secs. Reconnect and press ON. 2) When you see the message "ON/OFF to resume" just immediately keep the ON button pressed, and the printer will start working normally. A question for you guys: did you ever update the printer's firmware? I think that the last update created this bug. They have to fix this bug, let's ask them to do it.

[@tygallow3013]

Thanks!!! Had the exact same problem and holding in the power button on start up worked!

[@cdellis1000]

Thanks - worked just as you suggested.

[@777Cathie]

Awesome - I was just having the same problem and this fixed it - a big thank you!

[@keenansuter2832]

Worked well. Thanks for posting.

[@kingarthurscott]

hmm.. now I have a different problem after the fix. the thing won't even switch on at all.

[@distrubdz1207]

+ David calow thank you

[@krak1954]

Disconnect the power cable from printer, wait 20-30 seconds, reconnect power cable holding the power button. Hold the power button until printer get fully alive. You will need to reset the clock.

[@janellesmith2422]

You rock guys thanks

[@bbilub3092]

Thank you for this! It worked the first time!!!!

[@beachghim]

Worked for me too. unplug for 30 seconds. hold the power button down and plug in the power cord. hold the power botton and wait for the initialization to complete until main screen appears.

[@davidh9141]

Was having the same problem Thanks for that info working fine now.

[@stephenjarrett6848]

simple - remove the main plug from the rear and wait for 60 seconds and press and hold the on/off button on the front and do not take your finger off this button for at least 20-30 seconds whilst you replace the main plug and until a master reboot is done - all you have to do then is change the clock and date - it should remember your wifi details but you may have to reconnect to your router but I did not!!

[@joro9424]

This worked for me. Great Idea. Thanks

[@henningnielsen9828]

1. Remove power plug for 30 sec, 2. Remove both paper trays 3. Plug in power cable again while holding down the power button. 4. Wait for itto tell you it's missing the paper trays... and you're done.

[@mhick76]

Thank you so much Kevin Whittle.. It worked first time :)

[@thadyodonovan5809]

Worked for me too, follow David Carlow's advice, I alos pressed the power button when plugging back in, without the tray in !! Mad as a brush