Brother Laser HL series no USB connection available

[noexpert]

Hi,
My Brother HL3140CW colour Laser printer will not print from a PC over USB, I'm getting a message to check the USB cable connection which is sufficiently good for the PC to recognise the printer model during setup and add a print job to the queue but evidently not passing on the command to print.
I've tried connecting the printer to 2 different PC's using the latest setup utility from Brother and running it on Win 10 and Win 7 respectively, so I'm assuming that the printer's integrated software is at fault. The advice given on the Brother support page is to update the firmware but it won't upload to the printer, again pointing to a USB cable issue. Catch 22....the Firmware update won't upload saying that the printer is busy, I cancel all processes and restart the utility... which automatically adds a message to the printer queue, so it's busy again and preventing the firmware transfer.
There are no errors displayed on the LCD screen or in a generated maintenance report, test pages print perfectly, the printer wifi connects to the network but again a print command fails to register.
If you've stuck with this post to the end, thank you.If anyone has any ideas before I cannibalize the printer for parts then they will be most welcome!

 

[stratman]

Have you tried a different USB cable?

Has the printer ever worked over USB? Printed over WiFi?

Is your USB cable too long? See this web page.

 

[noexpert]

Thanks for the input.
The latest firmware is now installed but hasn't fixed the problem.
I've tried 2 different USB cables each tested working when connected to another printer. Neither are longer than 1.8 meters, both supplied as original equipment. I'm afraid the printer was bought second hand and I have no contact with the previous owner so can't verify that it was working but the Maintenance Report Error history from printed page 924 to the current 1597 doesn't indicate any problems other than the occasional paper jam so I guess it must have been printing properly.
The printer connects to my PC over WLAN, the Brother Status Monitor Utility installed on my PC communicates with the printer, I can reconfigure settings and view whatever is available on the menu.
But after issuing the "Print" command from a saved document all I get is a popup "this document failed to print" message even though the document is saved in the printing queue.
I've also performed a factory reset and uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers both from the printer CD and Brother Downloads site.

 

[stratman]

the printer was bought second hand and I have no contact with the previous owner so can't verify that it was working

You may be onto something here -- unknown functional status when you purchased it.

Something to consider... I do not know Brother printers and their installation routines, BUT, Canon printers are known, at least in the past, as very finicky about how they are installed. You MUST install in a particular order, including first installing via USB cable and then setting up wireless. Otherwise the printer may not print despite seeming to be installed.

Are you sure you are installing things exactly in the order Brother requires?

all I get is a popup "this document failed to print" message even though the document is saved in the printing queue.

Here is an interesting link that might be helpful:

https://help.brother-usa.com/app/an...ocument-failed-to-print-while-printing-to-the

 

[noexpert]

Many thanks for your suggestions and I'm very pleased to report that by following your good advice to set up everything in the precise order stipulated by Brother, starting with the WLAN connection and then selecting to use wireless without USB altogether, the printer is now working just fine. I imagine I must have inadvertently caused a software conflict when originally I configured a USB link first and then added wireless on top thinking this would give me the option to still be able to print if my router failed, but I'm quite happy now to print exclusively over the LAN. I also installed a Brother App on my Android tablet which is working without issues.

 

[stratman]

Great news. Congrats!

 

[Ron350]

Good one Stratman.