Your Brother says Replace Drum, but you just changed the toner

Not another toner. The toner cartridge (a TN number) and the drum unit (a DR number) are separate parts. The toner locks into the drum, and Brother describes the two as working together, but the printer keeps its own count for the drum. Brother gives two causes for Replace Drum: the drum has reached the rotation limit set for its rated life, or a new drum went in and its counter was not reset. A fresh toner cartridge changes neither.

If Replace Drum is showing and the drum is not one you just fitted, the drum is the part to order: DR730 for printers such as the HL-L2350DW and MFC-L2710DW, DR630 for printers such as the HL-L2340DW and MFC-L2740DW, and DR830 for printers such as the HL-L2460DW and MFC-L2820DW. If the display says Drum ! instead, clean the corona wire first. It is free, and Brother's Drum ! pages list it first. Black lines down the page with no message get the same first step in Brother's print-quality tables for the DR730 printers.

The wording on the display tells you which part is involved. These meanings come from Brother's two error tables for the DR730 printers, and both tables give the same meanings.

On the DR730 printers, Replace Drum does not stop the machine. Brother's drum-replacement pages for those printers say it keeps working, though print quality may not be optimal, so there is time to order. Replace Toner is the message that halts printing.

Brother's Drum End Soon page adds that you can keep printing at that earlier stage, and replace the drum when print quality is no longer acceptable or when Replace Drum appears. That page covers the DR730 printers and the DR830 printers except the HL-L2400D and HL-L2467DW. It lists no DR630 printer.

If Drum ! keeps coming back

Brother's Drum ! answer for these printers comes in two versions, and they end differently. Both start with the same two steps: clean the corona wire, then take the toner out of the drum, put it back and reinstall. Only one goes further.

If your printer is in the second row and Drum ! keeps coming back, Brother's page for your model does not point to the drum. Ask Brother support before you buy one.

Match the model name printed on your machine against Brother's lists. A printer that looks the same is not enough.

If your model is on none of these lists, look it up on Brother's support site: search for your model name, then open Consumables & Accessories. For the HL-L2350DW, that page lists the DR-730 drum. Brother's other drums include the DR420, rated at approx. 12,000 pages, for printers such as the HL-2270DW and DCP-7065DN, and the DR720, rated at approx. 30,000 pages, for printers such as the HL-5450DN and MFC-8910DW.

The trap: DR630 and DR730 carry the same stated yield and differ by one digit, yet Brother lists no printer for both. Order the drum listed for your model, not the one with the similar number. The DR830 list shares no printer with either. The toners split the same way. DR630 printers take TN630 or TN660. DR730 printers take TN730 or TN760, plus TN770 on the four models listed for it. DR830 printers take TN830 or TN830XL, plus TN835 on the HL-L2865DW and MFC-L2980DW. Brother's TN830 and TN830XL pages leave out the HL-L2467DW, so check that model's own Brother page for its toner.

Brother's DR730 page leaves out the MFC-L2690DW, MFC-L2730DW and MFC-L2717DW, but each of those printers' own Brother pages lists a DR730 drum in the box, and the TN730 and TN760 pages include all three. For the toner choice on DR730 printers, see which TN730, TN760 or TN770 fits.

The drum outlasts several cartridges. On Brother's stated figures, an approx. 12,000-page DR730 against a 1,200-page TN730 works out to about ten cartridges per drum, against a 3,000-page TN760 four, and against a 4,500-page TN770 between two and three. For DR630 printers the same division gives about ten TN630s or four to five TN660s. For DR830 printers, an approx. 15,000-page drum works out to twelve or thirteen TN830s, five TN830XLs, or three TN835s. So over one drum's life you will change the toner several times, and the drum message can arrive soon after one of those changes. It comes from the drum's own count, not the toner.

Treat those numbers as rough. Brother bases the DR730 and DR830 figures on one page per job, while the toner figures come from the ISO/IEC 19752 method, so the two are not measured the same way. Brother says the drum message comes when the drum reaches a factory-set rotation limit tied to its rated yield. Temperature, humidity, paper and toner type all change the real figure, and Brother does not guarantee a minimum page count.

Print a test page first. Brother says that if it looks right, the problem is probably not the printer. If the test page shows the streak, note whether the lines are black or white.

For black lines or toner stains down the page, Brother's print-quality tables for the DR730 printers give these steps, in this order:

1. Clean the corona wire by sliding the green tab on the drum.
2. Check that the green tab is back in its Home position.
3. Replace the toner cartridge, which may be damaged.
4. Replace the drum unit, which may be damaged.
5. Contact Brother Customer Service; the fuser may be contaminated.

In the same tables, white lines down the page get a different list: foreign material such as torn paper, sticky notes or dust around the toner and drum, then a new toner, then a new drum. Corona-wire cleaning is not on it.

The same tables tie spots that repeat every 3.7 inches to the drum, but the first step differs by model. On the HL-L2350DW, HL-L2370DW and HL-L2370DW XL, print a few more pages. On the DCP-L2550DW, HL-L2390DW, HL-L2395DW, MFC-L2690DW, MFC-L2710DW, MFC-L2717DW, MFC-L2730DW, MFC-L2750DW and MFC-L2750DW XL, make 10 to 15 copies of a blank white sheet. If the spots stay, Brother lists cleaning the drum unit, then replacing it if it is damaged.

Cleaning the drum unit is a different job from the corona-wire slide. On these printers, Brother's procedure is called Clean the Drum Unit Using Drum Dot Print. It starts with a Drum Dot Check Sheet, printed from the Print Reports menu (on touchscreen models, Settings, then All Settings, then Print Reports), which shows where the mark sits. You then take out the drum, separate the toner, turn the drum toward you by its edge until you find the mark, using the numbered markers on the drum roller, and wipe it gently with a dry cotton swab. Brother warns not to touch the drum surface, only the wheel on the end, and never to clean it with a sharp object or any liquid.

To clean the corona wire, open the front cover and lift out the drum and toner together. Gently slide the green tab from left to right and back several times, then return it to Home, with its arrow lined up with the arrow on the drum. Brother warns that a tab left out of place can leave a vertical stripe of its own, so check it before buying anything.

Brother's instruction is plain: “DO NOT reset the drum counter unless you are replacing the drum unit.” Reset it on an old drum and the printer can no longer show remaining drum life accurately. Resetting is the fix in one case only: you fitted a new drum and Replace Drum is still showing.

The keys vary by model, even between printers that take the same drum:

• HL-L2350DW, HL-L2370DW, HL-L2370DW XL (DR730): with the printer on and the front cover closed, press OK and Up together, press OK to select Drum, then press Down.
• DCP-L2550DW, HL-L2390DW, MFC-L2690DW, MFC-L2710DW, MFC-L2717DW (DR730): with the front cover closed, press OK and Up together, press OK to select Drum, then press Up.
• HL-L2395DW, MFC-L2730DW, MFC-L2750DW, MFC-L2750DW XL (DR730): with the front cover closed, press Cancel, press and hold Toner for five seconds, then press Drum and Yes.
• HL-L2305W, HL-L2315DW, HL-L2340DW, HL-L2360DW (DR630): with the printer on, fit the new drum and leave the front cover open. Press Power On/Off, still with the cover open. Press and hold OK for about two seconds until Drum Unit appears, then press OK. Press Up to show Reset, then close the front cover.
• DCP-7060D, DCP-7065DN, HL-2280DW (DR420): with the front cover open, press Clear, then Up to confirm a new drum. Close the cover when the display shows Accepted.
• DCP-8110DN, DCP-8150DN, DCP-8155DN, MFC-8510DN, MFC-8710DW, MFC-8810DW, MFC-8910DW (DR720): with the front cover still open, press Clear, then 1 to confirm a new drum. Close the cover when the display shows Accepted.

If your model is not listed, including any DR830 printer, find it on Brother's support site and look under FAQs & Troubleshooting for its Reset the Drum Counter or Replace Drum answer.

Leave a new drum in its packaging until you are ready to fit it. Brother warns that an unpacked drum left in direct sunlight, or in room light for a long time, may be damaged.

• The model name on the front of the printer, matched against the drum table above.
• The exact words on the display. Drum !, Drum End Soon and Replace Drum mean different things.
• Whether lines are black or white. On the DR730 printers, also whether marks repeat 3.7 inches apart.
• If your model is on none of the drum lists here, the drum named on the Consumables & Accessories page for your model on Brother's support site.

To check any supply against your model, see confirming the right cartridge. To weigh the TN730 against the TN760 with the prices in front of you, see cost per page.