Brother printer lights: what each blinking pattern means
Brother's small mono laser printers without a screen use four LEDs, and Brother's support site names each combination with a status, such as Toner Low, Replace Drum or Cover is Open. Unlike HP, Epson and Canon, Brother gives the colours: Ready is green, Toner, Drum and Paper are yellow, and the older models' Error LED is red. The two families below arrange their LEDs differently, so the same light can mean different things: on the HL-L2300D a lone yellow Paper LED flashing covers open covers and jams, while on the HL-2240 family that job falls to the red Error LED.
Which Brother printer do you have?
The model number (for example “HL-L2300D” or “HL-2270DW”) is printed on the printer. Brother’s page for each family lists every model it covers.
Brother HL-L2300D and HL-L2300DR: every pattern
| You see | What Brother says it means |
|---|---|
| Ready LED on (green) | Ready: The machine is ready to print. |
| Ready LED dimmed (green) | The printer is in Sleep mode or Deep Sleep mode. |
| Ready LED flashing (green) | Please Wait: The machine is warming up. Cooling Down: The machine is cooling down. |
| Paper and Ready LEDs flashing | Cancel Printing: The machine is cancelling the job. |
| Toner LED flashing, Ready LED on | Toner Low: You can still print, but the toner cartridge is near the end of its life. |
| Toner LED on, others off | Replace Toner: The toner cartridge is at the end of its life. |
| Toner LED flashing, others off | Cartridge Error: The toner cartridge is not installed correctly. No Toner: The toner cartridge, or the toner and drum assembly, is not installed correctly. |
| Drum LED flashing, others off | Drum !: The corona wire on the drum unit must be cleaned, or the drum unit (or the toner and drum assembly) is not installed correctly. |
| Drum LED on, Ready LED on | Replace Drum: It is time to replace the drum unit, or the drum counter was not reset when the last drum was fitted. |
| Paper LED flashing, others off | Cover is Open: The front cover or the fuser cover is not completely closed, or paper was jammed at the back when the power came on. Jam Inside / Jam Rear / Jam Tray: Paper is jammed inside the machine, at the back, or in the paper tray. Out of Memory: The machine's memory is full. Size Mismatch: The paper in the tray is not the correct size. |
| Paper LED on, others off | No Paper: The machine is out of paper, or paper is not loaded correctly in the tray. Manual Feed: Manual was chosen as the paper source in the driver and there is no paper in the manual feed slot. |
| Toner and Paper LEDs on | Toner Ended (Continue mode): It is time to replace the toner cartridge. |
| All four LEDs flashing | Self-Diagnostic: The fuser unit did not reach its temperature in time, or it is too hot. Print Unable: The machine has a mechanical issue. |
Fixes, drawings and the source: Brother HL-L2300D and HL-L2300DR lights.
Brother HL-2240 family (HL-2130 to HL-2275DW): every pattern
| You see | What Brother says it means |
|---|---|
| Ready LED flashing (green) | Warming Up / Cooling Down: The machine is warming up, or cooling down. Receiving Data / Data Remaining: The machine is receiving or processing data, or print data is left in its memory. |
| Toner LED on 2 seconds, off 3 seconds; Ready LED on | Toner Low: The toner cartridge will need replacing soon. |
| Toner LED on, others off | Replace Toner (Stop mode): The toner cartridge must be replaced. Cartridge Error: The drum unit assembly is not installed correctly. No Toner: No toner cartridge is installed. |
| Toner LED on, Ready LED on | Replace Toner (Continue mode): The toner needs replacing; the machine keeps printing until the LEDs show Toner Ended. |
| Toner LED on, Error LED on (red) | Toner Ended: The toner has ended. |
| Drum LED on 2 seconds, off 3 seconds; Ready LED on | Drum End Soon: The drum unit will need replacing soon. |
| Drum LED on, Ready LED on | Replace Drum: The drum unit must be replaced. |
| Error LED on (red), others off | No Paper T1: The paper tray is empty. Manual Feed: The printer is waiting for paper in the manual feed slot. |
| Error LED flashing (red), others off | Front Cover Open / Fuser Cover Open: The front cover, or the fuser cover behind the back cover, is open. Jam Tray 1 / Jam Inside / Jam Rear / Jam Duplex: Paper is jammed. Memory Full / Print Overrun: The machine cannot print full pages of the document. Size Error DX / Duplex Disabled: On 2-sided models: the paper size cannot be printed 2-sided, or the duplex tray is out or the back cover open. |
| Drum and Error LEDs flashing | Drum Error: The corona wire needs to be cleaned. |
| Drum LED on, Error LED on (red) | Drum Stop: The drum unit must be replaced before the machine will print. |
| All four LEDs flashing | Service Call: The machine has found a fault it cannot clear. |
Fixes, drawings and the source: Brother HL-2240 family (HL-2130 to HL-2275DW) lights.
Sources
Brother’s own pages only, read on the date shown.
- Brother: What do the LED indications mean? (HL-L2300D) — HL-L2300D, HL-L2300DR. support.brother.com Checked 2026-09-29.
- Brother: What do the LED indications mean? (HL-2230) — HL-2130, HL-2135W, HL-2220, HL-2230, HL-2240, HL-2240D, HL-2270DW, HL-2275DW. support.brother.com Checked 2026-09-29.
Find a pattern by which light and how it blinks, on any brand →