Brother HL-2142 printer problems

Hi
I just recently bought a new Brother printer... and thankfully it works and is compatible to Macs.
But I can't seem to get it to print double-sided as it appears greyed out and can not be selected.
I am able to print odd and even numbered pages but for larger documents it'll be time consuming.
Any help in regards this matter would be GREATLY appreciated.

Tessa

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jul 22, 2009 2:38 AM

Reply
4 replies

Jul 22, 2009 3:10 AM in response to Tessa A.

In order for you to print double sided, you have to print the all of the odd pages, turn the paper over and then print the even pages on the backs of the odd pages. Your printer doesn't have the internal machinery required to actually turn a page over and print the back side of a page.

I don't know of any printer that sells for under a hundred dollars that does full duplex printing.

Now, we paid a lot more for our Brother MFC9840CDW printer, but it does have all the bells and whistles like color, fax, sheet feeder, and scans to out Macs over the network, but you've really gotta want to pay for those options.

Meanwhile, you've still got a nice printer, probably for a great price.

Jul 22, 2009 3:32 AM in response to Tessa A.

Hi Tessa,

If what dechamp says about this model not having an internal duplex unit, then using a PC won't give you the function either. If you know that you can print duplex from Windows, then that would indicate the printer does have a duplex unit so it may just be a matter of enabling a setting in the printer setup, or you may find that the duplex setting is located somewhere else, such as a finishing menu - not part of the layout menu.

Pahu

Jul 22, 2009 3:45 AM in response to Tessa A.

It doesn't matter what computer you use to print two sided documents from. Both PC's and Mac's will require you to turn over the paper. Here's Brother's manual for their HL 2140 printer, they didn't have one for the 2142 but it shouldn't be a problem:
http://www.brother-usa.com/Manuals/Default.aspx?WT.cgn=Support&WT.cgs=Manuals

Page 22 shows the method for PC's, Page 41 shows the method for Mac's. Both require you to turn over the pages and reload the paper in the tray so that the printer can print on the second side.

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Brother HL-2142 printer problems

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