Printer cranked out 185 of 316 pages...and then quit, wanting toner.
*sigh*
So I tried the old printer tech trickery first: I pulled the cart out and shook it back and forth in an attempt to redistribute the toner that was left; no dice. (I think I've already done this once, though.)
Second idea: borrow the toner cart from the other Brother laser printer I've got. No go: they're different. One's a 2040 and the one I normally use is a 2170W. (I thought these two printers used the same engine; now I know better. *sigh*)
Third idea: duhh....
Well, after thinking it over for a few moments, I made up my mind:
Third idea: swap printers until I can get a toner cart for the 2170W.
See, what happened is I--in 2007 or 2008--finally convinced Mom to get a laser printer, and the 2170 was on sale for a good price; but there was a problem. See, she insisted on keeping her old crummy Compaq Presario. That was a good computer in 1998, but by 2007 it needed replacing...and she refused to get a new computer.
The 2170 doesn't have a parallel port, and her arthritic old machine REFUSED to print via USB...and since the 2040 had a parallel port, I got the new printer and Mom got the 2040. (She didn't really care; she was happy just to be able to print again.)
This being the case, the 2040 has sat--unused--since December of 2010. I had offered it to my sister, who declined taking it, so it's been sitting there all this time; and since I need to print--well, the solution was obvious.
"Now watch--this thing doesn't have USB," I said with some apprehension. See, my computer--new in March of 2007--doesn't have a parallel port in it, so I've got to print via USB.
...but the 2040 does have USB as well as parallel...so I plugged it in, and mirabile visu the drivers were already on here. (Tardily I remembered that the 2040 had been plugged into this computer before we got the 2170.)
So I printed the rest of the story, and covers, and an extra table of contents so both halves of the thing will have one. I even have the two halves pre-separated and held in that state with binder clips. All I should have to do tomorrow is go to OfficeMax and say, "Spiral bound, black vinyl rear cover, clear front cover."
Oh, and the toner? $12 from Amazon, plus shipping. It's not official Brother toner but it's compatible. And if I buy another one and maybe a book, too, I'll get free shipping.
"Aren't you worried about it not working?" Well, the longest computer tech job I had (1992-1997) was for a company that got its start remanufacturing toner cartridges; I never put a real HP toner cart into any HP laser printer after 1992 and never, never, ever had a single problem whatsoever.
Anyway, the real Brother toner cart is a minimum of $58. Yeah, that's not a hard choice to make.
So the printing is done and it's almost 3 AM and I need to go to bed.
