Brother Fax Machine/Multi-Function Center MFC-J280W - Manual (Page 101)

Troubleshooting
87
B
Receiving Faxes
Difficulty Suggestions
Cannot receive a fax. Make sure your machine has a dial tone by pressing the Hook key. If you hear
static or interference on your fax line, please contact your local telephone
company.
Check all line cord connections. Make sure the telephone line cord is plugged into
the telephone wall jack and the LINE jack of the machine. If you subscribe to DSL,
VoIP or MagicJack services, please contact your service provider for connection
instructions. To lower the modem speed and turn off ECM (error correction mode)
see Telephone line interference / VoIP uu page 93.
Make sure the machine is in the correct Receive Mode. This is determined by the
external devices and telephone subscriber services you have on the same line as
the Brother machine. (See Choose the correct Receive Mode uu page 33.)
If you have a dedicated fax line and want your Brother machine to automatically
answer all incoming faxes, you should select Fax Only mode.
If your Brother machine shares a line with an external answering machine, you
should select External TAD mode. In External TAD mode, your Brother
machine will automatically receive incoming faxes and voice callers will be able to
leave a message on your answering machine.
If your Brother machine shares the line with a Voice Mail subscriber service,
please see Voice Mail uu page 38.
If your Brother machine is on a line with the Distinctive Ring subscriber service,
please see Distinctive Ring uu page 39.
If your Brother machine shares a line with other telephones and you want it to
automatically answer all incoming faxes, you should select Fax/Tel mode. In
Fax/Tel mode, your Brother machine will automatically receive faxes and
produce a pseudo/double-ring to alert you to answer voice calls.
If you do not want your Brother machine to automatically answer any incoming
faxes, you should select Manual mode. In Manual mode, you must answer every
incoming call and activate the machine to receive faxes.
Another device or service at your location may be answering the call before your
Brother machine answers. To test this, lower the ring delay setting:
 If the receive mode is set to Fax Only or Fax/Tel, reduce the ring delay to
1 ring. (See Ring Delay uu page 36.)
 If the receive mode is set to External TAD, reduce the number of rings
programmed on your answering machine to 2.
 If the receive mode is set to Manual, DO NOT adjust the ring delay setting.
Have someone send you a test fax:
 If you received the test fax successfully, your machine is operating properly.
Remember to reset your ring delay or answering machine setting back to your
original setting. If receiving problems recur after resetting the ring delay, then
a person, device, or subscriber service is answering the fax call before the
machine has a chance to answer.
 If you were not able to receive the fax, then another device or subscriber
service may be interfering with your fax reception or there may be a problem
with your fax line.