Can you keep using it?
Can you keep using it?
Contact customer support if any of these apply
- !The carriage still cannot home after a restart.
- !Any spring, cover, or carriage hardware looks out of place or damaged.
What to check first
Step-by-step checks
- 1
Safe first step
Power the machine off before checking for obvious obstructions in the carriage path.
Start with the official recovery step before moving on to parts or deeper servicing.
- 2
Consumable check
Remove any loose paper scraps or foreign objects if they are clearly visible and accessible.
- 3
Safe first step
Restart once only after the path looks clear.
Background
What this message usually means
Brother groups Machine Error 30, 33, 34, and 35 together as carriage or motion faults on older inkjet MFC models. These errors usually point to the printhead carriage failing to return home, hardware around the carriage being out of place, or an obstruction keeping the carriage from finishing its travel.
Diagnosis
Likely causes
The printhead carriage cannot return to its home position.
A carriage-side spring or cover is out of place after movement or service.
Something in the carriage path is physically blocking travel.
Service
When service or replacement is more likely
- -These are mechanical fault codes first, not routine consumables warnings.
- -Forcing the carriage by hand usually makes the repair path worse.
See also
Related codes in this family
Explore more
More Brother printer families
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Where to go next
Source notes
Brother’s official support article groups Machine Error 30, 33, 34, and 35 with carriage-home or carriage-mechanism faults.
Built around official Brother MFC and DCP inkjet support articles. Exact LCD text and service policies can vary by region and model age.
Printer error codes can vary a little by firmware, region, and exact model variant. Use this guide as a family-level starting point and stop if the next step would require disassembly or service-mode changes.
Known family variants: MFC-3420C, MFC-3820CN, MFC-5100C, DCP-540CN
Last reviewed: 2026-04-12
Reference: Open reference