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Hello everyone! Today, I want to share my experience troubleshooting a frustrating issue with my Brother MFC-L2700DW multifunction printer. While I’ve always been a fan of Brother printers for their reliability and performance, I have to admit their interface can be less than intuitive. This time, I encountered a problem that has me stumped—and I’m hoping someone out there can help.

The Problem

My Brother printer works perfectly fine when connected via USB, but I cannot, for the life of me, get it to connect to a Wi-Fi network. No matter what I try, it fails to establish a wireless connection. To add to the confusion, the “Network” menu option on the printer doesn’t even appear consistently, making troubleshooting even harder.

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting

Here’s a breakdown of everything I tried:

1. Resetting All Settings

I started by performing an all settings reset on the printer. After rebooting, I noticed that the Wi-Fi light was off, and the “Network” menu was missing. Pressing the Wi-Fi button allowed me to initiate the setup, but it resulted in a connection failed message.

2. Checking the Network Menu

After a few minutes, the “Network” menu finally reappeared. I navigated to the WLAN Setup Wizard to search for available networks (SSIDs). Despite having a working hotspot nearby that other devices could connect to, the printer just kept displaying “searching for SSID” without finding anything.

3. Trying WPS Setup

Next, I attempted the WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) method. Using my hotspot’s WPS button, I enabled the connection mode on both the router and printer. Both devices blinked as they tried to communicate, but after a couple of minutes, the printer displayed another “connection failed” message.

4. Exploring Other Network Options

I tried other settings in the Network menu, including:

• WLAN Assist
• WLAN Status
• Mac Address Setup

Each approach led to the same outcome: the printer couldn’t connect to the network. Even after enabling WLAN in the settings and ensuring the SSID search was active, the process would get stuck or fail altogether.

My Observations

1. Wi-Fi Menu Behavior: The “Network” menu sometimes disappears and only reappears after a few minutes.
2. Connection Issues: Regardless of the setup method (manual, WPS, or assist), the printer fails to connect.
3. Potential Hardware Issue: Given the repeated failures, I’m starting to suspect a hardware issue with the Wi-Fi module.

Request for Help

At this point, I’m out of ideas. The printer is likely out of warranty, and while I’ve tried every troubleshooting step I can think of, nothing seems to work. If anyone has encountered a similar issue or has suggestions for fixing this problem, I’d greatly appreciate your advice!

Final Thoughts

Brother printers are generally fantastic, but their interfaces and wireless setup processes can be a real headache. I’ll continue exploring solutions, but in the meantime, please share your tips or insights in the comments. Your help could save me—and others—a lot of frustration!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for updates if I manage to crack this mystery.

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Ruben Rodriguez
Tech Enthusiast and Longtime Brother Printer Fan