Why would your printer perform a self-cleaning routine in the middle of the night?

Where the printer turns on in the wee hours of the morning and makes these loud noises as it cycles through a routine to clear the print heads and ensure the printer is ready for your use. You may never know this issue unless your printer is in your home office near your bedroom – or if you have a desk in your bedroom and that printer goes into it’s routine while you’re sleeping.

This was the case for a friend of mine recently and I found a solution.  Some of our appliances, gadgets, and tools have a clock/calendar that we may not set.  I can understand that… I mean, why worry about setting the correct date and time on your printer?  Ah, but here’s why.  Some printers – like Brother Printers – are set-up to perform their regular maintenance at specific times.  And it’s actually quite smart.  They have it programmed so it will do this in the middle of the day.  But, if you have not set your clock or calendar – the printer hasn’t been set it will auto set the calendar and clock… you know, like when the power goes off and comes back on – your stove, microwave, etc picks up the time and resets based on when the power comes back on (usually at 12oo).

So, the printer doe not know when your night time hours are – and it does it’s thing when it “thinks” it’s the right time of day.

MORAL OF THE STORY:  If your printer (or other gadget) has a calendar/clock, it’s best to set it!