Then it turned out that you need something else: Paper! It will not continue the setup process if you do not let it print a test page. I couldn't find the override mechanism, so I inserted the ink cartridges (after I had taped black electrical tape over the transparent window on each of them, which was a bit tricky).
Would anyone here know how to fool the cartridge sensors and/or which buttons to press to gain access to the service menu? I would like to help it overcome its addiction. Like a junkie it cries for ink injections. It won't allow me to do anything with it. The bloody Brother MFC-J415w just keeps asking for the "start ink cartridges".
I do not want to install the cartridges in the first place, so I can't apply the electric tape. I don't want to cut cables and thus void the warranty. Online, I've found tricks for earlier models on how to evade the "ink empty" scam (a little bit of black electric tape), how to enter the service menu in order to deactivate the sensor (special key combinations) and some defusing hints (which cables to cut in order to take the sensor offline for good). It turns out that I can not even perform a set up on my MFC without installing the ink cartridges. Otherwise the ink inside the pipes dries out and the print heads can be damaged. I never planned to insert the ink cartridges right away, as the device will suck in a lot of ink during the first start to "fill the pipes", which means you'd have to provide it with fresh ink regularly. (Maybe I'd have accepted it.) However, they do not. Current operating cost without printing estimated at 10$/month minimum." it would be a fair deal. If Brother wrote on their website, the product info and the package something like "Device requires regular ink refilling even when not printing. The scandal is: Once the MFC thinks that the ink is empty, it will stop working.
(They won't be really empty, the infrared sensor does not check the bottom of the cartridge but somewhere around the middle, so the "empty" report will come way too early.)
Even if you never print a single page, your ink cartridges will report "empty" after a few months. It is programmed to suck in some ink every two days (and every time you plug it in). It turns out that the central function of this device is to guzzle ink. Plus, it serves as a colour ink printer - one of the many functions I'm not interested in at the moment (maybe sometime down the road). It promises to scan, fax and access memory cards and it has a wireless connection to the local network.
I recently bought a Brother "Multi Functional Centre" MFC-J415w. How can one enter der service menu of a Brother MFV-J415w or otherwise override the ink cartridge sensors?