Canon i9900/i9950 problems

[24-heures]

Before you ask, yes I have done nozzle checks, print head cleaning and deep cleaning and print head alignment - twice! But the problem continues; the printer seems to be advancing the paper too fast and is leaving a "pin stripe" or zebra vertical pattern which is wasting a lot of ink and paper, especially as I am at the moment trying to print A3+ size prints! (It's the same no matter what the size of paper though). Then, towards the end of the print, I have a dark vertical line and the last inch or so printed perfectly. I am at my wits end. Help please!

[JDArt]

Definitely sounds like a service issue. Or at least call 1-800-OK-CANON

[Mr. Pickles]

I assume the nozzle checks showed no problems. No fine line like the prints?

So, based on my experience (and others I know), you are toast maybe. From what I gathered, if you don't print every few days, and the printer is about a year old, the printhead is bad. If more than a year, your on your own (warrenty over). Any of that sound like your situation? By the way, deep cleanings are a bad idea, and two of them done around the same time and something like a death blow to the whole printer. They waste a ton of ink too.

You could take all the ink tanks out (and cap them), then take the print head out (the think the inks snap into), and clean it. You have to be careful though. What some do is soak it in Windex ("safe" window cleaner) or something like it. Might be good to run water over the nozzles to clean out excess ink. Do NOT dump the whole printhead in a bowl of Windex. You can't get the circuit borad on the back wet. Some have taken rubber hose and stuck over the print nozzles in each, and blew Windex through the nozzles.

You need to rinse well, and that means really well. Distilled water is better, since it has nothing in it. Let it dry for hours and hours. While you have it out, lift the printer lid so the carrige comes to the center. Take several folded over paper towels and squish hard on the "sponge" where the taks are normally park (and where they are cleaned). There should be a LOT of ink in there. If you can get the sponge out, you can clean it well with lots and lots of water. Clean the ink out of the tray.

Reinstall everything, and give it a go like when the printer was new. See if it works. If so, you saved yourself about $100. If not, you need a new printhead, and guess what, it is about $100. If it is fixed, print something every so often...

[24-heures]

For some reason of its own, prints no longer have lines all the way across but only the dark line about an inch from the end of an A3+ print. Even the 7x5 prints sometimes do it but not always. For the rest all is good again! I looked outside and it isn't a full moon, so I have no idea what is going on. The nozzle check and print head alignement were all AOK. Perhaps it is because I carried out a roller cleaning twice. I guess I'll just have to take the "plunge" and take the printhead out and clean it as advised. I wonder if Eclipse would be a good idea to use? Perhaps plain alcohol? As you so rightly say, if it continues I am toast and for the price difference I am tempted to go for a new printer. There is a new Epson out the R1800, so if anyone has bought that some feedback would be welcome. If not the i9950 has served me well for about 2,000+ prints so I'll get another. I have just bought the new 9950F Canon scanner so when I have info on that I'll let you all know. Feedback I have read on the internet indicates that the quality isn't far off a Coolscan, so we'll see. Why don't we have a separate scanner forum anyway? Might be an idea.

[CaptnWil]

Most often you will find that the problem is in the cart itself. If the checks turn out OK, it most likely means that the cart is hindering the ink flow when the printer is in full production. I have had this happen several times and fresh ink carts always fix the problem.

CaptnWil

[dc2]

By the way, deep cleanings are a bad idea, and two of them done around the same time and something like a death blow to the whole printer. They waste a ton of ink too.

Could you explain why these are a bad idea ?
Thanks again

[Mr. Pickles]

I guess you are referring to what I said about deep cycles

If so, I know that if you do two or more, all you really did was suk massive amounts of ink from the carts, and the ink goes into the parking sponge, totally saturating it, and that isn't a good thing. Once it is saturated, it can't "absord" more from the parked head, so the parked head dries out and compounds the problem.

usually, with a Canon anyway, the easiest way to stop head clogs is to print something (even a test strip) every two ro three days.

[JDArt]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

usually, with a Canon anyway, the easiest way to stop head clogs is to print something (even a test strip) every two ro three days.

I just posted a piece on maintaining inkjets that may be of interest here:

http://www.techtodayonline.com/index.php?page=5