Incorrect Printhead - MP800

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Thought I'd share this one as it may shed some light on other users who hit a similar situation..

As you may know there's a slew of contacts on the carriage assembly that connect to the removable/replaceable printhead in a Canon but what you may not know (although it's common sense), is that if any of the contacts in the back has broken or been bent that you may get an error "Type of printhead is incorrect" on the little LCD screen.

Took me about 10 minutes to figure out that that was the problem but I thought I'd share it as it had me a bit confused for a little bit until I noticed one of the contacts was pretty much missing. This is a "return" which I'm playing with anyway but at the moment I'm wondering what the best approach would be regarding repair.

Taking the whole thing apart to replace it with a spare MP500 carriage unit seems a bit over the top and probably won't work anyway so I'm seriously considering a little soldering although I've no idea if that will work either.

Anyways, figured I'd share that so that someone with the same error might find they've hit the same issue.

 

[Grandad35]

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On my i9900, these contacts are spring loaded and have some "float" to stay in contact with the print head. If you are able to solder an extension onto the missing pin (not an easy task), make sure that it can still float like the others.

 

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On my i9900, these contacts are spring loaded and have some "float" to stay in contact with the print head. If you are able to solder an extension onto the missing pin (not an easy task), make sure that it can still float like the others.

Yeah.. that's my current problem.. There's little or no space in there to handle it so after a little thought I've opted to try for a warranty repair.

The unit is blatantly brand new and has been badly handled in transit at some point so I'm pleading for mercy and will see how I go.. Either way it's a useful troubleshooting point to keep in my noggin in case I find it on other Canon units

 

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Well that was worth a shot but hey it didn't work out...

Turns out a repair would cost 89 just for the call-out and that doesn't include VAT or the parts required to fix it... So it looks like I'm going to be trying a little bit of very very careful soldering and see if I can't resolve the problem myself.

Ah well.. nothing like a good learning experience to keep the old mind limber