Oh no... first refill failed??? Help. (++photo added)

[lowepg]

So I refilled my first cart today on my pro9000, photomajenta.

Everything seemed fine, reset chip (was using an OEM cart), printed test- looked perfect.

A few hours later, decided to replace the old non-oem carts than were running low (C & PC).
refilled, reinserted, run nozzle check and PC and PM come out nearly blank!
Also- got a warning it didn't recognize the PC cart (its an oem cart I bought empty from hobbicolors).

If i push it down a few times- it lights up and the error goes away.... but I'm now afraid to run the nozzle check again if its starving the nozzles...

:-(

Help. I hope I didnt blow up the printer!

Not sure what to check/troubleshoot on the carts.... one thing I noticed, the sponge is definitively NOT saturated all the way to the top.... but I thought that was a good thing. I can blot the bottom of the port with a papertowel and get it to spot the color....

I covered the vent ports with a piece of tape during refill- but I removed it afterwards.... not sure what else i could have done wrong? ARG.

 

[lowepg]

here's a pic of the PM. The PC is not as undersaturated as this one- but this looked wrong to me (not enough ink in sponge)??

 

[Redbrickman]

How long did you have the print head sitting with carts removed?

The head can clog up or dry out quite quickly.

I am also confused when you say you replaced the non-OEM carts (C and PC)?
Did you replace them with OEM's? You seem to suggest you did, but just making sure.

Did you do a reset on the cart that it fails to recognise, and if so, is it now recognised?
You need to push down on the cart in the resetter, it flashes briefly, then in a few seconds you get steady light.

If the carts you refilled were dry for a long time it might take some time for the sponges to saturate.

If you were able to blot drops at the outlet then I would suggest that cart is probably OK.

Don't print anything now, except for a nozzle check, at least until a few more members chew this one over and perhaps you can outline exactly what you did with the second refills.

 

[lowepg]

How long did you have the print head sitting with carts removed?

less than 60 seconds. Opped out old non-oem cart, popped in oem-refilled cart

I am also confused when you say you replaced the non-OEM carts (C and PC)?
Did you replace them with OEM's? You seem to suggest you did, but just making sure.

I HAD used non-oem carts. I was replacing them with OEM carts that I bought empty (from hobbicolors) and refilled myself.

Did you do a reset on the cart that it fails to recognise, and if so, is it now recognised?
You need to push down on the cart in the resetter, it flashes briefly, then in a few seconds you get steady light.

Yes- I did this and did it again to make sure.

Don't print anything now, except for a nozzle check, at least until a few more members chew this one over and perhaps you can outline exactly what you did with the second refills.

So is printing the nozzle check OK for the print head even its stareved of ink? I assumed ANY printing would be damaging to the head with no ink flowing?

 

[Parhs]

Maybe nozzle check wont cause so much overheating in order to cause problem to the printhead

 

[rodbam]

It looks to me as though the sponge has dried out & hasn't absorbed the ink evenly. I think the combined wisdom here is if you buy used OEM cartridges it's best to flush them out (purge) under running water, warm is best.

 

[lowepg]

OK.... sat all day and I tried another nozzle check:

I dunno if this is more disturbing or less :-(

 

[stratman]

So I refilled my first cart today on my pro9000, photomajenta.

Everything seemed fine, reset chip (was using an OEM cart), printed test- looked perfect.

Good!

A few hours later, decided to replace the old non-oem carts than were running low (C & PC).
refilled, reinserted, run nozzle check and PC and PM come out nearly blank!
Also- got a warning it didn't recognize the PC cart (its an oem cart I bought empty from hobbicolors).

If i push it down a few times- it lights up and the error goes away.... but I'm now afraid to run the nozzle check again if its starving the nozzles...

The first issue is and error message about unrecognized Photo Cyan cartridge. This must be resolved. This could be anything from the wrong chip on the cartridge, mixed up cartridges, a malfunctioning chip, poor electrical connection with the chip, possible from oxidation (clean with isopropyl alcohol) to ink covering contacts, to some sort of debris (such as paper) interfering with contact. That you had to push a couple times to seat the cartridge could mean you didn't seat the cartridge correctly initially to a misshapened cartridge to some obstruction to the proper seating of the cartridge to ???. But you managed to get it recognized.

Then you posted the most bizarre nozzle check I've seen. It looks like you either painted PC and PM by hand, their was something physically touching the paper with ink on it (the nozzles???) , or the print head nozzles for these cartridges or the cartridges themselves were moving. The other colors seem OK. Additionally, the PC appears to overlap the bottom of the Green nozzle check. The non-linear appearance of these PC and PM represent motion, but of What?

I know in a 5 cartridge Canon that the vertical black bars will be made from mixing colors, but I don't know if your model uses PM and PC to to that. Since there isn't this wavy Vincent Van Gogh appearance to these vertical black bars, I presume it to be less likely, otherwise it would be even more mysterious why the black bars were not affected.


An initial step I would take is to make sure there are no debris interfering with the paper or print head paths. Take the print head out (after removing the cartridges, and examine inside the printer, paper pathways, the print head carriage and pathway. the purge pads, the print head and the cartridges for any anomalies. Clean debris or caked ink or ink in unexpected amounts or places with a clean cloth. Watch the action of the print head carriage as is parks in the middle and then to the right over the purge pads. Is the motion smooth? Make sure you lock have locked the print head down after reinserting it. I would do another alignment of the print head at some point. Exactly when I am not sure, but your ink is flowing so less likely a print head burn out. Maybe for now, examine, clean if you find reason, reassemble, try a nozzle check (if all cartridges are recognized) and then let us know.

BTW, what happened to the rest of the nozzle check you posted?

 

[lowepg]

Stratman- interesting analysis- thank you! I think I had some papers stacked up in front of the printer and the test page got jostled a bit as it came out the shoot.... at any rate- I cleaned that out.... but I was gratifed that (albeit oddly shaped) ink was coming out the carts.

So I took the 2 carts that were messed up and put an orange cap on them, opened the fill port, and let a little more ink saturate the sponge.

Re-installed, ran a nozzle check and it was a tiny bit better- no funky wavy lines (almost looked like brush strokes?!?!?).

Blew out the printer paper pathway, wiped off the interior, and ran a deep clean. Uhoh- just enough nozzle checks and cleans to run out the red and green tanks!, Since those were actually OEMs (the only oems I still had ) I modified them and refilled them too.

Re-ran nozzle check:

The shadow that appears in the center of the scan is from the scanner- the print looks perfect.

So, not sure what actually fixed it, but Im a bit nervous- I will run a nozzle check before starting any print jobs for the next few times until Im comfortable the gremlins are gone....

I'm also tempted to go ahead and refill the other carts now, since they are OEM/empties as well and let them sit (I bought the whole set (minus red/green from hobbicolors).... though perhaps a purge would be a better use of time....

 

[stratman]

Well... if it ain't broke --- don't fix it!

Congratulations of fixing your problem.