SOLVED: Canon MP830, new PGI-5BK and new (reman) print head - no black

[pourhaus]

Hi,

I have a ~3 year old MP830, and started refilling cartridges about a year ago.

It recently stopped printing black, so I tried refilling, then did cleaning/deep-cleaning, then made several attempts at hand-cleaning and soaking the printhead using 90% isopropyl alocohol. None of these worked. I then tried a new Canon PGI-5BK cartridge. Still nothing.

Most recent attempt was with a remanufactured print head I got via eBay (company in Phoenix).

Still no black. The week old PGI-5BK cartridge has got to "empty" without putting anything onto paper.

I have also tried putting several ml of pigment black, and then of conventional black into the new cartridge. Nada. Zip.

Any suggestions as to where to go now? Should I try Windex? If so, which print head?

Or, is there some other reason this printer does not want to print black?

 

[embguy]

I think your purge unit is not working. The purge outlet tubing is clogged. Doing more printhead cleaning will waste more ink.

Flood the left purge pad with Windex. The pad that the printhead parks on. Close the cover and let the printer do its thing. Wait a few minutes. Open the cover, flood the left pad with more Windex. Repeat these steps 10 times. Then do a cleaning cycle and nozzle check. If the black does not come back, put more Windex on the left purge pad. Close the cover and let it sit for overnight. Repeat the whole procedure again next day.

Please report your progress. If you get partial pigment black nozzle check, scan it and upload.

 

[embguy]

... is there some other reason this printer does not want to print black?

After re-read your post, I am not sure which black ink that you are talking about. - pigment black or photo black?
Do you get black when you are printing text only page?
Do you get black when you are printing photo?

The left purge pad is for the pigment black and the right purge pad is for the color including the photo black. Change my instruction to put Windex to both pads just to be on the safe side.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Embguy is right. Flood Windex on both pads. Look to see that Windex remains pooled on both pads. Do a cleaning cycle. Look again at both pads. Do you see the pads or does one or both of them still have Windex pooled on them? If you continue to see Windex, the tube for that pad is clogged.

If you have a clogged tube, you should use the maintenance tab in the printer driver to clean just that one pad. The one on the left is for the black pigment ink and the one on the right is for the dye colors (including photo black).

Do just a few cleaning cycles if the Windex remains pooled. Then let it sit overnight and repeat. You have to be patient.

It's a good idea to regularly put Windex on your pads every time you replace a cartridge.

 

[pourhaus]

Thanks for the tips, guys. It is pigment black I am having the problem with.

How do I use the printer Maintenance tab to clean a pad? I have "Cleaning" and "Deep Cleaning" for "All Colors", "Black: PGBK" and "Color: C, M, Y, BK".

Also, what is the easiest way to get Windex onto the pads? Seems like a straw between the Windex nozzle and pad might work, but if anyone has a better idea...

 

[embguy]

How do I use the printer Maintenance tab to clean a pad? I have "Cleaning" and "Deep Cleaning" for "All Colors", "Black: PGBK" and "Color: C, M, Y, BK".

Select cleaning for PGBK for your case because you do not want to waste your color ink. I seldom use deep cleaning because I do not want to waste more ink than necessary. Unclogging is a slow process. Wasting more does not mean you can get it unclogged faster.

Also, what is the easiest way to get Windex onto the pads? Seems like a straw between the Windex nozzle and pad might work, but if anyone has a better idea...

I do not like a straw because it is hard to control the amount of Windex that I want to deliver. I use a syringe with a 1" needle. For the AIO like MP830, the purge pads access opening is small. The hand, holding the syringe, is blocking a lot of light. It is dark in there. I use a small LED flashlight.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You won't be wasting any ink while your purge tube is clogged so in that special case, it won't matter if you are doing a regular cleaning or a deep cleaning, (except the printer will keep track of how much ink it thinks is going into its waste tank and report the tank full earlier than it should).

However, as I said before, the procedure that unclogs the tube is just letting the Windex sit on the pad for long periods of time. The Windex will eventually start leaking down the tube and you will be able to see the purge pad. Each time that happens, flood it again with Windex and do another cleaning and leave it flooded until it drains away again.

I also use a syringe but you could use an eye dropper or take a straw and submerge the end in Windex, hold your thumb over the top end (or pinch it off) and then release it when the straw is over the pad.

 

[pourhaus]

So, this is heading in an all new direction now.

I did some windex last night, found that the printer did not always "do it's thing" when I closed the top, so I was powering off and on. I was also pulling the power cord with the print head away from the purge pads, because I forgot that lifting up the lever to remove the print head would stop it from timing out and returning.

I came in this morning, powered up, and:

1. Printer has set it's language to (I think) Japanese
2. It is reporting "U180", and indicating the PGI-5BK cartridge is the issue

So, any ideas on how I reset to English? It seems I can not access any settings with this error being reported. Should I load my last genuine Canon PGI-5BK?

 

[embguy]

So, this is heading in an all new direction now.

I did some windex last night, found that the printer did not always "do it's thing" when I closed the top, so I was powering off and on. I was also pulling the power cord with the print head away from the purge pads, because I forgot that lifting up the lever to remove the print head would stop it from timing out and returning.

Please follow the instruction. Please ask if you do not understand the procedure.

I did not ask you to take out the printhead or pull the power while the printhead is away from the purge pads. Doing so will cause more ink dried up in the nozzles overnight. All inkjet printers park the printhead at the purge pads for a reason - The pads keep the printhead moist. This is why I do a nozzle check per week to prevent the nozzles from clogging because the nozzle check will fire all nozzles.

I came in this morning, powered up, and:

1. Printer has set it's language to (I think) Japanese
2. It is reporting "U180", and indicating the PGI-5BK cartridge is the issue

So, any ideas on how I reset to English? It seems I can not access any settings with this error being reported. Should I load my last genuine Canon PGI-5BK?

Q1. Can you use the menu button to change the language?
Q2. Error U180 = The remaining ink level cannot be correctly detected. What you get if you put in the genuine Canon PGI-5BK?

 

[pourhaus]

So,

I was able to get the language back to English.

I have been using the above method - feeding Windex onto the left purge pad, for 5 days.

I have done a clean & nozzle check each day, and I still get nothing. The faintest smudge if I recently applied Windex, but nothing that looks like it came out of the print head nozzle.

So, is there anything _else_ that may cause this, or is this printer a boat anchor?