Canon MP780 - Ink cartridge killed printer?

Hi all,

I recently bought a 'new' and 'genuine' print head for a Canon MP780 from Ebay and fitted it. Listing here: https://is.gd/IOHpUt The printer recognised the head without error. I went to put in the ink cartridges I'd refilled and the printer accepted it and began auto-alignment. However about a minute later I began getting WRONG CARTRIDGE errors.

I checked the head and noticed ink was all over it - a cause of that error according to posts elsewhere. I assume that the recent refill and possible overfill of the cartridges made the sponges leak more ink than usual, clogging. With this, I repeatedly cleaned and power cycled the printer to commence cleaning in addition to taking the cartridges out and leaving them to stand to let the ink settle.

It was on one of these attempts that the printer shut off randomly. No screen, no bleeps, nothing. I unplugged the power and removed the head, noticing warmth. The printer still powered up. I then tried again, but this time watching the inside of the printer for something odd. Again, the printer shut off, but never came back on. The head was noticeable a lot warmer, probably because I didn't unplug quick enough. Although I can hear the usual high pitch noise from the power supply, the printer is dead.

I have checked the plug fuse and internal fuse and both function. I believe the printer fault lies underneath the control board because of the smell, and a small spark I saw when unplugging the printer head ribbon cable which seems to connect to some power supply stuff under the control board.

I have thoroughly cleaned the head of ink (and blockages), but I don't know if the heat has damaged it and it has burnt out from 'boiling' the stuck ink.

Has anybody else been in this situation? Can I recover the print head or is it burnt out? Are there components that may need replacing?

Many thanks!

Hi @jammo, and welcome, I am afraid from here on its bad news, and I can sympathise with you not wanting to lose your great printer, but sadly you just have.

Whether it was your refilling error or the new head itself that caused the ink to flood is not the issue, because I don’t think either would have been responsible under normal circumstances to cause the demise of the printer that quickly. (faulty repair)

You took a gamble buying the new print head and it failed, because these heads advertised are in fact reconditioned units and not new at all, sometimes they work and you can get lucky but in most cases, it’s just a waste of money.

Your new print head has failed electrically big time, and it has unfortunately taken the logic board with it, and you will never be able to get genuine replacement parts to fix it again.

If you still need an AIO printer then the Maxify range of printers would be a good replacement and it might even last as long as your good old MP780 did, it can be easily refilled and it comes with more bells and whistles than your current model, sorry I couldn’t be more helpful...

jammo said:

I recently bought a 'new' and 'genuine' print head for a Canon MP780 from Ebay and fitted it. Listing here: https://is.gd/IOHpUt The printer recognised the head without error. I went to put in the ink cartridges I'd refilled and the printer accepted it and began auto-alignment. However about a minute later I began getting WRONG CARTRIDGE errors.

Click to expand...

You may have a "faint hope" option by taking the matter up with eBay stating the print head was defective on arrival.

If you paid with Paypal you have some sort of protection. Not sure how effectively it works, if at all.

I have seen a lot of complaints about these reconditioned heads sold as a new Canon product from Chinese sources so your complaint may be one of many and be taken seriously.

Even if you are able to get the purchase price refunded it will not bring your printer back, but will at least send a message to the vendor about the consequences of selling shoddy merchandise.

Don't hold your breath though...

rs

The MP780 is an older ( understated) printer. It is chipless and is from the BCI-6 era and BCI-3e.
One aspect of this generation of printer that has not been pointed out is that this generation had a common weakness that if the mainboard went bad, it would damage the printhead. Replacing the printhead would allow the bad mainboard to damage the new printhead again.
This has happened to myself many many years back and there have been several members to whom this has happened to as well and is a known issue/risk when replacing a printhead if the printhead showed signs of fatal electronic failure.

The aspect that the initial installation did not immediately trigger a catastrophic fault indicates that likely from en electronic perspective the printhead was functionally ok. All evidence points to a faulty mainboard and it is likely that this printer should be disposed of and not transferred to another owner as it will in all likelihood, maybe cause further anguish by damaging another printhead.

The mind is a wonderful thing but the currents involved is hardly significant enough to create enough heat to cause a significant rise in the temperature of the printhead body that you'd be able to detect over a period of time. A circuit trace would likely burn off first.

This printer enjoyed a long life, may it R.I.P.

Many thanks for the replies.

I actually received the printer from Freecycle and thought it was well worth investing in. The previous owners had many years of good use on it. I bought the head with a credit card, and in the UK we have protection laws, so I'll get my money back hopefully. I'm familiar with electronics, so I'll disassemble the printer for parts and recycle the rest. Real shame though, I thought I'd grabbed a bargain.

Cheers, James