A sudden error on my iP 4920

[easytimes]

I have been printing along and not having any problems that stopped me, so it's been a long spell since my last post... but now, I think Canon may make me change brands with their new lineup.

I was printing disks, and four of my refill inks on my iP 4920 were nearing their change time, so I changed all of them in one move. After that, I was confronted with an error message. Something to the effect that an error occurred and I should check the amber light to learn more. It flashes 5 times... great... I'm ready to troubleshoot, so naturally, I went to the Canon site and checked the source of five amber flashes.

Long story short, their answer was... I need to count the flashes, and enter that was as far as I could get... I'm sure I must be missing something, but I'm just stuck. Canon seems unable to tell me what five flashes means, or if there is a further check, I am ignorant of it.

By the way, I reinstalled three of the tanks that I had originally installed, because they weren't as close to empty as the cyan tank. Nothing came of that move.

This printer has been humming along for quite some time, and I really hate to lose it, since I don't have as much luck refilling the All-in-one printers, and now Canon doesn't allow disk printing on single function printers. The multi-function models have clogged so badly, I have just given up on them and use factory inks on them.

Is there any possibility that someone has had something similar to this problem and been alble to fix it? Or, alternatively just have a good idea of something to try?
Thanks,
Charles

 

[The Hat]

Hi Charles, I am sorry to have to say this but your print head has expired, the 5 orange flashing lights means a fault in the head, which will require a replacement.

It’s most distressing when this happens out of the blue, when you just take a simple time out and then the printer decides not to continue anymore, there are no explanations for this except the sudden loss that leaves you feeling hopeless.

There are huge savings to be had on the Pro 100 which are going for a song ($50) at present which would be far cheaper than a new print head, $250 Canon rebate plus an additional $100 off promo code at BH Photo, plus free shipping and paper.

This may not be the answer for you but it’s worth looking into as an alternative to the smaller poorer desktop models..

 

[easytimes]

Wow, it must be built into the printhead that out of printer cleanings are limited... I have cleaned that one many times, and so far, it has always come back for me.

Talk about a conundrum... the Pro-100 has lost part of its rebate package... luckily it's only the smaller one. For me it would be difficult, because of the size of the printer. Where my iP7920 sits is an exact fit for it, alone... a fortunate coincidence, but not for using a larger printer.

In looking at the Pro-100, I noticed the IP7220 was selling for $74.99, but it has some similar disadvantages, for me. I am invested in the IP4920 system with chip resetter and numerous empty tanks, since the wife uses an MG6220 with matching tanks to my IP4920. Luckily, I also have an MG5420 for occasional printing attached to my video editor... and it uses the same tanks as the iP7220... but then I see the iP7220 is not well liked on the Canon website, reflected by several nasty reviews. Amazon doesn't back up the low overall rating of this printer, so I wonder if there might be other opinions that would be more helpful to me. Besides, complaint reviews would naturally go to the manufacturer's review site.

I tried to do refill ink on my wife's MG6220, but they ended up clogging within hours of installing the refill ink... never figured out that problem, other than doing a water wash between every print job... not a good alternative for me. The iP4920 required many washes, but usually lasted a month or two, and many print jobs before needing the next washing. For me, a good alternative.

Something tells me that the Pro-100 will handle refill ink better than the iP7220... based on the performance of the MG6220 with more "newfangled" tank/printhead system, but I never take anything for granted... I just prefer to use the refill ink to avoid a trip to the poorhouse, for printing so much as I do.

Your opinion carries a lot of weight with me, so feel free to cut through my clutter above with a well appreciated opinion. My fears are not so strong that I will have to rebrand my print operation to Epson. Their options to fit my needs are daunting, at best.
Thanks for the quick response

 

[easytimes]

Well, here's an update for you. Figuring the $75 printer at B&H to be a good deal, I made the purchase. I decommissioned my IP4920 and put it away in another room.

This morning, Canon Support contacted me with some troubleshooting suggestions, a bit late, but still welcome. I put the printer back into operation, intending to reset the print head and go through the whole set of suggestions, and what do you think???? The printer works like always. I did a nozzle check and printed some disk labels... no problems at all. Maybe changing four ink tanks at once caused a slight misalignment of the print head... not sure what happened, but I have a backup printer on the way and my old reliable IP4920 is still serving. I just hope the IP 7220 accepts refill ink like the IP 4920. My MG6220 seems to clog very quickly, but the same tanks do very well in the IP4920. Oh well.

 

[The Hat]

@easytimes, thank you for the update and the good news on both the printers, but be careful because when that error pops up then mysteriously goes away, it has a tendency to come back at a later date all to quickly just like the Terminator ..

 

[easytimes]

Thanks for the warning, I'm in "careful" mode, now. Since the IP4920 has been such a good working refill printer, I have procured the phone number from Canon Support for the purposes of buying another print head, if it fits my pricing profile. I won't be totally crazy, but a good working printer is better than an unknown quantity, with a new printer in my opinion. The 4920 has been one of my best performers out of about 8-10 Canons that I've owned. I'd hate to lose it.

I have had problems doing refills on the MG6220... uses the same inks as the IP4920, but it clogs on the first print job, and usually the yellow gets jammed tight. I've had to wash out my IP4920 print head fairly often, but the MG is totally ridiculous, requiring print head washing after nearly every job. I never even tried the MG5420, with the CLI250/251 tanks... but that was when the IP 4920 was working splendidly and doing the bulk of my work. Is there an additive I can add to these tanks when I refill to make the ink not so prone to clogging?

That IP 7220 that I ordered takes the same tanks as the MG5420, so if it will work with refill inks, that would be wonderful. Seems like the newer or more compactly built models tend to be less refill friendly.
C

 

[martin0reg]

...This morning, Canon Support contacted me with some troubleshooting suggestions, a bit late, but still welcome. I put the printer back into operation, intending to reset the print head and go through the whole set of suggestions, and what do you think???? ...

Congratulations!
But please tell me, what you have done that the printer would turn on again? Once I had to dismantle a canon to take out the carts and head, because it would not turn on...
And what about the suggestions from canon, didn''t you have to go through any of them?

 

[easytimes]

I take no credit for making this thing work again... might have been my fault that it quit, but I don't know that either. This started with me swapping out four tanks at the same time... I was hoping to avoid all the self cleaning cycles that happen when changing the tanks gradually. I am pretty heavy handed, and I may have installed the refills more roughly than I should... but again, I really don't know if that's how this happened.

After I bought the new printer online, I temporarily forgot that Canon was supposed to get back with me, so I uncoupled the printer from my system and took it to the dining room table, to figure where we would store it among the three other older Canon printers in the back room. So far, I haven't been able to dump them. In the mean time, Canon contacted me and I brought back the freshly removed printer to see if they had something to offer. Their suggestion was just a basic reseating of the print head and all the things you do to remove and reinstall the print head... but I never even got that far. When the computer cranked I just decided to check it again to make sure I was still getting the same error, with the same five amber flashes.

This is additional info I left out before. I thought I was putting back the old cyan tank, which started this whole thing, but I accidentally picked up the dye black tank, so nothing went well with that, until I realized my mistake. I found what I thought was the original cyan tank and replaced it in it's proper location. No major calamity beyond the printer complaining and flashing me four amber blinks. It was dumb, but I did make that mistake.

After all that, I just decided to check the printer status again... no flashing lights, nothing saying there was an error... so I just printed a nozzle check, which it promptly did, and I did a little celebration dance... after which I printed the original five disk labels my wife asked me to print, the day before. All went as usual, so I did another dance.

Other than a power outage from a massive thunder storm, and me going to the doctor about a couple broken ribs from a fall I took a week ago, that just about covers every detail. Not to sound silly, but I have learned that every detail can sometimes lead to something helpful, even if you don't think it will.

Maybe the black ink tank in the cyan location shocked the printer and caused everything to right itself. I hope not... but sometimes nothing else explains things that happen this way. If this one dumps on me again, I'm going to buy another print head... and take that chance, just because it's been that good of a printer for me. If that doesn't work, this IP7220 that should be here tomorrow (according to UPS) will be my new workhorse and main disk printing machine.

My usual experience is buying a new print head, and all the colors in OEM tanks, only to have the power supply die on me and leave me with nothing but the expense. That's the way my IP4200 did, so many years ago, and I'm still not over it.

Hope some of that was useful for more than just being happy it wasn't you who experienced it. I sure wish it wasn't me, right now. Most of all the broken ribs. OUCH!

 

[martin0reg]

Only one remark: in these canon printers the power supply almost never dies - in very most cases it's the error from the printhead damaging the printer board, which subsequently does not let the power supply start the printer..

 

[easytimes]

Yes, that diagnosis was about one of my printers when I called "support". I'm sure they wanted me to go to a repair shop and have me prepped for the expense... but they sell these things too cheaply, and I just bought another one. I really liked my IP8500, as well as this IP4920, so I would pop for a new print head, as I did for that IP8500. The eight inks were a bit problematic, and what I do just isn't that precise.