Beloved i9900

Etoile

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My beloved i9900 stopped printing yellow. I delved into print head manual cleaning instructions. Using slightly warm water, I swooshed around then soaked the printhead in a bit of water overnight. Did not wet the gold metal panel.Yellow ink came out on the soft paper that was folded beneath it while drying. Let it dry overnight, now the entire row 2 on the test sheet isn't printing. What to do next?

I have two pro 9000s but cannot achieve the same colors for some of the cards that I print. Would be ok with a new printer but they dont produce the same magical result of the i9900.
 
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stratman

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Welcome to the forum, Etiole. Sorry to hear about your beloved i9900.

I see you posted much the same in a different thread on the forum. Starting your own thread for your questions would be better.

The i9900 uses dye-based inks (no pigment inks). Replacements would be Canon Pro-100(s) and the Pro-200. It is believed that the print heads are the same for both printers. Since the Pro-200 is a relatively new model for Canon, the print head should be manufactured for at least another 4 years (typical manufacturing life of 5 years). So, either printer will do you well.

Buying print heads that are past manufacturing lifetime is tricky. Anything that originates from China should be held suspect on both newness and function. It is known that used print heads have been cleaned up and then packaged in counterfeit mylar bags and cardboard boxes. Some people win the lottery. Too many lose and received malfunctioning print heads.

You said you buy OEM cartridges. Both Pro 100 and 200 use chipped cartridges. The Pro-100 has a chip resetter available and if you refill then you can still maintain ink level monitoring. The Pro-200 does not have a chip resetter and no way to know if or when one might be. Refilling the Pro-200 requires disabling ink level monitoring, something that requires vigilance because printing without ink may cause nozzle burnout. If you only use OEM ink than this is meaningless. As you might know, OEM not only gives superior archival characteristics but also is the best at lowering your risk for ink clogs.

A good review of the Pro-200 by forum member Keith Cooper:

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/pro-200-review-info.14390/#post-124787
 

Etoile

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Thank you for your reply. I hope that I’ve now made a new post, starting a new thread. Please forgive me if I didn’t.
My beloved i9900 stopped printing yellow. I delved into print head manual cleaning instructions. Using slightly warm water, I swooshed around then soaked the printhead in a bit of water overnight. Did not wet the gold metal panel.Yellow ink came out on the soft paper that was folded beneath it while drying. Let it dry overnight, now the entire row 2 on the test sheet isn't printing.

I have two pro 9000s but cannot achieve the same colors for some of the cards that I print. Would he ok with a new printer but they dont produce the same magical result of the i9900.

Do you have insight as to whether this non printing of row 2 on test print is probably printhead malfunction? Do you have suggestions as to how to best address this?


Thank you again!
 

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stratman

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I hope that I’ve now made a new post, starting a new thread.
Your new thread is just a copy of what you wrote here. There is no need to double your efforts. This is frowned upon on the forum as it can split answers and be less helpful to someone in the future trying to follow your issue for their own benefit.

My fault I did not clarify that my advice was for future new issues. Sorry. Please delete the copy/paste thread and just keep this one for any more questions or comments on this specific topic. :thumbsup

non printing of row 2 on test print
I do not see this image here or on your other thread. Maybe it is awaiting Moderator approval since you are a new member.

I ordered a supposedly new original printhead on eBay. After reading about printhead for this model on this forum, I’m guessing that it’s a refurbished and risky item. Is there a risk damaging the printer with this ersatz thing?

There is a rare risk that a print head with an electrical malfunction can propagate that electrical malfunction in the printer's logic assay board and vice versa. Usually, though, electrical malfunctions are limited to the print head and replacing it with a new print head resolves the problem. Print a nozzle check, scan it, crop it and post on this
thread.

PS There are no aftermarket print heads for your Canon printer model. They are all OEM. Whether they are new or used, fully functional or not, is a different matter.
 

Etoile

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Welcome to the forum, Etiole. Sorry to hear about your beloved i9900.

I see you posted much the same in a different thread on the forum. Starting your own thread for your questions would be better.

The i9900 uses dye-based inks (no pigment inks). Replacements would be Canon Pro-100(s) and the Pro-200. It is believed that the print heads are the same for both printers. Since the Pro-200 is a relatively new model for Canon, the print head should be manufactured for at least another 4 years (typical manufacturing life of 5 years). So, either printer will do you well.

Buying print heads that are past manufacturing lifetime is tricky. Anything that originates from China should be held suspect on both newness and function. It is known that used print heads have been cleaned up and then packaged in counterfeit mylar bags and cardboard boxes. Some people win the lottery. Too many lose and received malfunctioning print heads.

You said you buy OEM cartridges. Both Pro 100 and 200 use chipped cartridges. The Pro-100 has a chip resetter available and if you refill then you can still maintain ink level monitoring. The Pro-200 does not have a chip resetter and no way to know if or when one might be. Refilling the Pro-200 requires disabling ink level monitoring, something that requires vigilance because printing without ink may cause nozzle burnout. If you only use OEM ink than this is meaningless. As you might know, OEM not only gives superior archival characteristics but also is the best at lowering your risk for ink clogs.

A good review of the Pro-200 by forum member Keith Cooper:

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/pro-200-review-info.14390/#post-124787
Thank you for your reply! I think that I was able to delete one of the two other posts. The second one has no delete option. I hope that I've posted this in the correct place.

I recall purchasing the Pro-100 maybe two years ago, just to be prepared. There was at one point an issue with printing borderless with that printer, and I see that has been addressed by Canon. I returned the Pro-100 because of the grey cartridges, and the lack of red and green cartridges. Possibly works for a photographer. I print cards, that color arrangement doesn't work for producing vibrant colors that need to sing.

I am very grateful for your help. No error messages, no flashing amber lights.

Do you have any suggestions as to next steps for fixing the problem?
 

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The Hat

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Do you have suggestions as to how to best address this?
It looks to me that your print head is gone way beyond saving, when you get an electrical issue that’s usually the way if manifests itself, and despite your best efforts at cleaning, it’s easy to make the problem worse, and all the external cleaning in the world will never bring her back.

You have no alternative but to put her to sleep and move on, because without a new print head the printer is now no more than a door stop, it’s just a pity that a great printer has to end this way, but you still have two good Pro 9000.

The 9000 will produce the same colours if you spend the time test printing it by altering the colour/Intensity in printing preferences, this will bring the 9000 much closer to what you were getting with the i9900, but don’t forget to click Apply to save your setting..
P.S. Sorry for your loss...
 

Etoile

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It looks to me that your print head is gone way beyond saving, when you get an electrical issue that’s usually the way if manifests itself, and despite your best efforts at cleaning, it’s easy to make the problem worse, and all the external cleaning in the world will never bring her back.

You have no alternative but to put her to sleep and move on, because without a new print head the printer is now no more than a door stop, it’s just a pity that a great printer has to end this way, but you still have two good Pro 9000.

The 9000 will produce the same colours if you spend the time test printing it by altering the colour/Intensity in printing preferences, this will bring the 9000 much closer to what you were getting with the i9900, but don’t forget to click Apply to save your setting..
P.S. Sorry for your loss...
Thank you for your reply. I have three lines of questions -
A.1. How do you know it's an electrical issue vs a printhead issue?
A.2. If electrical and not caused by a faulty printhead, why is row 1 still printing? Maybe that side of the printhead is where the issue is? Have you ever heard of those ersatz new original printhead actually working?

B. I have tried to achieve the same results on the 9000 for so long without the tiny nuances that make my work sing. The reds are more blue, yellow green is faded instead of vibrant. Do you have a suggestion for that? I've used an x-rite calibrator and have done both printers and the paper options.

3. I'm at a loss as to another printer to look to. This thing with no red and no green replaced by two greys doesnt give what is needed. I would buy a new printer in a heartbeat, it has to produce the sought after colors. What to do? That's the hig dillema.
 

Etoile

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Thank you for your reply. I have three lines of questions -
A.1. How do you know it's an electrical issue vs a printhead issue?
A.2. If electrical and not caused by a faulty printhead, why is row 1 still printing? Maybe that side of the printhead is where the issue is? Have you ever heard of those ersatz new original printhead actually working?

B. I have tried to achieve the same results on the 9000 for so long without the tiny nuances that make my work sing. The reds are more blue, yellow green is faded instead of vibrant. Do you have a suggestion for that? I've used an x-rite calibrator and have done both printers and the paper options.

3. I'm at a loss as to another printer to look to. This thing with no red and no green replaced by two greys doesnt give what is needed. I would buy a new printer in a heartbeat, it has to produce the sought after colors. What to do? That's the hig dillema

I'm confused about how these posts show up. Hope that I'm replying in the correct place. I am so appreciative of your help and understanding of the situation.
 

The Hat

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Thank you for your reply. I have three lines of questions -
I know it’s not easy to accept that your printer has gone, but it has.

1) Electrical issues usually show up by printing half or none of a single colour block or as in your case all of Section 2, also when you run a clean cycle you should get signs of some ink on that nozzle block, never all blank..

2) Canon print heads are split into several different blocks, depending on how many carts it supports. Print heads sold on EBAY as new seldom if ever work and are not worth the time or investment. Results minus 100%

B) The 9000 is in fact a far better printer, all be it a Photo printer, but trust me it can give you the results your looking for, but it takes time when using the Printer Preferences to dial in the colours more vividly. But never use the X-Rite Calibrator to achieve this..

I had 5 different Canon printers (A4/A3) using the same 3rd party inks and all with the same output, each individual printer had 4, 5 and 9 carts installed, and one of them was an i9950, so it can be done.

P.S. Only one of my printers had separate Red and green cartridges, but what you didn’t know is these two colours are only used to print when your Media is set to High Gloss Photo Paper, they are never used on plain or matte coated stock..

A Pro 100 will give the colour rendition your looking for, (Same as the 9000) but only if you go about it in the correct manner, colour management is never easy and it can tie you up in knots, it’s a huge learning curve and when you think you mastered it !, Try working with what you know already, otherwise it will kick you in the balls..
 

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