Canon i950 Problem

MRM

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I have been using the i950 for over a year. Recently the colors were muddy - when I went to replace the yellow it appeared to have black ink in the cartridge. I replaced the yellow, and now the first page or so black prints as a green/yellow color, which then becomes black.

I am using standard Canon cartridges, and have tried multiple cleaning cycles (including one deep cycle).

Does this make sense to anyone? If it is the print head, will probably just get a new printer (the local Canon repair facility wants $185 CDN for the printhead!).

Thanks!

Michael
 
G

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I tried Niel's technique of blowing compressed air onto the inlet ports of the print head. It worked like a charm and solved the problem. Not sure why, in that the symptoms seemed more complex than just not being able to print a single color, but am very thankful to Niel.

Best wishes in 2005
 

conrod

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I've just had the very same problem with my i950 - again after about 15 months use. The ink in the yellow cartridge (again genuine Canon) had turned a very dark brown - although the top 2/3 of the sponge compartment was still yellow. I replaced it, and put the printer through two normal cleaning cycles, and it's now printing OK. However, I'll check it again in a couple of days time.

Does ink go off? I do quite a lot of printing, so the cartridge can only have been installed for a few months.

Conrod
 

Grandad35

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It sounds like one of the other inks was pulled back into the yellow cart and contaminated its ink. Open the printer cover to get the carriage to its "change carts" position, then pull the power plug. Move the carriage to the far left and use a flashlight to locate the sponges that cover the print head(s) when the carriage is parked. Use paper towels to blot up as much of the ink from these sponges as you can - you probably want to sear gloves to do this. This should minimize the possibility if this happening again, at least for a while.
 

Nifty

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Yup, sounds like the dreaded cross contamination to me. I had this happen when a magenta cart leaked. The ink was wicked up into the yellow cart and created a very orange / magenta color. The fact that yours is "muddy / brown" makes me think that ink may indeed have been wicked up somehow from the sponges under the printer resting position, but that is just a guess.
 

conrod

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You guys are good! I thought afterwards that the problem was due to borderless printing, which I've only recently started doing since acquiring an EOS 300D digital SLR - separate post re overspray sponge pad on LH side. However, having read this reply, I checked the parking sponge pad, and although it looked dry, it is also wet with predominantly black ink. So cross-contamination looks to be the cause, and I've now changed the black cartridge - which is next door to the yellow on the i950. When the problem started it would clear after the first print, pointing to contimination while in the parked position.

Makes you wonder whether the expense of original Canon cartridges is justified! ;-)

Thanks guys.
 

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