Canon i960 -- Bad printhead??

[GeorgeM]

My 3-1/2 year old i960 started giving the dreaded 5 flashing lights ... indicating a bad printhead. I have tried everything I could think of, but I still get the 5 flashing lights. I never had ANY problems before with the printer or the printhead.

I am hesistant to spend the $90 or so on a new printhead .... since I am not 100% that it is in fact the printhead and not some electronic component that is bad, even though I get the 5 flashing lights.

Any suggestions? Does anyone have a clogged and no good printhead (but that doesn't give the 5 flashes) that they are willing to send me so that I can see if a different printhead solves the flashing problem? If so, I can then purchase a new replacement printhead and feel confident that it will work.

I tried Canon's procedure for re-installing the printhead, I cleared the EEPROM, I cleaned the contacts, I opened the machine and reseated all the cables, I checked for bad solder connections or smoked components, etc .... but I stll get the flashing lights.

Any other suggestions? Anyone with a clogged printhead that doesn't give the flashing lights they can send me?

I have quite a few genuine Canon 6-BCI ink cartridges for the printer still ... and hate to get rid of them. Besides, I love my i960.

Thanks ... George

 

[fotofreek]

http://www.inkcessories.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=49 . cheaper than from Canon and is a new, factory sealed printhead. Inkcessories also sells on ebay and the cost is less for the same item. The link for Inkcessories for the i960 printhead is
http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-i960-Prin...ryZ51328QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

 

[GeorgeM]

Thanks for that source ... I did see them.

However, my concern is that a new printhead may NOT fix the problem ... I would like to somehow verify first that the printhead is indeed the only component that failed.

Thanks for the reply though.

 

[GeorgeM]

Well .... I bit the bullet. There is a Authorized Canon Repair facility right here in Austin Texas. They had a new printhead for the same price as those on the Internet. I flipped a coin (rather I counted up all the new print cartridges I still had) and decided to gamble.

End result ... I now have an i960 that prints just as good as before, to go along with the i4300 I purchased to replace it last week. And of course when I bought my i4300 I purchased an i6700D for the wife for her computer (she doesn't like to share).

Well .. the gamble was successful. It just seems strange to spend more on a printhead than I did on the new i4300. But with 29 genuine Canon print cartridges that I purchased for a song, I am way ahead of the game. Most of them I purchased at Radio Shack when they closed 4 stores in my area .... found them still on the shelf for about $2.00 each And Amazon had one of their outrageous sales back in August 2006 for $3.25 each. Some of the colors were in the $4.00 range. Still a steal for the real thing.

Just wanted to wrap up this thread on a positive note.