Canon i960 Blink Org 5 times Intermittant, What specifically is wrong?

[optimizer]

Hi,
I've read many of the posts related to the Canon i960 over the years. Really good site.

I've had the 2 photo colors clogged for a while, but it's still printed color, so that was acceptable.
I tried a few of the cleaning methods, initially blasting air through the passages with some success.

Recently some of the other colors clogged.
I've tried other methods and it seems to have led to the orange light blinking 5 times.
It's strange, because it was intermittant. Some days the printer would power up, Others it would blink orange.

I'm very interested in what went wrong when it acts like that. To me, it means there might be a way to fix it.

At some point I needed the printer to work 100%, so decided to disassemble the printhead.

One passage and the head part too, didn't want to allow fluid to pass through. The other passages allowed it and thru their head passages. I thought I'd at least have cleaned out some of the color's clogs, so I reassembled it.

Unfortunately it now blinks orange 5 times all the time.
Who knows, it might work at some point or never again...

I've read something about EEPROM initialization - has anyone solved print head troubles reinitializing that. Slim chance.

But - I'm interested in what could have gone wrong.

One of the things I'd never cared too much about was water getting on the brown part of the base (although I made sure it didn't get above there), and the more experience I have, the more I think its best to make a tiny pad, just the size of the silver metal of the head and sit the head "on it only" (not have the brown touching).

Could the moisture have soaked in behind that brown film, shorting electrical paths? When it dries the printer works, when wet it blinks? Could that have been what was happening when it was intermittant?

What are your ideas of what makes the head fail / blink 5 times? Anyone seen a recovery from it?

Also, are there any places selling replacement i960 printheads at a good price, and the non Canon ones, are they any good, any experiences of them.

 

[turbguy]

I've always bought mine directly from Canon. They always had the best price, although they are on eBay from time to time.

From CanonUSA's website:

You may purchase a print head* for this printer through an Authorized Service Facility ( Find a Service Location) , or by calling 1-800-828-4040 between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 a.m. midnight, EST, Monday through Sunday. When calling, speak the phrase "order parts" when the speech routing system asks the reason for your call. You will immediately be routed to the Parts Desk for assistance. Be sure to have your model number (i960) or part number (QY6-0043-000) ready for the sales person.

 

[optimizer]

I'm sure Canon would have the "BEST" price. For them.

 

[optimizer]

They may not even have the heads, as I think they consider this i960 printer obsolete. Of course, will they consider the BCI-6 ink cartridges obsolete too and stop making them????

 

[optimizer]

It won't let me get to the stage where you can reset the EEPROM.
When I go thru the procedure and get to the stage where you release both buttons, the printer goes into its power up phase, noises and blinking green lights, then it goes to its "orange blink 5 times" error.
Therefore I can't press resume/cancel 3 times, as I can't get to the stage to do that.

 

[optimizer]

After seeing the size of the parking pad at right of the printer, I'm not so concerned about the whole base getting wet. The pad's as wide as the whole base.
I wonder where it's detecting the error - soemwhere in the silver print nozzle part, or in the brown plastic coated connections?
Has anyone ever stripped the plastic coated wires and nozzles off the ceramic to see what's there. Photo?
Also, has anyone ever cut into the black plastic "cartridge holder" part of the head to see what the passages look like, to know what we're dealing with when trying to clear a clog. It looks like on each color there's two 90 degree turns. It looks like there's a flat section in the middle with the 6 passages. I'm interested if this is glued - I didn't know how to get it apart, but I can see It was 2 parts when it was originally assembled.
It would have been a much better product (and greener - all these printers being made and tossed all for a print clog - what a sorry state) if it was designed to come apart for cleaning.