Canon MX892 not printing photo black??

[Dr Gerry]

Canon MX892; networked; Win7 and WinXP computers; using different software on each.

This just started recently, but seems that it may have been a gradual thing. As I sort of remember having issues with certain pictures before. Especially, ones that I had enhanced and increased the black content.

It will not print black when printing photos. Prints text (plain paper) black well. I've uninstalled Canon drivers and software; changed cartridges (a couple times); and done all the cleaning, etc. (Test print page shows no issues, but not sure it's using the Photo Black when doing this?)

All other colors print well, no issues. Just the Photo Black ink cartridge. Is it possible that the printer has just died? Look at these and tell me if you think this is a fixable issue:

Here's the test .jpg that should print:

and here's a scan of what actually prints:

 

[The Hat]

Hi @Dr Gerry and welcome, the most likely cause of your problem is your print head unfortunately, the photo BK black ink is not function properly, so you need to stop all test prints until you can resolve this situation and hopefully bring your printer back to proper working order again.

The printer can print black text because it has a separate PGBK black cartridge especially for that purpose, but doesn’t use the same black cartridge for your photos, there is a separate BK black for that.

You need to print only nozzle checks for now, nothing else, so can you print one out and upload here for us to examine.

Please give some details of your printer setup, are you using OEM carts, compatibles and or are you refilling your own cartridges, do you use the 226 or 221 carts in your machine ?

 

[Dr Gerry]

COOL!!!! I had been doing the cleaning, but not the nozzle check. I ran it, and the bottom black line wasn't printing. Also, the bars on the left were not true grays. So, I did the nozzle cleaning, a couple times and now here's what it prints. Looks like there's a little red/purple in the middle section and not gray. Is this right?

 

[The Hat]

I’ll ask again for the latest nozzle check, because that’s the only way we can determine what the state of play is regarding your ink flow, also what about your print setup ?

Your were also advise not to print any more test prints till you could get to the bottom of your problem, there is a great risk that you can burn out the print head, we can only help you with your cooperation..

 

[Dr Gerry]

Sorry, didn't mean to jump the gun. But, when I ran the cleaning option from the Nozzle check page and it actually began to print black . . . well, I thought that fixed it. I printed the 8x10 I wanted to print before this happened and it came out looking great!
These scans were done at 75 dpi to be small enough to post, so quality isn't great. Here's the first Nozzle check:

and after running the cleaning function a couple times, here's the last one:

I'm not sure what you mean by "print setup".
Photo Printing/Glossy Paper/High Quality/Borderless/Vivid Photo - all else is default settings, I guess . . . . .

 

[The Hat]

It’s great to see that the photo black has returned with out having cause any damage to the head, so that should please you, but what I was concerned about was, can or will it happen again and if it does what are you going to do about it, seeing as you don’t know what cause it in the first place.

Please give some details of your printer setup, are you using OEM carts, compatibles and or are you refilling your own cartridges, do you use the 226 or 221 carts in your machine ?

 

[Dr Gerry]

True. But as I stated earlier, I have been doing the "cleaning" functions, but I don't think I've ever done the Nozzle Check cleaning function. It only appears after you print the Nozzle Check pattern. It would be nice if it were on the main "Maintenance" page. Now that I've learned my lesson, I will clean it more often.

 

[The Hat]

The nozzle check can be found on the Maintenance tab and should be run separate to all the other functions found inside this tab, the nozzle check does not clean anything it’s only designed to show if all of the nozzles are firing correctly, regular unnecessary cleaning cycles can be a hindrance rather than a help..
click to enlarge.

I'm not sure what you mean by "print setup".

Are you using OEM carts, compatibles and or are you refilling your own cartridges, do you use the 226 or 221 carts in your machine ?

 

[Dr Gerry]

Advice taken. The nozzle cleaning function will not be performed on a regular basis. But, I will perform a Nozzle Check function more frequently