Canon MX922 Is There Service Tool or Service Mode?

[Technician]

Out of curiosity how does the printer know the ink absorbers have reached critical mass, in there a sensor that detects it or is it just a ticking clock built into the printer's firmware and when your time's up ......well.

 

[The Hat]

in there a sensor that detects it or is it just a ticking clock built into the printer's firmware

It records every time it run a maintenance cycle and calculates the amount of ink that’s sent to these pads, all this information is stored on the EPROM chip, and we’re not allowed to reset the darn thing anymore...

It’s get a new printer time or pay Canon to clean it for you...

 

[vienna01]

PeterBJ


PeterBJ
If your printer is not in the need of a reset I suggest to not experiment with the service tools for now. When you get a warning that the absorber is getting full then is the time to try the service tool as the printer will be locked and useless when the absorber counter reaches 100% so you will have nothing to lose regarding the printer.

The possibility of malware presence in the service tools is another risk. My solution is installing another harddisk in a laptop. This harddisk has windows 7 installed plus necessary drivers but no antivirus software. The service tools are copied to that harddisk. I also keep copies of the new service tools on a USB stick. Both the harddisk and the USB stick have bright orange warning labels attached so I don't use them inadvertently.

When it becomes necessary to do a reset I suggest you write again, maybe the knowledge of the service tools and procedures have improved then. Else I think the service tool v4720 will also work with your printer that is the same cartridge generation as the MG5450S I successfully resat, but I cannot promise that.

Glad to hear that there Might be a tool that might reset my mx922.
I won't try service modes/tools until I absolutely need to do so[printer is locked up anyway].
This was another example of how valuable this forum can be.

 

[Technician]

I'm surprised no one has tried flashing their own firmware to take care of problems like this. Now if it were a mobile phone we were talking about I could do it myself, in the past I've done a lot of firmware hacking but printers, can't say I'd know where to start.

 

[arw4]

Get a 3D printer instead, you can have far more fun with no restrictions or interference from any manufacture...
P.S. or have at least 1 spare print head for your 9000...
Live the dream without worrying about the ink pads filling...

I have yet to progress beyond problems of the 2D variety. I'm not sure I could cope with problems of the 3rd dimension...

 

[stratman]

I'm surprised no one has tried flashing their own firmware to take care of problems like this.

You have to have something to flash with and then a method to do the flash. AFAIK we do not.

 

[Technician]

Hacking printer firmware has been done apparently but not in any real earnest. Unlike mobile's I suppose the interest just isn't there.

 

[arw4]

I'm surprised no one has tried flashing their own firmware to take care of problems like this. Now if it were a mobile phone we were talking about I could do it myself, in the past I've done a lot of firmware hacking but printers, can't say I'd know where to start.

Well, I'd like to think someone somewhere out there has cracked it, but it's a clever system Canon have put in place. It amazes me that printer manufacturers can get away with it. It's holding the customer to ransom, and in the case of a multifunctional, it disables all functionality of the machine including scanning - what's scanning got to do with a waste ink tank? I thought car manufacturers were bad enough, but at least we're not faced with the same dilemma for want of an oil change...as yet!

You could well be along the right lines in your thinking @Technician. How easy it would be for Joe Bloggs to do is another question.

 

[stratman]

Hacking printer firmware has been done apparently

Yes, one has been able in the past to enter Service Mode of certain Canon printers, either through button pushed on the printer itself or via a software Service Tool, and then make alterations to settings and counters already available within the current firmware. But, AFAIK, there is no available repository of firmware versions one could use to flash a printer to an earlier version and return certain functionalities removed by newer firmware.

In the past, and maybe still (?), CD/DVD burner aficionados were able to tinker with flashing their optical drives, including using third party generated firmware, to improve burning functioning. Nothing like that exists for Canon printers in use today AFAIK.

 

[arw4]

Just out of curiousity, does anyone know if the ip7250 can be accessed via service mode to reset the counter?