Canon Pixma MG5350 problem will confound you all I bet!

[Blastcleaner]

Weird or what? Pixma MG5350 has worked fine for about 4 years, I dont print masses but it gets fair use, document and letters mainly. I have been using non OEM refills for most of that time with no problems. I recently had my techi upgraded my PC operating system from Win XP service pack 3 - to Win 7, 64 bit. The printer worked fine for a while, then it would print black text as blank pages only ie nothing at all.

I ran all the cleaning regimes etc. but it will only print part of a test page in magenta and cyan. If you try and print a page with any colour, only the same magenta and cyan are present. I removed the print head and deep cleaned it thoroughly ( I clean things for a living so competent to do this) and on testing with ink drops while out of the machine the ink is visible passing through the screens that reduce surface tension: so the ink is available. It still only prints part of the test page, as above. My conclusion was that the print head is faulty.

But here is the strange thing.... I borrowed a printer Epson stylus SX425W which worked fine for a while, then suddenly it too will only print a tiny part of a test page in the same 2 colours.

It cannot be a coincidence that 2 different makes of printer develop the same 2 colour printing problem at the same time so the question is...... what is the problem? Surely it is a software issue? Any help much appreciated because it beats me, and like I said above, I bet it will confound the best of you.

 

[stratman]

Welcome to the forum, Blastcleaner.

It cannot be a coincidence that 2 different makes of printer develop the same 2 colour printing problem at the same time

Since these two printers use different cartridges we can rule out ink starvation. It also is doubtful that identical clogs have occurred in two different print heads. Same goes with identical electrical failures in logic boards across two different make and model printers. Maybe you need to call Ghostbusters to rid the ghost that struck identically twice.

You did not say whether you print via a USB or WiFi, or what application you are printing from. Please detail these. Also, what ink cartridges are you using and do you refill them? Were there any other issues before this problem and was is gradual or sudden in onset? Was there any change after you flushed the print head? Did you try other ink cartridges and if so what happened? Did you try a different USB cable and application to print from? Can you set up the printer on a different computer?

First thing I would do is uninstall the printer, unplug it, reboot and then reinstall the Canon, or Epson, exactly as instructed by the manufacturer for that machine. There are specific routines to installing a printer which should be followed. Install and test ONLY using a USB connection. Do NOT use WiFi. Print only a nozzle check and post here. If the nozzle check is perfect then go and and use the printer, otherwise do not print anything but nozzle checks or you may permanently burnout the Canon print head.

It may be the Canon print head became irreversibly damaged before flushing or even after the flushing (wet electrical contacts causing a short). It could also be that your Non-OEM cartridges are not functioning properly and causing ink starvation. Use only KNOWN working or new cartridges when you set up the printer. This means the Yellow and Black cartridges you have are suspect and you should use something else. Ditto for Magenta and Cyan if they do not give a perfect nozzle check.

There are other things to consider but let's begin with this for now. Reinstall.

 

[Blastcleaner]

Hi Stratman,
Thanks for responding to this dilemma. I have come back to the top of this reply post to say, in short, thanks for the help, I am making good progress. If you or anyone want to know the process it is all below.

Ghost busters might be right, because, just in case it has any relevance, I have a third printer issue. I gave up on this print problem with my 2 printers several weeks ago and relied on another printer on our network in another office, a dell 1350 cnw, and that too has issues. That printer is connected to our old office system still running on Win xp sp3, It works fine with that server PC in the same office. When my 2 printers each failed at a crucial time (always when you are mega busy and stressed out) I relied on the network (hard wired) and used the Dell printer .... sometimes. Some days I could print to the dell over the network from my Win 7 pc and other days it just wont have it. If I leave a few documents in a queue, they usually print... eventually... but I cannot figure what triggers the Dell printer to burst into life for me, yet it is on line according to all the info I can see on my Win 7 pc and prints immediately on request from another user on the old Win XP pc. I wonder if there is a connection metaphorically speaking, maybe the dell printer is causing an issue.

Back to your response: Using the Canon MG5350 for the test, I am printing via USB, mostly from MS Word, Nuance PDF standard or MS Outlook for emails.

If there is a risk of burning out the print head by trying to print a document, I may have done so already by trying so many times while trying to solve the issue. I really cant remember if the issue was progressive or sudden, sudden I think as I dont recall any half printed documents.

I have tried a different USB cable, different port, different cartridges, removed and reinstalled the printer which my PC did automatically, tried the same with my laptop off the network connected direct to the printer.

When I cleaned the print head I used Trich: I am satisfied that when I squeeze the ink cartridges the ink is present at the contact face and a gentle blow on the vent expels ink from each cartridge with ease.

Every test page is the same. Trying deep cleaning for the 4th time.

On removing the print head and touching it on a piece of paper it leaves a trace of ink colours on the paper so the ink is getting to the head face, ...... then surprise surprise.

Image 1: is the same result I had been getting every time previously, 2 strips of 2 colours only.
On the periphery on image 1 can be seen where I touched the print head on paper, you can see the ink strips present.
Image 2: ... amazing, a reasonable test print, (the scanned image is not representative of the printed version ), and following that ... I printed an email from Outlook with black text and green shading, very acceptable.

I then tried to print the PDF invoice attached to the email, I tried a pdf opened in Nuance which flashed a send to printer message 1 then 2 pages, but the printer does not respond, when you look at the print queue the pdf file is not there.

I tried to print the pdf attachment with the email but only got the email message, not the attachment. I then tried the print test page and back to 2 stripes again. I messed around trying the pdf again a few times without success, and then the test page again which is pretty good. I tried a word document and that printed ok.

So maybe I should delete the Nuance PDF program and reinstall that as I noticed a highlighting glitch in its use recently, so that program is suspect.

Thanks again for steering me through this, I still dont know why touching the print head made any difference but that seemed to be a turning point, but doubtless a re install of the printer cleared a few bugs out and now I know basically the printer does work, I will continue to work on it, and try the same routine with the Epson printer.

 

[stratman]

Am I summarizing correctly that you have an intermittent issue in which the nozzle check is sometimes proper (inage 2) and sometimes improper (image 1)?

Try cleaning the electrical contacts on the print head with Isopropyl alcohol and lint free cloth or use a soft pencil eraser.

Maybe this is due to a a printer cable or logic assay board or print head circuit short. The exact reason is important if you are thinking of replacing the print head as a bad logic board assay may create a permanent malfunction in a print head and vice versa. Rare but it may happen.

This still could be, in part, an ink starvation (poor ink flow from the cartridge), but since the pattern of partial Cyan and Magenta nozzle check loss in the first and darkest horizontal swath is missing, along with missing Pigment Black and Yellow, this seems more likely an electrical malfunction based on nozzle check alone. Nozzle checks are application, network and operating system independent and so represent the state of the printer only.

FYI - image 2 shows missing Pigment Black nozzles (PGBK missing hatch lines) and what looks like missing nozzles in the Dye-based Black (BK) vertical solid bar. These may be permanent or temporary due to small clogs typically.

Until the nozzle check is proper and remains so then do not print anything else or you do risk permanently burning out the print head.

When I cleaned the print head I used Trich

This is a first I've read of someone using Trichloroethylene. We do recommend flushing and soaking print heads depending on the situation. This involves non-toxic solutions and patience. Only as a last resort is it ever suggested to take the print head apart as avoiding worse damage after reassembly is dismal.

If your issues with multiple printers began AFTER upgrading to Windows 7 then the most obvious question is whether Windows 7, or some component of the network, is corrupt. It would be awfully odd that an electrical surge occurred and cause an identical problem across more than one printer of different manufacture and model.

 

[The Hat]

Suggestion, uninstall the Canon driver completely, use Control to make sure you get it all, and then disconnect the USB from the printer, now here’s the easy bit, re-boot your PC and after 15 minutes plug the USB cable in again.

Just ignore the printer, and when the O/S is ready it will install the correct print driver, just wait because it will prompt you, and it may take minutes or hours, but your printer will work properly afterwards...

 

[Blastcleaner]

Thanks for the further thoughts Stratman, yes it is an intermittent issue but I now know it will work some times so I will follow your other suggestions. Incidentally, the trich was just a little drop left over from a job in about 1987, before it was identified as harmful.

The electrical surge is a distinct possibility as a cause of issues, we seem to get them fairly regularly and when they switch our supply over to a different line. I do have an APC backup battery system but I am not sure that does all that it should. Thanks again.

 

[Blastcleaner]

Thanks The Hat,
At Stratmans suggestion that is pretty much what I did, except for the 15 minute wait, the system loaded possibly 5 driver files for the internet, and with a few other tweeks I got it to print, but I have yet to get it to print a pdf, thats a new twist but I suspect the Nuance PDF program so will reinstall that.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[stratman]

I got it to print

I have yet to get it to print a pdf, thats a new twist but I suspect the Nuance PDF program so will reinstall that.

That's what I would try, too. If that doesn't work then try a different PDF application like the free Adobe Acrobat reader.