i950 - was missing 1 colour, now have none

[Red_Tortoise]

Hi folks, I hope someone can help. I had done approximately 2 refills per colour with no problems (refilling each time at the low ink warning). I ran a Hi-res print & discovered that Photo Magenta was not printing, other 5 colours ok. Refilled tank, no joy. Installed brand new Canon tank, still no joy. After reading this forum & Neil's page, I tried the compressed air method, but foolishly (in hindsight) blew out all 6 nozzles. Now I can't get any ink to paper despite numerous normal & deep clean cycles.
Thanks.

 

[Mark]

Hello RedTortoise: First let me say that while "all nozzles" failing seems the worst that can happen, it probably really indicates a less serious problem. It's hard to say without more information - but, first try removing all the cartridges and reseating the print head. It is also a common mistake to attempt to load the tanks into the print head before latching it into place. This will cause the printer to print nothing at all.

I cannot imagine that all of the colors would have failed at once (while as you will read in this forum PM and Cyan are regular culprits).

Once you get up and printing again, try resolving the clogged nozzle problem with either alcohol (my preference) or a cleaner with ammonia. Lots of details on this site. One easy way is to pour isopropyl alcohol (70/30) into the individual well of the printhead of the color causing the problem until it just covers the ink receptor. After allowing it to soak in for a few minutes, blow it through with some canned air. You should feel the air coming through the openings of the print head and see that color ink on a paper towel held beneath it. Repeat if necessary. Follow by printing a pattern of that color until a clear image is seen.
Good Luck!

 

[fotofreek]

Red - this is not a response to solve the problem - Mark has answered this issue. For refilling carts it is important that you not let the ink level in the reservoir get so low. Refill while there is still at least 1/4th of the ink left in the reservoir. Rather than continually taking out the carts to check, Nifty had suggested using a strong flashlight to periodically check ink levels. Letting the ink level get down to where the low ink level warning is triggered lets too much of the sponge dry out and possibly not hold ink when you refill.

 

[Mark]

Foto makes an excellent point: an ounce of prevention... When in doubt as to the vitality of a tank for purposes of refilling, replace it & attempt to restore the questionable tank as your leisure time & interest permits. Good aftermarket tanks can be had for $2-$3 US and ususally this presents the best solution when you've allowed one to deplete too far (notwithstanding the resurection techniques presented in the forum for those interested in such challenges).

 

[Red_Tortoise]

Thanks for the replies. Since my first post I have reseated the tanks & print head a few times, run numerous deep cleans & cursed a lot, then slept on it.
Now the magenta prints, albeit not perfectly, but no other colours.

The nozzle check test print has a row of boxes, A thru E; which 2 are the PM & PC? Also, of the 6 grids at the top of the page, which grid is PM & PC?

Have now tried the alcohol & air flush out, now back to no ink on paper. It is obvious that no ink is getting from the tanks to the head since I've blown it dry. After 4 deep cleans, 2 colours now flowing, cyan prints perfectly, one magenta imperfectly. Should all this nozzle cleaning be necessary, or should the ink simply 'run' down into the head? 10 deep cleans later & no improvement.
I appreciate that the initial problem is probably mine by running a tank too low before refilling, but what most concerns me is that the fresh out of the pack OEM PM Canon tank won't work either. I certainly can't recomend to anyone the "air" method :-(

What do I do? This printer has done very little work & (Murphy's Law) is just out of warranty. Do I concede defeat & buy another print head? If I do would I dare putting the existing cartridges in it? No doubt an OEM print head & cartridges will cost much more than another printer.
Red.

 

[BlasterQ]

This is 'scary' stuff. I sure wish somebody can give you a solution. All of the solutions I could think of, you've tried already, except for replacing the printhead. You probably have a faulty printhead, but then again, I can't guarantee that's the problem.
I'm sure somebody here can find a way to remedy your problem.

 

[kenban]

Printheads for a Canon printer are just not worth the cost in most cases. You can pick up a refubished i960 for only $69.99 from TigerDirect (Item # C125-I960 RB). Although that only comes with a 3 month warranty they offer a 1 year warranty for $9.99 and a 2 year for only $16.99. Thats not new but thats actually cheaper then the printhead for your printer and I believe it does come with a set of new carts. Wonder if its a used or new print head that comes in the box?

 

[Endmukbud]

Hey, don't to fast buying a new head...try these....
i've also had same experience with you.....

try to put your head in a hot or worm water about 1 cm height, at least to cover your printhead...but don't let the water come into your ink tank...for about 15 minutes...then try it slowly....cycle it in deep clean...nozzle check...deep clean...nozzle check...

Or like HP method put the ink tank on your printer all, then blew an air from the ink catridge breather port ( not the refill port ), the one which lies above the sponge...to push the ink to the nozzle

did you notice if there is must always exist a liquid inside the nozzle.. a must....
even at the new head at the store there is always a liquid ( i dunno what is it )
cause when there is an air inside your nozzle that mean a trouble, isn't it right gentleman....

 

[Grandad35]

You didn't say, but have you only tried your refilled carts? If this is the case, get a new set of carts (3rd party are also OK - like InkGrabber) to see if this helps. Since PM was the first to show a problem and it tends to be the most problematic ink, I suspect that this cart is "plugged".

After the cleaning cycles, pull the carts and look at the top of each ink pickup where the filter in the discharge of the cart meets the print head. Is the pickup dry, or is there a small "puddle" of ink on the top? If one or more are dry, those carts are not delivering ink to the pickup, and its not the print head that is clogged.

Consider the situation where the printhead is empty (the ink channels are full of air) and a single cart does not deliver ink to its ink pickup. The printer's cleaning cycles pull a vacuum on the discharge of the nozzles to pull ink through every channel. When no ink is delivered to even one pickup with air in the channels, the vacuum will just pull air through that channel, and there will be very little vacuum left to fill the other channels.

Another question - with all of these cleaning cycles, are there any carts that don't seem to be getting empty? If so, they are probably your problem.

 

[Endmukbud]

yes grandad is also true.....beside your nozzle...the other factor is the ink catridge..
if it's dead it wont give you nozzle ink.