i9900 - New Printhead, blanks, inks and missing nozzles on prints

[muzicman82]

Ok, I have this i9900, and I just bought a brand new printhead, and new inks and blanks from MIS Associates. Filled up the blanks and did 1 cleaning cycle and then a service test print. Guess what? I'm missing Photo Magenta nozzles.

This doesn't seem like a printhead or ink supply issue... This seems like it could be something wrong with the printer. Any ideas? I'm sure someone has seen this exact print pattern before, because it's just like every other row is missing.

See the scan below. All of the other colors are 100% fine. Just PM that has an issue. I even tried yet another blank with new ink. Ideas?

 

[ghwellsjr]

A regular pattern like this is almost always an electrical problem. If you're lucky, it will be a bad contact on the side of the printhead. Clean them and check the springy contacts that mate with them.

Since you just bought a new printhead, do you have your old one? If it prints any of the missing nozzles, then the problem is in the new printhead and you should get it replaced. If both printheads do the same thing, the problem is in the printer and probably cannot be fixed.

 

[muzicman82]

Electrical as in the logic board?? What else could it be?

I have already swapped carriage assembly units from one of the dead ones to this one and it did the same thing. I also tried the 2nd brand new printhead and have the same results. Am I screwed on this printer?

I'm about at my wit's end with the i9900. It's a fantastic printer when it works.. but the history as of recent has gone like this:
1. My original i9900 just stopped turning on.
2. Bought a used working one from eBay. I think this one had this same regular test print that I'm experiencing now. Then this one just stopped turning on.
3. Bought yet a 3rd used, working i9900 on eBay. This is the one I'm using now. Bought two new printheads for it, all new inks and blanks. Getting this weird Photo Magenta test pattern now.

I don't want to move on to another model since I have about a year's worth of ink for this model. I suppose I could purchase new logic boards for them, but they're $200.

Any idea where I can buy a NEW i9900 or even a new iP8500? These eBay printers are sucking cash right out of me. They all claim to work fine, but its problem after problem. Perhaps the sellers assume that the normal user wouldn't notice a few missing nozzles in a print.

 

[muzicman82]

But would only one color be a problem??

 

[muzicman82]

Oh, I actually did replace the purge unit from one of the other dead ones... but that one could be dried up as well. I did notice that after a few cleaning cycles, most colors lost significant ink in the tank but PM did not.. but I don't know if that's an electrical problem not printing ink from nozzles or a mechanical from the purge unit not pulling ink during priming.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You are having very bad luck. Chances are, if you are seeing the same missing nozzle pattern on all of your i9900's with all of your printheads, that one of your printheads is burning out the logic boards on all of your printers (assuming you have tried all your printheads in all your printers). It's very sad. You may still have some good printheads but you run the risk of burning out any more printers if you experiment to find out if they are good. To add insult to injury, it is also possible that a burned out printer can burn out your other printheads. It's a very risky situation.

If you buy another i9900, make sure it works correctly and don't put in any of your existing printheads. If it doesn't work correctly, see if you can return it.

If you want to continue with the i9900, I would call Canon and explain the whole story to them and see if they have some way to safely test your printheads or repair your printers.

I'm very sorry.

 

[muzicman82]

No I haven't been mixing printheads and printers. This i9900 worked 100%, but then I lost some nozzles on a printhead, which I attributed to bad ink that damaged the printhead. That problem was with photo cyan. I then ordered new printheads AND ink/blanks, loaded it all up, and this PM problem is what I get. Basically, the other i9900s are just sitting around dead. So, I went from a known working i9900 with a slight PC problem to a PM problem.

 

[muzicman82]

I just called Beck's CRS for info on buying a logic board. Apparently they are no longer available to Canon. Because of this, they are offering a trade-in for the Pro 9000 for $210. All I have to do is send Beck's my i9900. It would be rather stupid not to just do this, huh?

I know the Pro9000 and i9900 use the same printhead, but different inks. I have a LOT of MIS ink left. I know the CLI-8 cartridges have chips also. Does anyone see any reason why using the old i9900 ink in a Pro9000 would be bad? If it uses the same printhead, the inks should behave the same as far as the printer is concerned. Color might be off, but I create my own profiles with a Pantone Color Munki.

Or, is anyone interested in a lot of new BCI-6 compatible ink and blanks?

I also have three i9900s, so if I replaced them all, would anyone be interested in buying a Pro 9000 on the cheap?

 

[Ron350]

You would think some one would be rebuilding those i9900 logic boards.

It would be nice to know what part goes bad on that logic board.

 

[muzicman82]

My thoughts exactly. I think I might attempt to verify all that all pins on the logic board are making it to the printhead terminal. I'd hate for it to be something stupid like a cold solder joint.