Maxify MB5440 ink absorber

[PeterBJ]

A weakness of Canon printheads is that they can fail suddenly without any warning like degraded print quality. They can print perfectly one day and have failed when the printer is turned on next day. I think this is what might have happened with the Maxify.

 

[2226]

But wouldn't the printer still power up and give an error code?
In this case it just lights up the orange warning light and remains with blank LCD.

Fired up the smaller 2140 after sitting just as long. This was also throwing some error code when turned off, but that's gone and it's working.

Think I'll pull the print head tonight and give it a clean again.

 

[PeterBJ]

If the printhead has failed cleaning is useless. if the printhead is dirty it will not prevent turning on the printer. You cannot clean an electronic error away. But you could try to turn on the printer with the printhead removed. If it can now turn on but with an error message about the printhead missing, the printhead is defective. If the orange warning light is still on, I think the logic board has failed.

When a canon printhead fails it can but does not always damage the logic board. A logic board damaged in this way can damage a new printhead, so replacing a Canon printhead without replacing the logic board is a gamble. See this thread.

When a Canon printhead fails you normally get a B200 or other error message, but I have also had a printer with a defective printhead that would not turn on. I have also had a printer that just showed a yellow warning light and was totally unresponsive, but that might have been the result of failed experiments with service mode and a wrong service tool.

Sadly I think the printer cannot be repaired.

 

[2226]

Will pull the head and see what it does then.
Not to concerned about junking it. It's done good service over 5-6 years.