MP530 Nozzle check grid, same 2 spots missing crossbar

[bgc999]

I had some bad yellow banding issues so I removed the print head and cleaned by sitting it in a pan on paper towel with just enough distilled water in the bottom of the pan to cover the paper towel. I also used an eye dropper to drop the water into the ink intakes. There was virtually no ink residue on the towel when I was done.

When I print a nozzle check the grid for the PGI5-BK cart shows just 2 spots where the crossbar is missing from the grid, making a blank square at each spot instead of the usual half height rectangles in the rest of the grid. I also did a few head cleaning cycles but no matter how many times I print the nozzle check, the same 2 spots show the break in the grid.

I printed out a Symantec rebate form that has alot of yellow and various other colors as well. It looks fine with no banding and there is some very small print that also looks fine. It even has a grid where you enter your name, addr etc. and I see no breaks in that grid.

What should I make of these 2 spots on the nozzle check grid? I don't recall the last time that I did a nozzle check but I'm assuming that the grid didn't always have those 2 spots with missing crossbars.

Thanks,
BGC

 

[The Hat]

First off dont print anything till you get your problem fixed other than nozzles checks.

Its hard to tell one way or the other without seeing your actual nozzle check,
it makes it easier to see the extent of any blockage,
so can you do a new nozzle check and post it on here for us please..

 

[bgc999]

Arrows point to the two spots missing crossbars. The actual printed nozzle check looks better than the rest of this uploaded image. I did a greyscale scan because trying color scan was showing color in the grid.

 

[The Hat]

Right, can I ask why you did the up-load in B&W instead of colour, was there a reason for that,
and we only needed the printed section and not the whole sheet.

Looking at your nozzle check the two missing segment are nothing to worry about at present
and should in time disappear all together unless its the ink or your cartridges that is causing the problem in the first place..

Lets get down to the business end of things, what type of cartridges and inks are you using
and do you refill your own cartridges.. (Brand)

 

[bgc999]

I uploaded in B&W because when I scanned in color, the grid looked like it had color in it and some of the color bars didn't look right either. I've never used the scanner feature before so that is the best I could come up with. Is there a better way to get it on here?

The cartridges are generic prefilled from Meritline.

 

[turbguy]

The two missing lines on your PGBK matrix in the nozzle check represent the performance of two individual nozzles (one for each line).. Either those 2 nozzles a still clogged, or they non-functional (heating elements burned out). If you are still satisfied with your print output, continue to use the printer.

Wayne

 

[bgc999]

That grid takes multiple passes to print so why aren't there other blank spots on the grid caused by the same non-working nozzles?

Thanks,
BGC

 

[PeterBJ]

The PGBK grid is actually printed in one pass. The Canon printheads could be considered two printheads in one. There is one section for dye colors and one for pigment black. The pigment black set of nozzles is much wider than the dye color set of nozzles. Each small horizontal line in the PGBK grid represents one nozzle. See this post, third picture: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=8684#p8684 and note difference of size and shape of the two nozzle sets.

 

[bgc999]

Well, my PGBK grid has now filled in and is printing correctly. Now I have a Yellow problem so I'm going to close this thread and post a new one about that.

Thanks,
BGC

 

[jimbo123]

i'm a little late to the party here.

i recently cleaned my MP830 print head, finally got a good nozzle check except for 2 missing PGI5 spots as well.

they fixed themselves in a few days as well