Greetings Gentlemen,
I was pointed in your direction by the great jtoolman, who has graciously offered his time and expert advice. I've hit a wall with my Pixma Pro-1, and he said if The Hat can't solve the mystery...noone can.
This is my first post, and it will be rather long. My hope is that providing these details will make a diagnosis easier, and in the process possibly assist others encountering the same problem.
I purchased a Canon Pixma Pro-1 printer in March 2014. At that time, I had also done enough research to know that purchasing OEM ink refills was going to be too expensive, so I found a seller of aftermarket refill carts. They had good reviews on eBay, so I purchased a full set to have on hand when the day come to replace the OEM carts. After some initial use, my printer sat mostly unused for about a year and a half. That had nothing to do with the printer, I just got very busy with other activities. I started getting into printing my photos again in November and December last year. The printer still had the original OEM ink carts. During those two months time I printed roughly 150-200 photos, mostly 8x10 and some 4x6 and 5x7. I use Canon’s My Image Garden software, which works great for my needs. I also use mostly Canon photo paper, but have dabbled a little bit with one or two others. I have been very impressed with the quality of the prints.
During that time, the chrome optimizer and first color(s) ran out. So I got out my box of replacement carts that I ordered in 2014 and replaced each one as-needed. Each cart was vacuum sealed in clear plastic. I would continue printing until the software said a cart was empty, rather than change them at the first warning “you’re almost out of ink”. Everything worked fine with the first 3 replacements, and I was able to continue printing with the same quality of images. It got to a point where I had 3 carts replaced with aftermarket carts, and 9 originals still in use, but all of the originals were soon showing warnings about the ink levels getting low. As far as I could tell, everything was still normal.
I will say here that I did not leave the power turned on for extended periods of time, and I do not know if the 45-day issue was ever a factor with my printer issue(s). But I think that wouldn’t be an issue here, regardless of what’s gone wrong. My understanding is that the only variation would be the ink depleting faster due to repeated cleaning cycles.
About a month and a half went by, and I wanted to print some more photos earlier this week. I powered up the printer, launched My Image Garden and selected a photo to print. As the printer finished its warm-up cycle, the existing ink level warnings that were there before showed up again as expected. Before it would print the first photo, the software indicated it would not proceed until I replaced an empty ink cart. And again, this was no different than what happened before. I replaced it and pressed the alarm button on the printer, which was flashing orange. The printer went through its (cleaning?) cycle for a few minutes, then the software popped up the same warning that it wouldn’t proceed until another (different) color was replaced. I repeated the steps and replaced that color. After going through this cycle for about 5 of the remaining 9 OEM carts that were low when I started, I said “screw it” and replaced the remaining 4 OEM carts at one time to be done with it. Keep in mind, it still had not printed the photo.
After replacing the last 4 carts, the printer went through its cycle again, and showed all 12 ink cart levels to be good on the My Image Garden window. This is what I expected, and I thought I was good to go. I tried to print the photo, but the feared and dreaded B500 error came up. I tried pressing the alarm button on the printer, and that didn’t do anything. I tried power-cycling the printer multiple times (via the power button, as well as unplugging it) and rebooting the computer and that didn’t work either.
I turned to the internet and found this thread where many others, including you, described similar issues. To my horror, I then discovered I couldn’t even get the doors open to check the carts and reset them. Thankfully there were instructions on how to take the panels off and get to the carts manually. So I did that, checking them one at a time and re-seating them. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. No leaking or apparent damage to any parts of the aftermarket carts. I tried this twice. Unfortunately, this did not fix the problem.
The alarm lamp (orange) and power lamp (white) flash alternately 8 times and then the power lamp stays solid for about a second, then the cycle repeats. The chart on the Canon manual says this coincides with numerous Support Codes, including B500. The description on the chart says “other cases than above”.
I’m at a loss here because 3 of those aftermarket carts worked and I was able to produce numerous prints with them equipped. And when I replaced the others at a later date, the software appeared to at least recognize them and the good ink levels. But once that B500 error came up, the printer went on lock-down. The software still shows the new aftermarket cart ink levels to be good. I have attached an image showing the ink level and error pop-up windows.
Do you know if this fixable, or has my printer turned into a 70lb boat anchor? The cost of sending it to Canon and having them do any repairs, not to mention ordering another set of OEM ink carts is almost cost-prohibitive at this point.
Before I ran into this problem, I was going to order another set of aftermarket carts from the same vendor, but they replied this week that they've gone out of business (see email at the bottom of this post). After reading about jtoolman's and Precision Colors products and solutions to the OEM-only problem, I realized that refilling modified carts is the way I want to go…IF I can get my printer working again. So I reached out to him for advice, and here are the steps he had me try.
“If you've already read [the message thread on printerknowledge.com] then I think your only option is reverting back to OEM which will be very costly and cannot even guarantee it will clear up the error. I assume you were able to manually open the cart lids and removed the carts.
Close everything back up not installing the carts, pull the power cord for 5-10 minutes. Replug and power up. The printer will complain about not having carts. Press the cart lid button. Hopefully it I'll open the two doors. Reinsert each cart left to right one at a time. If these compatibles have the led type chip and the light pipe, you will see the red light indicator as with OEM. Now close the ink compartment lids and cross fingers. If you are successful, then you can begin to consider using my OEM modified carts and single use chips and inks from precisioncolors.com. Otherwise if you can not clear off the error, my system will not help you.”
Performing these steps did clear the orange/white LED 8x flashing error, and they allowed me to open the doors via the button on top of the printer. The ink level window in My Image Garden also appeared to recognize them and their full levels. However, as soon as I attempted to print an image, the printer reverted back to the orange/white LED 8x flashing error and pop-up window indicating the B500 code.
At this point I called jtoolman, who was kind enough to explain some of these issues in more detail. In the end, since nothing was working, he recommended I approach the bench of judge The Hat and plead my case before the court.
Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated.
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Sorry but at the first of the year we had to make a hard decision to close our business.
Sorry but we no longer have any ink cartridges in stock.
Fred and Bobbie Graham
Ink It Up 4 Less, LLC
3841 Laurel Crest Drive
Mulberry FL 33860
863-370-6854 after 6pm EST
inkitup4less@verizon.net
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Hello,
I purchased a set of ink cartridges for my Pixma Pro-1 from you through eBay in March of 2014.
Item #: 161155553636
Description: 12pk complete set non OEM pigment ink for Canon Pixma Pro-1 PGI 29 with new Chip.
The paper included with my order states that I can email you and make another purchase directly. Is that offer still available?
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-HoneyBadger
