Canon Pixma Pro-1 to bin?

Ciao everyone
I'll try to give order to what's happening, hopefully you guys could give me some good advises.
My Pixma Pro-1 has been bought as new in October 2016 by Internet from an existing shop in Melbourne. This shop, making today a search on line, is closed permanently.

From the unboxing till a couple of weeks ago, I might printed not more than 100 (maybe) prints. Was bought with some plans, but these plans never found the start that I wished. But because I loved its quality , I decided to keep it.

After running out of the genuine set of ink cartridges supplied with the printer, I bought for two times on the same place on ebay, a set of NON genuine cartridges. So the last that the printer was working was the second set.

Two weeks ago, after long time I was not using it, cause a kidney disease, I had to "put to sleep" my beautiful dog, an Irish wolfhound called Freki, so, pushed from my grieving, I decided to print some A3 photos.

I had to replace two of the cartridges before to start to print. The first two prints went good, At the third printing I got a (very famous reading around) B500 error on the screen, and the printer was on but paused, if I'm not wrong flashing the orange light.

I switched off and restarted, but always got the B500. Because I was aware that the warranty was expired, I tried to find myself how to solve the issue with the B500. I downloaded the tool program and I executed the sequence to put the printer in service mode.
The printer didn't go in service mode, but started to give some alternated flashing between the resume button and the power button. 8 orange flashes alternated with 8 power blue flashes. Total of 16. In this guide online about the meaning of the flashing error https://www.redrivercatalog.com/inf...g-of-canon-printer-warning-light-flashes.html I couldn't find 16.
I tried several times to put in service mode, but without any luck.

Am I wrong or the B500 should mean that the waste ink cartridge is full?

Because I'm not through printers, I decided to take it to a authorized Canon service center, address that is suggested on the Canon web page.

Today I received this answer from the technician
Date: 13/12/2018 12:01 PM

Comment: Hi Simone,
We have inspected the printer and checked the reported error - not waste ink pads full (8 orange flashes), it is in fact an issue with the Print Head and the Ink Delivery System (8 alternating orange-green flashes).
Diagnosis of possible causes - Ink tank, Print head, Ink Supply Unit, Relay3 Flexible Flat Cable, Motor Multi Harness ass'y, or Logic Board ass'y in that order. I have ruled out the Cable and Harness assemblies and asked Canon to quote on parts pricing and availability on the remaining parts. Response from Canon: QM3-8359-000 INK SUPPLY UNIT $603, not available (4-6 weeks). QM3-7266-000 LOGIC BOARD ASS'Y $289, not available (4-6 weeks). QY6-0081-000 PRINT HEAD $465, stock on hand.
Please notify me if you wish to proceed, or pick up the printer as is.
Regards,

I decided to pick up the printer and have a chat with the technician. He told me that that flashing could says one of those problems, but could not be specified which. The amount, changing part by part, waiting to find the right issue, is above what I paid the printer. And that 4-6 weeks wait is something not to trust, especially because in Australia, listening the technician, Canon doesn't have a "canon stock facility" but use DHL for manage stock. (no idea if this is correct)

Now, do I really have to surrender to the fact that a still almost new $1100 (when I bought it) had let me down becoming a piece of furniture, or can I consider others path to enjoy it for a bit longer?
Thank you in advance

PS the photo is my lovely girl, Freki

Sorry I didn't want to put the photo in the middle

So sorry to hear you lost your faithful friend Freki. Thank you for including a picture of her. Such expressive eyes! Many of us have been where you are and understand. She will always be with you.

I do no have any good answer for you concerning your printer. It sounds like the authorized Canon service center is untrained, unable or unwilling to actually diagnose the issue in order to fix the problem and only the problem. This is Canon's methodology - just replace stuff till it works or get a new printer. This practice is used by other companies. For instance, my microwave failed and the company sent out a serviceman. He ended up replacing a number of parts and the cost of the parts and labor were well above a replacement microwave. Crazy!

Not sure what to tell you about your printer except that it may be time for a new one. Maybe another forum member will offer advice of a workaround to get your printer functioning again. I fear it would be similar to what the repairman told you - changing one part at a time until it works again.

@Simone, Priority 1), she was a real beauty and I’m sure you’ll miss her greatly, dogs have an uncanny knack of getting into your heart and it takes years for them to leave, because I’m still mourning the loss of my dog 3 years on, and I can see why you want to print that Photo..

Now your printer sounds sick and there could be quite a few things wrong or just one thing, this B500 error can be very mis leading so I’ll have a guess and say it could be caused by a mismatch of your ink cartridges.

You need to have all OEM, or all 3 party carts installed at the same time, sometimes you can get away with installing 1 or 2 non-OEM carts and other times not, it really all depends on which colour cart is the offending intruder, try reinstall the empties to test the theory..

If that does not solve your problem you'll have to remove the print head and let it soak in a dish of warm water with a few drops of washing up liquid (Fairy Brand or equivalent) then reinstall it after several hours, make sure to power off the printer with the On/Off button.

Changing the Print head is not a job you want to do on any Pro 1, because it wastes quite a lot of ink and this procedure should only be done as a last resort, when everything else has failed.

Your experience with Canon Service is truly typical, they look at the error message and then change anything that is mentioned therein regardless till it clears the error, after all it’s only your money.

P.S. you need to use your inkjet printer weekly or much more often, otherwise it will use and waste loads of ink on every start-up, idle printers tend to have a very short lifespan...

@The Hat @stratman
Thank you both for yours words, I really appreciate. She was something special, a gentle heart that was delicate with all the world around us. She was gentle even with my chickens and other animals I rescued in my place. Will be hard and will take long to heal my heart.

About the cartridges, I got what you mean, but they were already from the same supplier. Just to give it a go, I completed the set I bought, loading the remaining ones. Nothing improved.
Have you a guide how to remove correctly the head?
What's wrong to remove it unplugging the power cable? Fairy brand, in english, mean dish soap? completely drawn in the water or only a specific part?
I don't want to do more mess than I'll probably do
Thanks

Ok, I found the info about how to remove the head.
A couple of photos of the situation inside, I didn't have any waste of ink!!! It means that the ink can't reach the nozzles that go into the head?

watching some videos on you tube I "washed" the head, just the part interested. Left in the warm water for 3/4 minutes, and left to drop the ink in several absorbent paper and let to dry all night long. This morning, set it up and...nothing changed. I'm disappointed and I can't see any light out of this misfortune. I start to think isn't maintenance problem, might something inside is not working anymore.
Any of you has another idea?

Just to plan the future. Even I should change brand because of this happening, is the Pixma pro-10 (s?) reliable ? I can't afford again one like the pro-1 but I could work it out to save money for a price as the pro-10. Any other suggests?

@Simone, I’m sorry your printer still isn’t working, but you should have taken the help offered here and not jump ahead with unhelpful suggestions from 3rd parties’ and then do things that were totally unnecessary.

Advice given here is specify for that individual and you should not follow help from other sources at the same time, problem solving needs to be done one thing at a time and the key words are Patients and slowly slowly.

There is nothing further we can do because we’ve no idea what else you might have done that may have caused further damage, the Pro 1 is not the type of printer you should take apart and then hope everybody can help you, software issues are best tackled and resolved externally first.

As far as other Canon printers go, yes the Pro 10 is very reliable and trust worthy, but I’d suggest you not get another printer because you don’t have enough work to keep it happy, and all inkjet printer need to be used regularly or they too will prematurely cease to function.

It’s the nature of the beast...

The Hat said:

@Simone, I’m sorry your printer still isn’t working, but you should have taken the help offered here and not jump ahead with unhelpful suggestions from 3rd parties’ and then do things that were totally unnecessary.
Advice given here is specify for that individual and you should not follow help from other sources at the same time, problem solving needs to be done one thing at a time and the key words are Patients and slowly slowly.

There is nothing further we can do because we’ve no idea what else you might have done that may have caused further damage, the Pro 1 is not the type of printer you should take apart and then hope everybody can help you, software issues are best tackled and resolved externally first.

As far as other Canon printers go, yes the Pro 10 is very reliable and trust worthy, but I’d suggest you not get another printer because you don’t have enough work to keep it happy, and all inkjet printer need to be used regularly or they too will prematurely cease to function.

It’s the nature of the beast...

Click to expand...

Hello Hat, don't be sorry, please, is a printer and not my dog and I don't want you be annoyed by me (this what I feel reading). And I really didn't think to offend anyone trying to follow what was suggested using the only time I had, because Australia and Ireland has a big time gap.
When you write "totally unnecessary" I don't understand, because I made only the things were suggested.
About my rush. Yes, I have to admit I got some, but (obviously you can't know) tomorrow I have to go overseas and when I'll come back I'll have so many things to do (obviously you can't know again) before can "touch" again the printer as I could do these days.
My rush was not impulsive, and I followed what was suggested with the major calm possible.

The Hat said:

You need to have all OEM, or all 3 party carts installed at the same time, sometimes you can get away with installing 1 or 2 non-OEM carts and other times not, it really all depends on which colour cart is the offending intruder, try reinstall the empties to test the theory..

Click to expand...

As I already wrote about, I tried to use all the cartridges of the same set. Two were the new ones among the old ones, so I replaced the old with the newest to have the whole same set received in the box. For do this I had to dismount few parts as instructions found in this forum
https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/pro-1-ink-absorber-spilling-on-to-rollers.12924/

The Hat said:

If that does not solve your problem you'll have to remove the print head and let it soak in a dish of warm water with a few drops of washing up liquid (Fairy Brand or equivalent) then reinstall it after several hours, make sure to power off the printer with the On/Off button.
Changing the Print head is not a job you want to do on any Pro 1, because it wastes quite a lot of ink and this procedure should only be done as a last resort, when everything else has failed.

Click to expand...

After following the procedure that you posted in this forum "Pro1_Print head Release.." pdf, I washed the head as you suggested, but because I didn't have answer (damn rush, isn't it) I found this, and I considered really wise way to do it, if not, my bad


I believed to leave in this way between 3 and five minutes, after that dip, I just left the head in the same position on absorbent paper, and every time the paper was full of ink, I replaced it. After about ten paper, the head didn't release lot of ink, so I decided to go to sleep, best way to let the head be sure to be dry before mount it again.

I did all this procedures with the power cable attached to the printer, and the printer switched off.

By the way, dismount the plastic was not very difficult. If there was some electrical obstacles I don't think I'd tried.

Guys feel free to give me suggests, but if I offend anyone trying to help myself, and trying to follow what suggested, don't worry. All good

Ciao
Simone

I don’t get annoyed, I just feel sorry for you the owner of this expensive printer that is now no more than a door stop when things go wrong.

What I meant to say was, getting help from others that don’t know a thing about the Pro 1 is a sure recipe for disaster, because this printer is special and unique that very few know what it’s capable of, one wrong move and it won’t work.

Your initial error was a software problem cause by the printer and not a hardware or mechanical problem, and this is where you needed to have patients, you need to thread carefully if you ever want to get it to work again.

I suggested (As a last resort) removing the print head, because that action can sometimes cause the printer to do a reset and cancel the error and placing it in a bowl of water was just to keep it from drying out, and no other reason.

Removing the top cover was also unnecessary, because unplugging or dismantling something can also cause the printer to react usually or cause a fatal error to occur, not to mention jamming your fingers because
the printer has a live active memory and detests all interference inside it.

The main cause of B500 error is where you could have unequal ink flow issues in the head or when you have a mismatch of cartridges installed which can cause abnormal pressure issues, but mostly it’s always ink related and the Service Centre also mentioned a few other possibilities, which were bogus.

The problem you have is you changed or alter so many things together, and nothing worked, because in your situation the need to try just one solution at a time is the only way of solving the problem properly...