Canon i990 colour problem when set for higher grade paper

[JeremyB]

I have a Canon i990 printer which is about 3 1/2 years old. It prints well when set to print on normal paper, but when set to print on any of the higher grades of paper (e.g. Glossy Photo Paper or Photo Paper Plus Glossy), it prints with a heavy red/purple hue over the entire page. This has nothing to do with the quality of paper actually in the printer; it is entirely dependent on the paper setting within the printer properties.

Following Canon's suggestions I have tried cleaning the print heads, followed by a nozzle check, followed by a deep cleaning, followed by another nozzle check. The printouts from the nozzle check appear to be 100% good. I have also run the print head alignment check.

I have uninstalled and then reinstalled the printer driver, and I have tried printing using three different programmes ( (PS Elements, Canon Easy-PhotoPrint & the Windows XP programme).

I have tried different ink cartridges.

I'm out of ideas now, but I'm reluctant to junk the printer, or even consider a replacement printhead. The fact that I'm getting perfectly good printouts from the nozzle check indicates to me that the printhead is okay, but maybe I'm wrong?

Anyone got any ideas?

JeremyB

 

[Manuchau]

Not really enough info....Are you using Canon cartridges, refills or compatibles?
Have you removed the cyan and magenta cartridges to see if there is any cross-contamination? This does happen occasionally, especially with certain compatibles.

Is your default colour print setting set to "Auto"? Or did you do a manual colour adjustment setting?
have you considered using profiles for the paper you use?

 

[JeremyB]

Hi Manuchau

Thanks for your comments.

I am using refills from a company called Cartridge World, and have done from the word go. This is a company in the UK with over 300 outlets, and has a pretty good reputation for its ink quality. Of course, people will say that using non-manufacturer's inks can cause problems, and I guess this may be the case, but somehow I don't think it is.

As far as I can see, there is no cross contamination between the cyan and magenta cartridges. I am not knowledgeable about the construction of the printhead, but the 'pads' which the cartridge outlets press against appear to have the correct colouration. Is there any further check that I should make?

The default colour print setting is set to 'auto'. I have never found a need to use the manual colour adjustment setting, as I have been very pleased with the quality of colour prints I've been getting in the past. The same comment applies to using profiles for different papers.

The thing to emphasise is that I have not in any way changed the way that I use the printer, or the settings in properties. This problem occurred suddenly and completely. In other words it was not a gradual tendency towards a red/purple colouration. One day it was working well; the next day it had changed. Actually, I should be more accurate and say that one week it had been working well and the next week it had changed, as it was a week or more between doing colour prints.

At the risk of repeating myself, the problem is occurring because of the paper setting within the printer properties. Regardless of what paper is in the printer - plain, Glossy Photo, etc - print quality is okay on the plain paper setting (but obviously limited in its overall quality), but the red/purple hue appears on all other paper settings in the printer properties.

JeremyB

 

[WhiteDog]

I had the similar problem on an i9900 and it was traced to using 3rd party cartridges lacking the 2-zone sponge. See if your sponges are Canon, 2-sponge, refilled. Somehow the extraction of ink is inadequate from certain single-color cartridges, and the vacuum exerts itself on others, usually cyan. It was two years before this issue turned up. The problem disappeared when I refilled Canon cartridges. Now I use a CIS, which is bliss.

 

[JeremyB]

Hi WhiteDog

My cartridges are Canon, supplied originally with the printer. I also bought a spare for each colour; Canon as well. Since then, they have been re-filled at Cartridge World. I get my own cartridges back from Cartridge World, not someone else's. I suppose it is possible that there has been deterioration of the sponge, but I would have expected the problem to occur gradually not suddenly. Also, I have tried using my second set of cartridges which didn't help with the problem.

If, for arguments sake, I assume that the problem lies with the printhead, is it possible to change a head oneself? Alternatively, are there websites where I can find instructions on how to remove, dismantle, check and clean a printhead? I'm pretty competent with mechanical things; just no experience in this area.

The i990 is a darned good printer when it works properly and I'm reluctant to replace it unless absolutely necessary. Partly this is because it seems to me that the nearest current Canon 'equivalent' - the Pixma iP4500 - may possibly not be as good for colour printing as the i990.

The iP4500 is relatively inexpensive (compared to what I paid for the i990 3 1/2 years ago), so if it is as good or better than the i990 I guess I'll be better off junking the i990 rather that spending time & money trying to put it right. Has anyone got any experience of the colour print quality between the i990 and the iP4500?

JeremyB

 

[Grandad35]

JeremyB,

For information on removing a print head, go to the "Search" tab near the top of the page, enter "remove AND print AND head" (without the quotes) into the "Keyword search" box and select "Topic Subject only" from the "Search in" box. New print heads can usually be purchased for far less than a new printer and are very easy to replace.

I didn't see any mention that you have tried a different set of carts - have you? Cross-contamination of some colors may not be obvious from looking at the carts.

Reinstalling the driver should have cleared any incorrect driver settings for certain paper types. Did you "remove" the old driver before reinstalling it? Have you tried connecting this printer to a different computer?

 

[JeremyB]

Hi Grandad35

Many thanks for the information on removing a printhead. I shall look into that.

Yes, I have tried a different set of cartridges. I had duplicates of all the colours, and one of the first things I did was to substitute them for the cartridges in the printer. Yes, I did uninstall the old driver before reinstalling it. Your thinking with regard to connecting the printer to different computer is exactly the same as mine. I plan to try that sometime this weekend. I guess that should, once and for all, identify whether the problem is in the printer or in the driver, although I may have to install the Canon driver on the other computer so that it can 'talk' with the printer. Therefore, if the problem is inherent to the driver, this test may not actually prove anything. Having said that, I can see no reason why the driver should be fundamentally at fault, as it was working just fine until recently.

I have only just discovered this forum, and it is really encouraging and pleasing to see the helpful responses I'm getting to my posting.

JeremyB

 

[tyamada]

A few years ago a friend had a i950 that printed fine when plain paper was selected, however when any other paper type was selected the print went south. The colors were way off and sometimes it printed black and white. It was determined that the logic board in the printer was bad.

The conclusion was confirmed by the Canon repair station, when they replaced the logic board. The printer is printing fine to this day.