Canon iP5000 - Long delay between prints - Photo prints seem grainy

[ChrisAttebery]

Hello,

I searched for these two issues but didn't find anything.

First off, for the last 6-8 months every time I print something the power button will flash green. There is also a LONG delay before the jobs clear the queue and another print can start. This has occured under Win XP and Win7 so I'm assuming that I've gone over some counter or something. How do I reset this?

Second, in the last couple months photo prints seem to be very grainy. I haven't done a cleaning or anything yet. I will try to do a deep clean tonight. Is there anything else I should try?

The prints are not streaky in any way. B/W prints are fine other than the delay.

Thanks in advance,


Chris

 

[ghwellsjr]

Do a nozzle check and let us know how it looks. It should look like this:

It has problems if it looks something like this:

 

[ChrisAttebery]

OK, I tried a test print and it looked fine.

I downloaded the latest drivers that came out in the last week.

I also updated the version of Canon's Zoombrowser to the latest version.

I also did a head cleaning and then printed another test page. No difference. I showed a picture to a co-worker and he said it looks like it's printing at a low resolution. That's exactly what it looks like.

I made sure I have the paper set to Photo Paper Plus Glossy, High Print Quality, etc. I even tried using the "Print Advisor" to let the software pick the best settings. Not one difference.

The delay between prints is still there too. I'm thinking it might just be time for a new printer.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You need to determine if the problem is in your printer or in your computer. There are a couple ways you could do this. If you have a camera with PictBridge capability (just about any digital camera) you could connect a USB cable between the front port on your printer to the camera and print some pictures from there. If they are just as grainy, then we can blame the printer.

Or you could take your printer into work or to a friend's house or any where that you can gain access to a PC, especially one with 2K on it, install just the printer driver, connect the printer with a different USB cable and print some pictures.

I would also suggest that you do an extended nozzle check that will show the condition of every nozzle.

 

[The Hat]

ChrisAttebery..

Chris how old is your PC. And do you do any gaming on it..

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I'll try printing directly from the camera tonight. That's a great suggestion.

The PC is less than 6 months old. HP Core i7 system with 6gb ram. I have loaded a couple games on the system. I had the same problems with my 6+ year old Celeron system too.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I just saw that Fry's has the iP4700 for $35 right now. For that kind of price it doesn't make sense to keep screwing with this 5 year old iP5000. The sad part is I just put a set of cartridges in it. Maybe I can give them to a good home.

 

[The Hat]

ChrisAttebery ..

I mention the age of your computer because the bus on the motherboard can cause slow printing in old and well used computers, which is not the problem on yours. Using the picBridge is about your best bet suggested by ghwellsjr, but on the other hand if you can get a new printer for $35 that settles it..

 

[ChrisAttebery]

Yep, I ran to Fry's at lunch and picked up the iP4700.

I'm glad i found this forum though. I'm going to purchase a refill kit for the cartridges. I can't imagine what we have spent on ink the last 5 years.

I'm also going ot print out the diagnostics to see how many prints we have actually done.

Thanks!


Chris