Canon ip5000 won't stay on

[jbclem]

This is an ip5000 I had just received from an eBay purchase. It was working but the printhead seemed to be plugged(bad test print), so I had spent a few days cleaning a different ip5000 printhead (from a non-working ip5000) and installed it. After I installed this cleaned printhead I turned on the eBay ip5000. The printhead went to it's parked position. The green light came on but after a few minutes it went out. I couldn't get it to come on again by clicking the off/on switch. So I unplugged the power cord and waited a few minutes. When I plugged the cord back in, the green light came on for a short time (seconds) and then went out again. This happened every time I unpluged the cord and then tried it again.

Any ideas what this means? There are no error codes flashing and no whirring noises from inside the printer when I turn it on. The printhead doesn't move and take a central position when I open up the top lid. The printer feels dead. When I try a "cleaning" the window that pops up tells me the "printer is offline".

Could there be a fuse that popped? Can someone suggest how I would troubleshoot this problem?

 

[The Hat]

For what I can gather from your thread is that you got an iP5000 on EBay with a bad print head in it, (But working) am I correct ?

Then you spent time cleaning a print head from another (Non working) iP5000 and installed that into the newly acquired printer and turned it on, but it failed to work for you, again am I correct ?

If this is the case then I would strongly suggest you dump that print head quick smart or your newly acquired printer will also be a non working model.

Putting a dubious print head into a working printer can render that printer inoperable and in most cases damage the logic board beyond repair, so hopefully you can save your EBay printer before that has happen !

What you need to do is to spend lots of time soaking and cleaning the original print head that came with this latest printer, and when you’re happy you have given it a good cleaning, dry it thoroughly before putting into the printer and maybe just maybe the printer will turn on again for you..

 

[PeterBJ]

The defective print head prevents your printer from turning on, so you will have to remove it. The print head might be locked in place at the purge unit, so you might have to remove the printer casing and unlock the print head to remove it. Hopefully the printer will turn on when you have removed the print head. It will then of course give an error code, as the print head is now missing.

This instruction for absorber change in English from Druckerchannel.de describes how to disassemble the printer and unlock the print head. The instruction is written for an iP4000, but the iP5000 is mechanically similar, so the instruction does also cover your printer.

A defective print head can damage the logic board in the printer, and a damaged logic board can damage a new print head, so swapping print heads between printers for troubleshooting is very risky. Hopefully your logic board has not been damaged.

Replacing a defective print head in a Canon printer is a gamble, and sadly I cannot tell the odds for success.

 

[jbclem]

Thanks Mr. Hat and PeterBJ for the help. This is a bit of a tricky situation as the vendor sent me a printer that was supposed to be tested, working, and with ink...but she left out the ink cartridges, so I couldn't test it. I cobbled together some new and some real old ink cartridges and couldn't get a good print test. So the problem could lie in the cartridges, or the print head. Still, I retain the option to return the printer if I haven't messed it up myself. So the first thing, as you've both said, is remove the print head I installed.

Is there a way to unlock the printhead carrier without disassembling the printer...can I make a hook of some kind and reach in to do this, is the lock accessible? I'm going to look with a small mirror, but if you know it's possible could you let me know.

Thanks again,

John

 

[jbclem]

A quick glance and I could see a mirror wasn't going to work. I followed the Druckerchannel instructions and it was easy to remove the right side and then turn the largest cogwheel clockwise. The printhead came unlocked and I was able to remove the suspect printhead.

Fortunately, the printer seems to be back to normal, electrically, so now I can work out getting a good test print if that's possible.

Is there a way to test (or prove) an old canon cartridge(s) that has some ink but has been sitting unused for a few years. I think I read something here about purging the cartridge...is that the first step?

I'm glad to have found this forum again, with a little luck I'll be able to get one of my canon printers working (ip4000, ip5000, ip6000d).

 

[PeterBJ]

Hopefully the printer will print a nozzle test similar to the one it produced when you received the printer, proving that the logic board has not been damaged.

Could you upload a scan or photo of the nozzle check made when you received the printer, and if the nozzle check is now different, also a scan of the new nozzle check?

A good but very expensive test tool is a set of new Canon OEM cartridges. That would rule out cartridge problems. But used and refilled cartridges known to be in perfect working order can also be used.

You can check the condition of a cartridge by blowing into the vent of the cartridge to expel a drop of ink. You can read about this blow test in this post and following posts.

If your print head swapping has not damaged the logic board, I think you could claim a refund, as the printer is not as described in the E-bay ad.

 

[The Hat]

Hi John,
Glad to see you’re still with us and you got the printer working again. (Power on)

The next thing you need to do is to get a set of good working cartridges that you know will work or buy a cheap set of one time compatibles to do a test nozzle print, even a set of CLI-8’s with work they don’t have to be BCI-6’s.

This way you’ll know for sure if the print head is working properly or not by ruling out ink flow issues that may come from old or unknown cartridges, but please remember not to be tempted to print anything other than nozzle prints till you can get a satisfactory test print..

The key to solving a print problem on a Canon is to take it very slowly and don’t rush into anything, patients are vital and costs nothing and usually pay off in the end…

 

[PeterBJ]

If you have a Canon OEM PGI-5 BK cartridge, it can be used in the iP5000 with a slight modification of the cartridge. The modified cartridge can still be used in a PGI-5/CLI-8 printer. Canon OEM CLI-8 cartridges can be used in the iP5000 without modification.

 

[turbguy]

I would avoid using "suspect" (Old) ink carts. If the seller was supposed to supply ink, and did not, then I would demand a partial refund to subsidize the purchase of new Canon (OEM) carts.
When a printer is shipped with carts removed from the print head, the residual ink in the print head will dry and cause print quality problems at restart.

Can you post of scan/photo of the resulting nozzle check using new Canon carts? Don't print anything except nozzle checks until the issues are resolved.

 

[jbclem]

I've been checking the ink cartridges I'm using...with the puff test, I put my mouth close to the vent area and gave a good puff. This produced (with each cartridge) a solid round circle of ink. When I just touched the ink cartridge outlet to a piece of paper, it left a 1/4-1/2 circle of ink.

I ran another nozzle check and I've taken some photos of it. I'll try to insert them into this message. It was hard to get a good photo, I tried outdoors, indoors, and with a flash. The yellow and cyan lines both showed up stronger in the photo than they do in real life.

Should I try a cleaning next, or try to clean the print head?

I'm having trouble inserting images...should they show up in the preview?

All I'm seeing are markers. So I'm also going to upload two photo files just in case.

Well, this seems to have worked...the last photo was taken with a flash. The first two are the exact same photo, somehow uploaded twice.