Canon MP530 -- CD printing -- GETTING DESPERATE!

[Soporose]

Hi all.

My Canon MP530 was purchased in Australia and printed CDs right from day one. There have always been occasional rejections of the tray, but in the main it's worked fairly well.

I usually need to print on CDs in batches of about 20-25, but only every several weeks.

A few weeks ago when I printed a batch I thought there were more tray rejections than usual.

Yesterday when I went to print another batch I got one CD only printed, but after that only countless rejections without another single successful print.

I have followed the series of steps below to enter Service Mode, get printouts and do some resetting:

a. Start with the printer turned off

b. Hold Stop/Reset button and Power button for 5 seconds

c. Release Stop/Reset button but continue to hold Power button

d. Press Stop/Reset twice

e. Release the Power Button

f. Wait for Copy Light to stop blinking before proceeding.

g. Press Stop/Reset button twice then Power button once. This will print a simple ROM page.

h. Press Stop/Reset 5 times then Power button once to select Destination.

i. Press Stop/Reset 4 times then Power button once to choose Euro.

j. Press Stop/Reset 1 time then Power button once to get a simple ROM printout again and compare with first ROM print out.

k. Press Power button twice to save settings.

The first line of my first printout read:
MP530 AUS V1.08 IF(USB2=1) D=040.6 ST=2007/05/28-16:40

On the second printout the top line now reads:
MP530 EUR M=1.08 USB(1368C1) FA=2F 14 84 D=040.7 CDR(+00230,-00044)

And also "CDR sensor=OK" appears at the bottom of the page in red.

I don't know what practical difference it makes changing the country code from AUS to EUR, but documents still print fine. Unhappily there is no improvement in CD printing -- still getting rejection after rejection.

By the way, I also removed the original CD-LabelPrint software and installed the latest I could find for Windows (1.4.1) so it shouldn't be a drivers issue.

I'm guessing now that there must be a physical sensor in the printer that is malfunctioning, despite the printout saying it's OK.

Anyone got any suggestions? I'm getting desperate now as printing these labels is important and it has to be done pretty quickly.

TIA

 

[on30trainman]

The only thing I can think of, if it isn't a problem in the printer, would be that one of the reflective areas on the CD tray is dirty or smudged. But I think you would have checked that already. And I think the CD tray reflectors would need to be very messed up not to work. I know that when I print on a CD/DVD with my ip4000 (US model modified for CD printing) I can see a red light beam connected to the printhead holder or some other mechanism that strobes back and forth checking on tray position using the tray reflectors. Can you see such a light - did you before the problems started?

Steve W.

 

[Soporose]

Yes, I cleaned the reflectors thoroughly with soft tissue and they look quite OK to me.

I can't see any visible strobe and I'd never looked before, so I don't know if there should be one visible or not. Perhaps someone with an MP530 can check this and let me know.

 

[jflan]

After re-programming EEPROM you must thoroughly clean out the old drivers and then reinstall a fresh driver set.
See here for troubleshooting your issue (and reprogramming) :
http://damnprinter.com/176/tray-rejection-general-guide.html
Do one item at a time so you can track progress.

 

[Soporose]

After re-programming EEPROM you must thoroughly clean out the old drivers and then reinstall a fresh driver set.
See here for troubleshooting your issue (and reprogramming) :
http://damnprinter.com/176/tray-rejection-general-guide.html
Do one item at a time so you can track progress.

Thank you for the pointer to that page. Fortunately I decided to read through the member comments before tackling the various recommended fixes.

This recommendation by one forum member worked for me!

"Guess what : the problem was a simple mechanical one - the printer wasnt able to pull the CD tray completely inside (I dont know crap about its inner workings so I wont venture to guess why).
All it needed was to apply a slight, constant inward pressure on the tray, right after the printer started pu and whose printers and a fair bit of use lling it in. Once the tray was sucked in, it worked right away and printed perfectly."

Even when the tray feed fails it always pulls in a very short distance before ejecting again. The slightest inward pressure applied to the rear of the tray just as it is pulled in is all that is needed -- barely more than a feather touch.

I then noticed that I could occasionally hear "wheel spin" as the tray moved back and forward to get the alignment right -- a sound like as if the feed wheels were not getting a good grip on the tray. Inspecting the underside of the tray showed scuff marks on the plastic consistent with this theory.

From that observation I assume it might be time to have the tray feed mechanism serviced. Perhaps the feed wheels have worn, or become gummed up with crap, or maybe even the mechanism has worked slightly out of alignment with lots of use over time.

This remedy is probably more likely to work for people who have successfully printed on CDs in the past, and whose printers have had a fair bit of use.

 

[Trigger 37]

Soporose,... Given the number of CD's that you've printed, I would assume that the bottom CD feed rollers are somewhat dirty and slipping. However, since you did not mention that you make sure to install the Tray with the CD in place all the way into the "Arrow" marks. This places the Tray far enough inside that the roller should have no problem grabbing the tray.

Use a flashlight to look into the tray slot and you will see 5 rollers that pull the tray into the printer. If you knew how to get the covers off, you could clean those rollers. ONly clean them with water, never alcohol. Wipe them dry with clean dish towel with little or not fuss.

Goof luck.

 

[Soporose]

Soporose,... Given the number of CD's that you've printed, I would assume that the bottom CD feed rollers are somewhat dirty and slipping. However, since you did not mention that you make sure to install the Tray with the CD in place all the way into the "Arrow" marks. This places the Tray far enough inside that the roller should have no problem grabbing the tray.

Use a flashlight to look into the tray slot and you will see 5 rollers that pull the tray into the printer. If you knew how to get the covers off, you could clean those rollers. ONly clean them with water, never alcohol. Wipe them dry with clean dish towel with little or not fuss.

Goof luck.

Prior to reaching this solution I had tried positioning the CD tray at every conceivable position between arrows-lined-up and pushed all the way home, none of which ever made any difference to the rate of successful feeds.

For the "gentle push" technique that I have had success with, I push the tray all the way in as far as it will go. No forcing -- just inserting it fully home.

After a whole day of failures yesterday I just printed 45 CDs without a problem.

Thanks for the tip about cleaning the rollers, but my time is a bit more valuable than the service dollars at the moment, so I think I'll have it taken down to the service center rather than risk getting caught up in something that I mightn't be able to get out of in a hurry.

 

[jflan]

After re-programming EEPROM you must thoroughly clean out the old drivers and then reinstall a fresh driver set.
See here for troubleshooting your issue (and reprogramming) :
http://damnprinter.com/176/tray-rejection-general-guide.html
Do one item at a time so you can track progress.

Thank you for the pointer to that page. Fortunately I decided to read through the member comments before tackling the various recommended fixes.

This recommendation by one forum member worked for me!

"Guess what : the problem was a simple mechanical one - the printer wasn’t able to pull the CD tray completely inside (I don’t know crap about its inner workings so I won’t venture to guess why).
All it needed was to apply a slight, constant inward pressure on the tray, right after the printer started pu and whose printers and a fair bit of use lling it in. Once the tray was sucked in, it worked right away and printed perfectly."

Even when the tray feed fails it always pulls in a very short distance before ejecting again. The slightest inward pressure applied to the rear of the tray just as it is pulled in is all that is needed -- barely more than a feather touch.

I then noticed that I could occasionally hear "wheel spin" as the tray moved back and forward to get the alignment right -- a sound like as if the feed wheels were not getting a good grip on the tray. Inspecting the underside of the tray showed scuff marks on the plastic consistent with this theory.

From that observation I assume it might be time to have the tray feed mechanism serviced. Perhaps the feed wheels have worn, or become gummed up with crap, or maybe even the mechanism has worked slightly out of alignment with lots of use over time.

This remedy is probably more likely to work for people who have successfully printed on CDs in the past, and whose printers have had a fair bit of use.

Glad you got it sorted.
There are several "solutions" available to clean feed rollers but worn rollers should be replaced.
Cleaning those will only buy a little time.
A surprising solution from the copy machine techs:
http://www.copytechnet.com/forums/r...-else/5489-do-you-use-rubber-rejuvenator.html
Just seems weird to use a lubricant for this, but hey, out here in the PNW we use WD-40 for fish attractant on lures!!