Canon MP760- after installing new printhead + ref. carts alignm. fails

[lin]

ghwellsjr, hazelnut did mentioned at post #8 that he/she did nozzle check but nothing printed at all.

He/she will not be able to print anything out for nozzle check if the printhead didn't sit properly such that the printhead back "gold-looking" plated didn't connect well to the printhead Carriage connector pins.

Which is why when he/she attempted printhead alignment, it's gives him/her some kind of message that indicate the printhead alignment failed.

It's brand new printhead, it's unlikely to be giving him/her electrical problem that relates to the nozzles problem at this stage. There are many nozzles on the printhead if it's electrical problem relating to nozzles, it would even drop at least one dot of ink on the paper out of those many nozzles. It's new, it unlikely that every single of the nozzles had problem.

Based on her description, and given that his/her new printhead it's giving her alignment fail error message, So the first thing she need to do is to remove the printhead and reinstall the printhead back. Thereafter he/she would be able to do printhead alignment/nozzle check to check the condition of those nozzles.

 

[hazelnut]

ghwellsjr, hazelnut did mentioned at post #8 that he/she did nozzle check but nothing printed at all.

He/she will not be able to print anything out for nozzle check if the printhead didn't sit properly such that the printhead back "gold-looking" plated didn't connect well to the printhead Carriage connector pins.

Which is why when he/she attempted printhead alignment, it's gives him/her some kind of message that indicate the printhead alignment failed.

It's brand new printhead, it's unlikely to be giving him/her electrical problem that relates to the nozzles problem at this stage. There are many nozzles on the printhead if it's electrical problem relating to nozzles, it would even drop at least one dot of ink on the paper out of those many nozzles. It's new, it unlikely that every single of the nozzles had problem.

Based on her description, and given that his/her new printhead it's giving her alignment fail error message, So the first thing she need to do is to remove the printhead and reinstall the printhead back. Thereafter he/she would be able to do printhead alignment/nozzle check to check the condition of those nozzles.

Thanks (it's he BTW), I have removed as you suggested, I tried more firmly pushing in this time, but exactly the same thing happens- printhead alignment failed message. There did appear to be some ink on the base of the new printhead- is that normal? It couldn't be something to do with the rubber plugs on the hobbicolors carts could it, should I try taking these out and pushing them in harder? Also I should point out I sealed the hole made with the german method on all carts with black tape.

But, like I said, there is no point in doing an alignment if the nozzles aren't working, so if it asks you if you want to do the alignment, hit the stop/reset button and do a nozzle check instead. If it prints absolutely nothing, then do a Print Head Cleaning and try another nozzle check. If that doesn't work, do a "Head Deep Cleaning" and try another nozzle check. If that doesn't work, you need to determine if you have an electrical problem or an ink flow problem. Look at your purge pads and see if they have ink on them. Put water or window cleaner on them, do another cleaning and see if they have they have ink on them. If they do, then that would indicate that you have an electrical problem. Let us know for more advice.

Thanks GH, I will try these suggestions tomorrow- can you check what I said above though just in case that may indicate the cause of the problems?

 

[ghwellsjr]

When I say that it could be an electrical problem, I'm including the possibility of a connector problem on the back of the print head so I'm not disagreeing with anything that you are saying.

Also, hazelnut, you asked about the ink levels showing only two bars and if that might be a result of putting in the print head incorrectly. No, this printer does not have chips in its ink cartridges so it uses the prisms on the bottoms of the cartridges and a light detector/sensor shining up inside the printer to determine if the reservoir of any cartridge is empty. It only reports a full cartridges when you previously had an empty reservoir and then removed it. So don't worry about the ink levels until they report empty.

 

[lin]

Thanks (it's he BTW), I have removed as you suggested, I tried more firmly pushing in this time, but exactly the same thing happens- printhead alignment failed message. There did appear to be some ink on the base of the new printhead- is that normal? It couldn't be something to do with the rubber plugs on the hobbicolors carts could it, should I try taking these out and pushing them in harder? Also I should point out I sealed the hole made with the german method on all carts with black tape.

Of course! and No wonder. That is what cause your printhead alignment error. The plug is hitting the printer housing. You need to make sure your seal plug is inserted and they should be sitted flat on the cartridge refill hole.

Hope this picture let you see the problem. If your plug is not well sitted flat, when it moves, it hit the printer housing. As such, the printhead it might have shifted the printhead slightly.

Update: Replacing a larger picture. where I previously posted at http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3348

 

[ghwellsjr]

There are two sets of nozzles for the magenta and cyan inks, one set is for printing when the head is moving right to left and the other set is for when the head is moving left to right. The purpose of alignment is to make sure that these two sets of nozzles can eject their drops of ink exactly on top of each other. There is a light source and a sensor on the bottom of the carriage that the print head rides in that looks at the dots that the printer is putting down while the print head is going back and forth and adjusting the timing to overlap the dots. But if your printer is not printing anything, then of course the alignment will fail. So until you get your printer to work, just hit stop/reset when it asks if you want to do the alignment and focus on doing nozzle checks.

I have never seen the Hobbicolors cartridges but if they have tape over the air vent holes, then this would restrict your ink flow. If you remember the tab that you pulled off of the Canon original cartridges, then you know where to look for this tape.

It is normal to see ink on the bottom of the print head and that would indicate that you probably do not have an ink flow problem. I fear that maybe your previous print head had a defect that took out your printer's electronics. It happened to one of my MP760 printers after I tried to clean a print head and apparently go liquid where it wasn't suppose to be.

Where are you located?

 

[lin]

ghwellsjr, He will not be able to print anything if the printhead is not sitted well. Not a single drop of ink will be sprayed out from the nozzles for nozzle check or any other form of printing. He/she will have to deal with the printhead alignment error first. Not so much as dealing with the printing out of the alignment. But the gold back plates have to be well align with the carriage connectors pin. He/she has to resolved the seal plug issue first so as it will not hit the printer housing again and causes his/her printhead to shift a bit and thereby causing the printhead alignment error. Thereafter he/she will then be able to printing the nozzle check and perform a printhead alignment whichever he/she wants to perform first. It's not the air vent hole that is causing her nozzle having no single output of ink. Though of course this will have to be checked all together.

 

[hazelnut]

Of course! and No wonder. That is what cause your printhead alignment error. The plug is hitting the printer housing. You need to make sure your seal plug is inserted and they should be sitted flat on the cartridge refill hole.

Hope this picture let you see the problem. If your plug is not well sitted flat, when it moves, it hit the printer housing. As such, the printhead it might have shifted the printhead slightly.

Unfortunately it cannot be this as I just opened up a set of generic carts which have no obstructions and tried them, still exactly same behaviour.

I have never seen the Hobbicolors cartridges but if they have tape over the air vent holes, then this would restrict your ink flow. If you remember the tab that you pulled off of the Canon original cartridges, then you know where to look for this tape.

They come with the tape at the back taken off so this is definitely not the issue- now I have taken the refilled carts out should I then tape these holes up?

It is normal to see ink on the bottom of the print head and that would indicate that you probably do not have an ink flow problem. I fear that maybe your previous print head had a defect that took out your printer's electronics. It happened to one of my MP760 printers after I tried to clean a print head and apparently go liquid where it wasn't suppose to be.

What suddenly occured to me is that I when I did the nozzle check before and did the cleaning I heard a sound which I suppose must have been ink being squirted in a kind of da daa da daa rhythm, this sound I am not hearing now when I do the head cleans on the maintenence menu- is a head clean different to a nozzle clean?

Where are you located?

I'm in Kent (south east corner of the UK), the new printhead was from an official Canon service company near London.

 

[lin]

After you removed the refilled carts and replaced with generic carts, did you remove and reinstall the printhead prior to inserting the generic carts? Because the refilled carts where the plug from the refilled carts might have shifted the printhead slightly. So when you replaced with the generic carts the erorr is still there until the printhead resitted again.

 

[lin]

now if it had been liquid that have gotten into the prinhead where it shouldn't be as described by ghwellsjr and eventually killing your printhead (due to electric problem). I would think that it would give you a message that your printhead is unrecognized (since it's dead) assuming it didn't gotten to other part of the printhead like the circuit board and bring down your whole printer.

 

[ghwellsjr]

When I had the problem with my MP760, I got no error messages, it simply would not print anything. I put in a second print head and it also would not print anything but the second print head worked in other printers. I obviously did not put the original print head back in any other printer as I assume it is a printer killer.

When you remove ink cartridges from a printer, you should plug up the outlet hole with the original orange cap (held on with a rubber band if necessary) or with vinyl tape. Do not cover the air vent hole as that is necessary to allow the cartridge to safely breathe.

You cannot hear the sound of the ink being ejected. The motor noises are much louder.

Lin, I agree with you that it is important to have good electrical contact between the print head and the carriage and I agree that there should be no plugs or other obstructions getting in the way of the print head moving back and forth, but these factors have nothing to do with alignment. I explained what alignment does in post #15 and I explained why the printer has to be printing in order for the alignment to work. Alignment does not mean that the print head is properly aligned in the carriage, although if something disturbs the print head after an alignment is done, it could disturb the alignment so that you would have to do it again. But if the print head is disturbed so much that it is not seated properly and electrical contact is not made with the connector on the carriage then nothing will print and you won't be able to do an alignment.