Electrical failure? Pro 9000 Mark II

[Nirvash]

I have been using my Pro 9000 Mark II for about half a year now, and it has worked flawlessly. Been refilling with IS inks since pretty much day one.
I was nearing the end of a 250ish page order that I had been working on for a couple of days, before starting the next batch I swapped out any carts that were low, this included yellow and started printing. Before the first page was finished I noticed some very faint banding on it (Would take a picture, but it barely shows) and canceled the page as soon as possible.

I imminently ran a test page to find out what the issue was and got a very faint band across the yellow.

For the next few hours I tried everything I could think of to fix this, cleaning, another cartage, brand new Canon cart. Nothing worked. Fearing that it was more then a clog, I tracked down a copy of Canon Service Tool and printed a test page. For the yellow test it prints green, mixing one of the cyans and yellow. Where there should be solid green, there were cyan dashes.
This was different from the normal test page which just showed a line of yellow missing.

The fact that the normal test page saw no improvement and the pattern of missing yellow on the Service Tool test page lead me to believe there is a electrical failure somewhere.
Did I come to the right conclusion and is there anything I could do to fix this?

Also, I would include pictures, but the forum would not let me. I pictures of both test pages on hand if needed.

 

[The Hat]

If the ink band is missing right across the nozzle check (horizontal) then you definitely have an electrical issue,
a new print head will be needed to fix the problem.

I am sorry to hear youre having problems with your 9000 but somethings like that
are outside of our control despite what we do, it just happens..

 

[Grandad35]

By "service tool test page" and "test page" do you mean a nozzle check? Can you post it somewhere and include a link by deleting the "http://www" from the beginning of the link?

 

[PeterBJ]

Hi Grandad35

From service mode you can do an extended nozzle check, with grid patterns for all nozzle sets. This gives more information than the standard nozzle check from the printer maintenance. For newer Canon printers a special program, Canon Service Tool, is needed for service mode operations. See this post for an explanation and an example of the extended nozzle check: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=51824#p51824.

 

[Nirvash]

By "service tool test page" and "test page" do you mean a nozzle check? Can you post it somewhere and include a link by deleting the "http://www" from the beginning of the link?

Here is the normal nozzle check,
i.imgur.com/xvAkqUk.jpg
And here is the one from the service tool,
i.imgur.com/eonOW5O.jpg

If the ink band is missing right across the nozzle check (horizontal) then you definitely have an electrical issue,
a new print head will be needed to fix the problem.

Thank you for confirming my fears, though I still find the results of the Extended test page odd, if it was just the print head, wouldn't the missing nozzles be constant, not intermittent like it shows?


*EDIT*
I think I just answered my own question by staring at the test prints. As opposed to the normal test print, the Extended alternates between two sets of nozzles.
Now should I try swapping out the print head with a new one, or just an entire new printer? Also I assume the print head isn't covered under warranty?

 

[The Hat]

Looking at your two test prints confirms the missing nozzles.

You could try Craigs List for a printer, which should work out cheaper than a new print head..

 

[Nirvash]

Will do, that or ebay.

But was asking because I do have a spare Pro 9000 in box and was wondering if I should bother switching the entire printer, or just the head.

 

[The Hat]

Will do, that or ebay.

But was asking because I do have a spare Pro 9000 in box and was wondering if I should bother switching the entire printer, or just the head.

Whichever is easiest for you?
Me Id use the new one, just cant resist the temptation to start a fresh..

 

[Grandad35]

I have been using my Pro 9000 Mark II for about half a year now....snip

At 6 months, isn't it still under warranty? Did you have to click something that told the printer that you accepted voiding the warranty? Did you save the original OEM carts to return the printer for service (a new set of OEM carts costs more than a new print head)?

In the US, the cheapest (and safest) place to buy new print heads is usually Canon's service department.

 

[Nirvash]

I have been using my Pro 9000 Mark II for about half a year now....snip

At 6 months, isn't it still under warranty? Did you have to click something that told the printer that you accepted voiding the warranty? Did you save the original OEM carts to return the printer for service (a new set of OEM carts costs more than a new print head)?

In the US, the cheapest (and safest) place to buy new print heads is usually Canon's service department.

Hopefully is it, I do have the set of OEM carts from the spare's box and will be using those if I send it in. I just shot Canon an email about it.
But in the mean time, I'm back up and running with the spare printer.