Help to mothball a Canon Pro 100S

[stratman]

The printer software window shows 0 ink for all 8 carts.

At this point - Empty - the printer will ask you replace the cartridges and will not print anything. How did you get a Nozzle Check under these circumstances?

Well I am a cheap, I used the back of another test page from another printer. The same for what appears to be notching.

I understand. I have done the same but did not overlap nozzle checks. This is your chance to diagnose an issue and fix it. Confounding the issue with printing on the back side of the paper is not good, especially when we do this across the internet. Things could become a "penny wise, pound foolish" situation with mistaken conclusions. "Splurge" on a clean piece of plain paper for nozzle checks and use the unprinted portion to write a notes on. That's what I do.

BTW, until the GY defect is corrected do not print anything other than nozzle checks unless given the green light for more or else you risk burning up nozzles that do not have the cooling effect of ink to protect them when they heat up to spit out ink.

What is the consensus on genuine inks? Would or do you use aftermarket ink to refill, or maybe the cheap replacement carts?

OEM inks are the best. They are tuned for the printer to give good color management out of the box, give the best archival results, and seem to be the best at preventing clogs. No Dye-based aftermarket inks approach the archival capabilities of OEM inks. IF you sell your prints or want them to last longest then use OEM ink.

Aftermarket Pigment inks may have excellent archival properties.

Any aftermarket ink may need effort to match OEM colors. It's up to you and your perception.

Any aftermarket ink may be more prone to clogging. Forum consensus is to perform a nozzle check - something that uses all cartridges - every week or two to prevent clogging. YMMV OEM ink may be able to go many weeks without clogging. YMMV, and indeed look at how good overall your nozzle check is after a year of no use!

There are other nuances. Hopefully you get an idea.

maybe refilling the existing carts

The OEM Pro-100 cartridges are one of the easiest cartridges to refill. Initial costs to begin refilling - ink, chip resetter, syringes or bottles fitted with needles and caps - seem high but you will see the savings relatively quickly compared to buying OEM.

Not all refilling ink is alike. Some - like the "Universal" ink - are crap. Some are quite good and will not require much or any effort for color matching depending on the paper used. This is getting into the nuances of refilling that can be discussed if you decide to go this route.

Depending on your country of residence the forum can provide some refilling supplies recommendations. There are excellent aftermarket inks for your Pro 100.

 

[CackySA]

Canon has all the instructions and manuals that came with the printer online at

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/...fessional-inkjet-printers/pro-100?tab=manuals

Follow the instructions for Getting Started but do it backwards to take the print head out.

https://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/4/0300008334/01/PRO-100_GS_U2_V1.pdf

Thank you, this was a great help and I really appreciate it!

 

[stratman]

YW, Cacky.

 

[CackySA]

At this point - Empty - the printer will ask you replace the cartridges and will not print anything. How did you get a Nozzle Check under these circumstances?

I understand. I have done the same but did not overlap nozzle checks. This is your chance to diagnose an issue and fix it. Confounding the issue with printing on the back side of the paper is not good, especially when we do this across the internet. Things could become a "penny wise, pound foolish" situation with mistaken conclusions. "Splurge" on a clean piece of plain paper for nozzle checks and use the unprinted portion to write a notes on. That's what I do.

BTW, until the GY defect is corrected do not print anything other than nozzle checks unless given the green light for more or else you risk burning up nozzles that do not have the cooling effect of ink to protect them when they heat up to spit out ink.

Depending on your country of residence the forum can provide some refilling supplies recommendations. There are excellent aftermarket inks for your Pro 100.

Stratman,

I cannot express my gratitude for your assistance here, thank you.

I decided to splurge and get a single clean sheet of white paper and rerun the Nozzle test, see the attachment below. Are the fading Greys due to no ink being available?

I took some screen shots of the ink levels as reported by the software so you can see. I have no idea how the printer allows a print with no ink, maybe a gremlin in the software?

I Also used the links you gave and obtained the latest drivers. I will do a firmware upgrade later today also.

 

[The Hat]

I Also used the links you gave and obtained the latest drivers. I will do a firmware upgrade later today also.

You need to stop messing around with your printer totally, DON’T do a firmware upgrade because that can only complicate things and cause further issues, same goes for the drivers.

First things first, replace all the ink cartridges and until you do that, Don’t do anything else to the printer, because all of the issues your having are directly related to the state of the ink supply, wait till you have the new cartridges and then run a nozzle check and everything will be ok..

 

[stratman]

A picture is worth a thousand words. The ink level image (and nozzle check) is just that. But I'll still manage a couple hundred words for you.

Has ink level monitoring been overridden??? If so, then the printer will allow printing despite what looks like empty cartridges. You are either running on fumes with the overridden cartridges or refilling cartridges that the chip has not been reset.

The LGY nozzle check swath with the funnel shaped missing ink looks like classic ink starvation. This is typically due to low ink in the cartridge or something impeding flow through the cartridge.

Regardless, follow @The Hat 's recommendation to replace ALL the cartridges with either OEM or aftermarket new, never used cartridges. If you refilled then a thorough flushing and then refill and reset of the chip would be an alternative. Once this is done then ink level monitoring will function again.

If you prefer to live on the dangerous side - potentially burning out your print head from ink starvation from any cartridge - then just replace the LGY to see if that resolves the issue. But you will still need to be vigilant with running out of ink in the other cartridges as they will not be monitored by the printer for ink levels. This is a recipe for disaster. New print heads are expensive. Again, do not be penny wise and pound foolish.

Also, as our Moderator The Hat recommended, do NOT update the firmware or anything else to do with the printer's software at this time. Like wireless routers, one should NEVER update the firmware unless it fixes a known specific problem you are having or has some additional functionality you cannot live without.

I decided to splurge and get a single clean sheet of white paper

Excellent! Thank you.

 

[CackySA]

Stratman and The Hat,

Thank you for wise words that will probably save me a packet of cash in the long run.

I have changed nothing on the printer, these are the initial Carts that came with the printer. and certainly no overrides of any sort.

As I said, this printer has not even warmed up yet, however I know that I am not going to be using it for about 16 months into the future. Hence the question on how to save the printer for that period as it will be boxed and placed in storage (Mothballing).

Now I have to decide if I am gong to replace the carts with aftermarket new or somehow mothball the printhead. At this time I cannot afford a set of genuine Canon carts. If I can preserve the print head, I will fit new OEM carts when I unpack it, and then start a process of cleaning the old carts (now in) and then self filling using a recommended bulk ink.

Being in South Africa we have very little offered here in the way of refilling equipment or good inks, so I will definitely ask for some assistance at that point at least in making the correct choices of equipment and ink.

The other option is to replace the inks with aftermarket and sell. To give an idea of cost the printer would sell for about 2x the cost of a set of OEM ink carts...

 

[stratman]

Now I have to decide if I am gong to replace the carts with aftermarket new or somehow mothball the printhead.

I am not going to be using it for about 16 months into the future.

It may be prudent to get the printer running properly and know it is clear and good before mothballing it.

I have changed nothing on the printer

You stated that no one has disabled ink level monitoring on the printer, yet all the cartridges are marked Empty and you are still able to print. This seems a contradiction to usual Canon functioning and may be a sign of an electronic problem that I've never heard about.

How exactly did the cartridges get marked Empty with an "X"? Was it all at one time out of the blue or did it happen one-by-one sometime after each cartridge was marked as "Low"?

these are the initial Carts that came with the printer.

The printer has been in my home office on a printer desk and covered from dust for around 3 years.

Still on the original set up cartridges? Even if there were ink in the cartridges I would advise getting new cartridges. Ink has a use by date once the cartridge is opened - 6 months to 1 years depending on whom you speak with.

If this is your usage pattern then it may be a good idea to sell the printer. Time and environmental conditions (heat, humidity, salty air, etc) can result in decay and weakening of component parts that lead to component failure. Printers love to be used and seem to function properly for longer periods than those that sit fallow. In the end, it is a crap shoot.

Properly stored the printer should work on your return in a similar fashion you left it in, however, there are no guarantees and an unresolved problem may worsen over time.

The Pro 100 may be the last of its kind: a superb printer that is easily refillable and the chip easily reset. If you refill then the Pro 100 is gold. Time will tell if the replacement Pro 200 will be resettable.

Food for thought.