ip4000 slowish printing

[Music Image]

Hi, I have a Canon ip4000 for about 11 years. Overall it has not had lot of use. Over the years I've maintained a practice of printing a nozzle pattern out to keep things from drying out. The usage could be described as fairly consistently minimal, if that makes sense, but the last year has seen very little use, because I had to get another system up and running after a computer failure. The printer is kept powered on unless there's a power cut (fairly common as Im rural) and then I generally wait until I need it before powering on again..

The printer turns on OK, prints nozzle patterns OK, prints black and white (text) OK. The settings are just normal paper, and normal quality not high quality printing. The problem is, it appears to be printing slower with 3 or 4 stops per page. This is only if there's any colour involved at all, even minimal (eg a bit of yellow Hi-lighted text) and this is from the first page. Ive also noticed the orange light flashes very briefly once each time it stops. There's no code for one flash that I know of.

I first noticed this with that last 2 print jobs with colour. The most recent, 2 pages, and earlier 9 pages (column shading and hi-lighted text respectively) These 2 jobs were in the last 3 weeks. The very latest printing was just 2 pages of black and white text and there was nothing wrong with that. No orange light.

I'm using 3rd party Carts supplied by the same person who I've always dealt with and who has been great. However as the carts (Q Image) are no longer in supply I've started on another brand. On the packaging it doesn't appear to be clear exactly what it is. I can take a pik of the packaging if required. I have only just changed the cyan (new brand) and this problem was evident before that.

The USB cable Im using is about 2 meters. I wonder if that may cause issues, though this is the cable I've always used.

Other factors (unlikely but worth noting) are that the last two coloured print jobs were printed from 2 different computers both with fresh installs of Canon Drivers, and fresh OS installs.

Anything I can try to aid in the process of elimination would be appreciated.

 

[PeterBJ]

The problem could be caused by a dirty micro switch used as an output door open/closed sensor. I have an iP4000 that behaved very much in the same way as yours. Cleaning the switch made the printer OK again. See this thread and this.

The door switch is located behind a hole at the printers front at the right side:

And a close-up:

You will have to remove the casing of the printer to get access to the switch. See this druckerchannel.de article in English for disassembly of the printer. The switch is connected to the printers logic board. The connector can be difficult or impossible to remove without breaking something. In that case cut the wires and solder them after the cleaning of the switch. Use heat shrinkable tubing for insulating the solder joints. Do not try to unsolder the switch, you will melt the plastic and ruin the switch.

If you have a digital multimeter with a continuity tester you can use that for an in-circuit testing of the switch. Do not use an old analog multimeter with an electromechanical buzzer for continuity testing. A such buzzer creates some nasty high voltage spikes that can kill semiconductors.

Good luck with the repair.

 

[PeterBJ]

There is one thing I forgot. If the pausing when colours are printed is not a coincidence, it might be a sign that the print head is failing electronically. In printing a very large document the printer can pause to allow the print head to cool, but documents with a few pages shouldn't trigger this. This pausing is very rare.

In a thermal print head as used by Canon, HP and others the ink has an important task of cooling the nozzle heaters. A starvation of ink due to clogged nozzles or wrong properties of the ink could cause overheating and ruining of the print head. But as nozzle check is OK and the problem was present before the change of ink brand, I don't think the ink is the cause of the problem.

A service test print immediately followed by an EEPROM info print could tell if the temperature is too high for the dye part of the print head.

Are you familiar with service mode operations? Else ask before doing anything. An error made in service mode might cause loss of information, damage or even make the printer useless.

 

[Music Image]

First, many thanks for your prompt responses. I checked in here last night just before bed and read your post and links and have just seen your second post now. I found a couple of your piks almost too dark to figure things out but I'll try copying them and lightening them up or something.

I have a service manual from waaaay back I dug off the net and Ive never done a service test print or EEPROM info printout though I've known about these. Was looking in the manual last night about this but as you infer, and I'm reminded, one needs to be wide awake for this job.

Here's something else I've since thought of -- The the printer is sitting is on a tabletop. Directly in front of that is a device (a Keyboard) which is slightly higher and on which the printer door/tray (??) (first part, not the extension)) leans when it is pulled out, causing it to be a tad higher than it would if it was just pulled out and in a natural position.

In keeping with the instructions on how to post here for help, I want to ask if you'd recommend a one page printout with text and a little hi-lighting just to test out what I've said above before anything else?

I have no trouble swapping out HDDs, RAM, fiddling inside a desktop computer, installing OS's which my hubby backs away from, a zillion mile an hour but I'd be inclined to look to him for any soldering or anything like that...but I don't think we have the right tools.

Just another thing, I've done about 3 nozzle tests in this last month and they all shot out like they normally do, very fast. Also, yes, Ive noted that the printer has paused on full page colour prints or long jobs which is normal, to let things cool. Because of the very minimal usage in the last year, I wouldn't rule out some sort of clogging.

I'll eagerly a-wait your instructions on what to do first. Any extra cautions you might have to offer about the service mode would be welcome. Meantime, I'll be writing down all those button pushes to have them close by.

Thanks!
Edited to add: just re-read your first link to your other post . Did you always get an error message when the printing momentarily stopped? As far as I can tell I have never had an error message that's come up on the monitor... that is, unless it comes up behind something else and goes away after a certain amount of time.

 

[martin0reg]

I know these interruptions from old pixma's very well, sometimes very short but becoming longer so that you can read the message on status monitor when the printer is blinking. I use to move the front door up and down for a while as a "training" of the bad switch... sometimes it helps sometimes not.

I have read on DC that you could cut off the two yellow cables and connnect them... if repair is not possible. You get access to the cables of the switch after removing the sides, so probably don't have to disassamble the housing. Obviously the switch will not work anymore so you will have to pay attention to an open front door..!!.. I did not try this solution yet...

 

[PeterBJ]

I know these interruptions from old pixma's very well, sometimes very short but becoming longer so that you can read the message on status monitor when the printer is blinking....

This is a perfect description. My Pixma iP4000 behaved exactly this way. In most cases I only got a yellow flash from the control light, but occasionally I got en error message on the screen saying that the paper output door was closed.

.....Here's something else I've since thought of -- The the printer is sitting is on a tabletop. Directly in front of that is a device (a Keyboard) which is slightly higher and on which the printer door/tray (??) (first part, not the extension)) leans when it is pulled out, causing it to be a tad higher than it would if it was just pulled out and in a natural position....

If you watch the arm of the door switch and lift the output tray slowly and slightly, you will notice that you need not lift the tray much before the arm moves. Could this be the cause of the problem?

See page 1-15 in the service manual for instructions on how to enter service mode, and pages 1-19 to 1-19 incl. for more info about service mode. After having entered service mode print out the service test print, that shows the state of the print head, by printing grid patterns for all colours. After that print the EEPROM info that shows the how much absorber life is left and other data. Finally leave service mode by pushing the on/off button once without having made any selections with the stop/resume button.

I use a slightly modified procedure for entering service mode, I think it is more clear:

1. Press and hold the Stop/Resume button.
2. Also press and hold the Power button.
   
3. While still holding the Power button release the Stop/resume button.
   
4. While still holding the Power button press and release the Stop/resume twice.
   
5. Release the Power button. The power light now starts blinking and the printer does some start-up routines. When the Power light is steady green the printer has entered service mode.

Here is a video showing how to enter service mode on iP8500 that can be considered a de luxe version of the iP4000. The procedure is the same as for the iP4000.

Even if the service manual is not affected by the error regarding service mode operations, please read the warning in this post.

Microsoft Word can create test/example documents using the lorem function. I have attached a such document, with some highlights. I saved it as a PDF file so it is independent of what office programs you may have.

 

[The Hat]

If your printer can spit out a nozzle check without hesitation but can't do the same with a document sent from the computer, then it’s more likely to be a communication error, when was the last time you did a defrag ?

 

[Tom Hock]

Just a thought, but did you perhaps change the ink drying time setting?. It is nornal for the printer to pause printing if there is a section containing colors to allow the ink to dry to prevent smudges. You can change the drying time setting from the Printer Preferences >>>Custom Settings >>>Ink Drying Wait Time.

 

[Music Image]

@MartinOreg, thanks for that. I wondered about the quick messages. I won't be ruling out, then, that I haven't had them. Thanks for the training tip too.

@PeterBJ

If you watch the arm of the door switch and lift the output tray slowly and slightly, you will notice that you need not lift the tray much before the arm moves. Could this be the cause of the problem?

The little arm moves as soon as I even as much as slightly lift the door. Are you saying this is the way it should be? Ive since moved the printer to be right beside me as Im at the computer and so the door is not leaning on anything.

Regarding the Service Mode things, I'm going to come back in a separate post after I've followed your links. Thanks for the info.

@The Hat, Since OS install about a month ago I haven't defragged. It's recommended after an install to do so, so thanks for the reminder. I'll do that, but I'm going to do the service Mode thing first as the other things will entail printing to test.

@Tom Hock, OK found that in the custom settings. The slider is in the middle, I take it that would be the default?

 

[Music Image]

I've looked at the links, and watched the video. After reading things closely, I have concluded PeterJB you are right, the Canon Service Manual is confusing. Mine does have that 5th point. One part that's confusing is at the end of the first point when we are supposed to be still in the process of entering the service mode, it says :
"(DO NOT release the buttons. The LED lights in
green to indicate that a function is selectable.)"

That is confusing because you're not ready to select a function as yet.

For some reason this makes me more nervous than editing the registry. Trying to leave as little room as possible for error ... I have 3 questions:

1/ How many sheets of paper do I need for each function printout?
2/ Should I be connected to the computer or is this (as I suspect) totally independent?
3/ I noticed in the video the guy was very hesitant and slow (I don't blame him!) but is there a given amount of time to hold those buttons?

Thanks for your responses.