noted, thanks. my bad. will try your suggestion... BTW, the color prints don't look so bad even though the test print looks that way...
I really can't thank you enough for the assistance.
Cheers
Quote: Oh no... perhaps my soaking/cleaning may have caused the electrical problem?
QE2, here is the short answer: yes, no, maybe. We do not know for sure if you (or anybody) are cleaning a bad print head or a good print head.
Here the possible outcomes when you flush a print head:
Note: flush a print head means we are cleaning the interior of the print head.
Start: good print head Outcome: good print head
Start: good print head Outcome: bad print head
Start: bad print head Outcome: good print head
Start: bad print head Outcome: bad print head
Let us be clear here: when you are cleaning a print head you do not know if you are flushing a good print head or a bad print head. When you are done flushing the print head you will not know if you have a good print head or a bad print head.
When you are dealing with a print head you have to understand what think means and what know means. There is a lot of think about print heads and very little know about print heads. When you are dealing with a print head you are basically dealing with an unknown.
Before flushing a print head or buying a print head here is what I would do firsteverything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would go on this site to ask for help. DO NOT ASK FOR HELP AFTER YOU HAVE CLEANED A PRINT HEAD. It would be too late (maybe). O.K., you can still ask for help but do not expect miracles. I would try a different cart (refilled or OEM cart). I would do a manual head alignment. I would run cleanings or deep cleanings (Note: Deep cleanings use up an ungodly amount of inkvery expensive if you use OEM carts. Not so bad if you buy ink in 20 ml containers or larger. If you like to do deep cleanings it is best to buy the ink in liter containers.) I would call Canon for help. There is no need to tell Canon you are using third-party ink.
There are more actions that you can take before flushing a print head. With any action please talk to people on this site before performing the action. You may think doing a simple cleaning of the carts would do no harm. You would be wrong (maybe). Always check with this site before doing anything to the printer, carts, etc.
If you insist on cleaning a print head please buy a print head first. Canon will probably have the best deal. While you are waiting for the print head you can clean the old print head (see Note below). After cleaning, reinstall the old print head with carts but do not turn on the printer. With the arrival of the new print head remove the old print head and install the new print head with carts that you know are good (for this scenario OEM carts are best but are expensive). The interior of the printer should be clean. If the interior needs cleaning please be careful. Contact this site before cleaning the interior of a printer.
Perform a nozzle check on the new print head. If the nozzle check looks good, take out the new print head and install the cleaned print head and perform a nozzle check. If the nozzle check looks good---yippee!!!!!! You have two good print heads. If you have a bad nozzle check----bummer!!!!
Note: You may not want to clean the old print head. You knowturn a good print head into a bad print head. It may be smarter to NOT clean the old print head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One final thought. I think we need to perform an intervention if someone wants to mess with a print head. I do not care if you are a newbie or a master. Messing with a print head is where monsters be. Just buy a new print head and be done with itplease!!!!!!!!!!!!!!