Minor Problems with Canon MP258 Printing

[sathyakala]

I bought this Canon Printer MP 258 about 5 weeks back and I am still on the Original PG-810 (Pigment Black) and CL-811 (Tri-color cartridge). I may have printed about 30 pages or in Black and about 10 pages or so in Color so far (at regular intervals). I have only printed on A4 paper (No Photos yet).

I print once/twice a week but not every day. Lately I notice that the first black/White print doesn't come out well (few lines look as though there is a white line in the center running through). Two days back, I took the cartridges out, wiped the exit port on a paper napkin with little ammonia and put them back. Yesterday when I tried printing again, first page printed out was quite bad which I discarded and reprinted, the second page had problems with two lines (rest were fine) and from third page onwards, it was fine. What I printed was only text.

I am still on the original cart that came with the printer and hence I am surprised to find these problems. Any idea what I should do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tin Ho]

Are you sure your cartridge is not out of ink?

Canon printer is warranted for 1 year (some stores may give only 3 months) you probably want to send it to the store where you bought it. They will likely replace it for you with a new one and a set set of ink cartridges. You can call Canon and it is very likely they will send you a refurbished replacement or simply a new set of cartridges (with new print heads on them). In this case you will want a refurbished one because it will come with everything unused.

Your print head is likely clogged. You can do a few cleaning cycles. If it doesn't fix it the best option for you is to have Canon take care of it for you. They will probably replace the printer or replace the print head for you. By doing a few cleaning cycles you could lose easily 10% of the ink from your cartridges. 5 weeks is not a long time. You deserve a new replacement. I had one that was struck by a shock from statics. It happened after owning it over a month. I had to bring it back all the way from Harvard University to California and I was given a replacement from the store where I bought it. I then again sent it back to Harvard. It was quite a hassle for me but I was very happy that the store simply gave me a new one.

 

[sathyakala]

I am in India. Here the store may not replace it after the purchase. But I will call Canon support since I have one year warranty and the printer is just 5 weeks old to show such problems. Thanks.

 

[sathyakala]

Are you sure your cartridge is not out of ink?

If the cartridge is out of ink, the third and fourth page should not come out good. Hence I think it is a flow problem (second page is much much better than first and third page seems good). It seems like the printer is doing something before printing the first page (Priming or whatever). As for the ink quantity, since the printer is quite new and its first original cart, I am assuming the level the software shows is correct. It is possible Canon Support may try to push it off as cartridge empty in which case there may not be any warranty as carts are consumable and I become responsible to buy the next cart (Printer cost is about 75% of a set of cartridge cost though). These cartridges have print head on them. Let me see what they say.

Thanks.

 

[Tin Ho]

If your printer is only 5 weeks old and the cartridges are not out of ink Canon should replace your cartridges under the warranty. I am not sure how good Canon will treat customers in India. I hope they are equally good as they are here in USA. In my experience they do provide replacement for defective ink cartridges and print heads. Yours have print head on them so they probably will give you new ones. I think they at least give 90 days warranty on consumables.

 

[sathyakala]

An associate from canon authorized service center came home today to check the printer. I was at work. He called me and told me that the cartridge was clogged and he has done a cleaning cycle. He asked me to check in couple of days and if it still gives problem, he will replace the cartridge.