Possible print head problem with IP4500

[erpp]

Thanks Ron350 for that good maintenance tip.

 

[erpp]

I see the top portion of the Pigment Black nozzle check is missing. Also The Cyan had a clog that cleared after print head soaking. You also developed a problem with Yellow after soaking, which could either be a clog or ink starvation from a malfunctioning cartridge (vapor-locked, so to speak, not letting ink exit the cartridge, and may require a flush of the cartridge.). Until you get all the dye inks to print properly in a nozzle check, including the now problematic Yellow, then do not print anything but nozzle checks. Same goes for the Pigment Black ink.

The Yellow problem may clear after more soakings. The Pigment Black, however, may be a malfunctioning print head and not just a clog since there appears to be a symmetrical complete loss of ink. The absolute worst case scenario is a failed logic board assay, which is supposed to display an error message.

I would still attempt further soaking as the cost is negligible compared to the price of a new print head. You might even run tap water down onto the bottom or top of the print head to try and dislodge and clear a clog. How long might soaking take? One day, two days, three days,...? No one can say except your own patience level before either the supposed clogs clear or you have had enough and buy another print head.

Thanks again, Stratman. As mentioned in my #1 post, I would first like to clear the possibility of an electronic failure - for the Pigment Black, before investing any time in the color nozzles. You mention a worst case scenario of a failed logic board - if this was so, would it mean the end of the printer, due either to the non-availability of the part or its excessive price ? Or, could it also be due to a failed print head - which would probably cost almost as much as the printer originally did.

As I said before, there didnt seem to have been any error messages. I guess this fact would point to the print head as the possible culprit. If this was so, would it be worthwhile to invest 70 to 90 dollars in a new print head, given that the printer originally cost 100 $. Any way I could check for print head failure ?

When I did the soaking of the print head I did check for ink flow through it, by pressing it gently against the paper towel soaked in cleaning solution, there seemed to be back flow of ink for all dye colors, except the yellow, as well as for the Pigment Black. Could this exclude the possibility of a clog for the whole of the Pigment Black nozzle array, which would point more strongly towards print head failure ? Or, could just the upper half of that nozzle array be clogged ?

Thanks once more for your help.

 

[stratman]

Either you would need to be a good technician in replacing a failed logic assay board that you find cheaply in a discarded printer or you will pay a lot of money to have a technician do the job for you.

You could try a same model print head from a known working printer in your printer, though if their is an electrical failure that caused your print head to malfunction, then you risk damaging the test print head as well. The likelihood of this occurring seems remote given the story you have told so far.

If you refill your cartridges, and you are aware of the % fullness of the waste ink pads and ramifications of resetting and servicing the pads et al that is required when it is full, then I certainly purchase a new print head and keep using the marvelous 4500 printer. From the sound of it, you have been a "light" user and your printer should have a long time before it requires expensive service.

You will need instructions from a Service Manual on how to access Service Mode in order to print out the EEPROM and then see the counter of your waste ink. I don't have your printer model so others will have to help you on this matter. A search in this forum may give you what you need.

 

[erpp]

Tried to print the EEPROM information but the missing lines problem, reported in post #1, struck again.
The report is missing half of the print lines it should have.
This even after setting the Media Type to Photo Paper Pro, which results in the Print Test Page printing correctly (guess it uses the Dye Black cartridge); but not so for the EEPROM information.

Cant figure out if the information about the waste ink level is among the printed lines

Any way to work around this, and get the whole report printed ?

Thanks again,

 

[erpp]

Forgot to mention, the following page describes how to get de EEPROM information printed. It also has a link that leads to a service manual.

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=929

 

[stratman]

Cant figure out if the information about the waste ink level is among the printed lines

Any way to work around this, and get the whole report printed ?

Unfortunately no workaround besides what you've already tried. Interesting that the printer overrides your paper selection and defaults to pigment ink for the EEPROM print out.

The waste level is in the first line of the EEPROM print out. If you want, post the EEPROM image. Maybe we can still extract some useful information such as number of pages, pictures and disks printed out and get an idea how much your printer has been used. Since the 4500 is a great printer that is easily refillable, I would want to continue using it till it died, so I would buy another print head while still working with the problem print head. If you get the print head working again then it could be stored for future use using Pharmacist's recipe for storage fluid. If you get it working before installing the new print head, then you can store the new one for future use. Worst case scenario is you never need the new print head and you sell it for a premium since they will be phased out for manufacture in the future.

Either buy a new print head or keep soaking/flushing the print head in the hope a clog is the problem and it resolves.


***EDIT***

I've been graciously informed by a fellow forum member that the print out of the EEPROM data for the 4500 is in a different order than for my printer. But, it seems that the identifier for the waste ink counter is still "D=" and it appears on the fifth line of the print out.

I have a link to a document that discusses the EEPROM. Because the procedure and layout of the data printed out may be different, I would use caution, especially in applying the procedure to access Service Mode and printing out the EEPROM if you have a different printer model. Hopefully the explanations for the items in the print out will still apply even if they are located differently.

 

[erpp]

Hi again Stratman, good news:
1) Tried again to print de EEPROM information using "Ink Jet Hagaki" as Media Type, just to see what happened, here it is (the bottom half of the page does not show any blank lines).

2) Tried again for a second time, and the page came out with no blank lines.

Looks like we (its a family printer) have only printed some 1,327 pages - looks a little low to me, my guess was about 2,000 pages. Thats about the only information I can understand in the report.

3) Tried the "Print Test Page", keeping Ink Jet Hagaki as media type and it also came out alright, even though you can see that the black text lines alternate about 3 slightly lighter ones, and 3 of regular intensity - guess the Pigment Black nozzle has not recovered completely. What is more, the colors in the Windows logo came out fine.

And then:

4) Set the Media Type again to "Plain Paper" and tried "Print Test Page" and it came out alright, again with lines of slightly lighter, and regular, intensity alternating throughout the page. Colors in the logo were well again.

5) Did a nozzle check, again with "Plain Paper" as Media Type. It came out much better than the last one. The upper half of the Pigment Black pattern showed up again, but not complete. And the dye cartridge patterns look quite good, the letters to their left that had previously shown a blueish tinge now look black again. Here it is:

6) Performed "Cleaning" 3 times, and "Deep Cleaning", once, for the Pigment Black cartridge but this brought no improvement. Here is the nozzle check:

I had not done anything to the printer since the soaking of the print head, on November 10-11, other than print a couple of nozzle checks - one of them today, which came out with all the defects that you mentioned previously.

I am interested in your thoughts about all this. Anything I could say would just be crude speculation, given my knowledge on the subject.

I wonder what would happen if I keep printing the EEPROM information using "Ink Jet Hagaki" as Media Type - would the quality of Pigment Black printing keep improving ? Will try, and will post about result.

Thanks, once more

TRIED PRINTING EEPROM INFORMATION 3 MORE TIMES, USING "INK JET HAGAKI" AS MEDIA TYPE - NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE AS TO THE UNEVEN INTENSITY OF BLACK TEXT LINES.

 

[stratman]

Try cleaning the contacts on the print head and in the printer with an isopropyl swab or lint-free cloth. You could try to clean with a soft pencil eraser but be careful about the eraser bits left over in the printer. If this does not resolve the problem then you will need to get a new print head.

Unles it just artifact from compressing and publishing the image, it looks like you also have a problem with the Dye-based Black ink cartridge - lighter colored central area of the nozzle check. This may represent a clog.

Now the good news-- It appears your waste ink counter is at D=017.0 which is a low amount. There is a lot of potential life in your printer!

 

[lin]

Hi erpp, It's not just the PGI-5BK nozzles have problem. But your Cyan nozzles has some electrical fault as well. If you notice your cyan 2nd and 3rd rows, the colors are much lighter than it should be. Generally these 2 rows (2nd and 3rd of cyan) are lighter color than the 1st row but it should not be this light. Sometime, a lot of inexperience user with such electrical fault would not notice the problem until they start to print photos. It will shows up in photo where they will start to notice the image having a shift of colors. That is why it's always good to printout the nozzles check and extended nozzles check from service mode when you first bought a printer with new printhead so that you could compare later the nozzles check printout later when you have problem with the printing. It's much harder to find the fault if certain rows of nozzles aren't printing than certain columns of nozzles aren't printing.

 

[erpp]

I don't know what might have happened but:

1 - About 4 hours after producing the nozzle checks and the EEPROM information shown above (I did not print anything else afterwards), which showed partial activity of the upper half of the Pigment Black nozzles, all the Pigment Black nozzles seem to have stopped working. The nozzle check is just like the last one, above, but with nothing on the PGBK area.
2 - I tried to print again the EEPROM information, but the page came out completely blank, regardless of the Media Type chosen - from what I saw before, this printing is done solely with the Pigment Black cartridge.
3 - The only thing that came out of "Print Test Page", for "Plain Paper" Media Type, was the Windows logo, nothing else.
4 - The Test Page for Ink Jet Agaki came out well, but I believe this uses the Dye Black cartridge, not the pigment black. Same thing for Matte Photo Paper.
5 - I put a couple of drops of alcohol on the inlet screen for Pigment Black, yesterday, and, given that there was little ink left on the one that was installed, I replaced it with a new cartridge.

6 - Today, I cleaned the contacts on the print head, and the print head holder, using a lint free cloth impregnated in rubbing alcohol, but this had no effect.
7 - To exclude the possibility of corrupted software, I unistalled the printer completely, and reinstalled it. Again no effect.

I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this situation,

Thanks again,

Thanks to Lin for comment on the cyanide, will try to do something about it when I get the Pigment Black working again. How could I go about dealing with electrical problems, as he mentions ?