printhead or software

[Driesdb]

Everything worked fine with my canon MG 5150 till yesterday. When I print a text, I only see every other line... My test result is as above. I miss half of the PGBK cartridge.
Can someone help me?

 

[stratman]

Welcome to the forum, Driesdb.

I fear you have suffered an electrical malfunction and your print head and/or logic assay board is/are permanently irreparable.

1) Nature abhors straight lines. The missing ink in your PGBK (black pigment ink) portion of the nozzle check appears as a straight swath. This is usually from an electronic failure as described above.

2) The horizontal bar in the BK (black dye-based ink) portion of the nozzle check should be uniformly black. Instead, what I see are evenly spaced multicolor segments. This would also point to an electrical malfunction.

If these defects are confined to the print head then a new print head will solve the issues. However, if only one of these two issues resides in a failed logic assay board inside the printer then you will have to replace that board AND potentially the print head as well.

There is also the rare issue of a malfunctioning logic assay board causing a new print head to malfunction as well. Fortunately, this is rare but you should be aware of this warning, especially with such an unusual nozzle check.

Maybe others on the forum will know exactly what is happening and advise further, so do not give up all hope yet.

 

[PeterBJ]

I agree with stratman. The PGBK pattern split horizontally at exactly half the height suggest an electronic failure of the print head. A print head failed this way might or might not damage the logic board. If the logic board has been damaged in this way it can damage a new print head. So it is a gamble to replace the print head and I cannot tell the odds for success. The parts number for the print head is QY6-0073 if you want to look for one. Beware of "new" print heads from the far East. They might be cleaned externally to look like new and packaged in counterfeit foil bags and cardboard boxes, made to look like Canon OEM.

2) The horizontal bar in the BK (black dye-based ink) portion of the nozzle check should be uniformly black. Instead, what I see are evenly spaced multicolor segments. This would also point to an electrical malfunction.

I think the dye/photo black is OK. It is a scanner artefact. I also have an MG5150 and the scanner is not very good for scanning nozzle checks. See this post.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I only can confirm that, I wouldn't plug a new printhead into this printer anymore for the described risk. You may test the electronics if you have another older printhead available you can sacrifice if the motherboard kills that one as well.

 

[The Hat]

@Driesdb, the print head is damaged beyond repair, so you will have to purchase a new one or dump the printer, but you can also continue to use the printer with the damaged head by altering your Media settings to Matte Photo Paper in Devices and Printers and click apply.

This will allow your printer to continue as before but without using the PGBK ink, your text black will be a bit heaver looking and won’t be highlighter proof but everything else will be the same...

 

[stratman]

I think the dye/photo black is OK. It is a scanner artefact. I also have an MG5150 and the scanner is not very good for scanning nozzle checks. See this post.

Interesting and a reasonable explanation. You got the rainbow color artifact with more than Black. The OP did not, including none of the vertical black bars. It's strange.

Begs the question of whether @Driesdb sees the rainbow colors on the printed paper or only in the scanned image?

 

[PeterBJ]

I just made a nozzle check from a MG5150 and scanned it using both the CIS scanner in the MG5150 and the CCD scanner in an MP800. It looks like @Driesdb used a resolution of 150 dpi, so I did the same.

Here is the MG5150 scan:

And here the same nozzle check is seen by the MP800:

Edited to make a better match of scan settings.

 

[stratman]

@PeterBJ

Interesting how the colors appear more saturated with the CIS scanner than the CCD.

Excellent sleuthing work, Peter! Thank you.

 

[PeterBJ]

@PeterBJ
Interesting how the colors appear more saturated with the CIS scanner than the CCD.

That was due to different scanner settings. I have now edited the post so both scans are with default settings and no sharpness/contrast enhancing.

 

[stratman]

That was due to different scanner settings. I have now edited the post so both scans are with default settings and no sharpness/contrast enhancing.