Some Canon troubleshooting tips

[websnail]

Just thought I'd share a couple of random troubleshooting problems I hit today when an iP5200 decided to hit problems with its paper feed and I then started creating a few new problems.

1. Error 6502 (Ink tank position sensor error)
This will probably happen if you have the printer open (ie: the top removed) and a light shining into the unit. Happened with mine after I dismantled and part rebuilt it. Put cover back on and it worked fine until I shone a light in while it powered itself up and went through the routine and then it balked again.. So lesson: no lights!

2. Judder as printhead passes a specific spot.. No obstruction but the printer leaves blank spots in printout in a line down page.. Weirdly it's slightly different position for each ink output.
Check the little plastic strip that the head uses as a position measure (it's on springs and runs at the back of the printhead near the top). Mine had some grease on it so a little careful cleaning solved that problem and it started printing perfectly again.

3. Ink pool near right of printer after disassembly and reassembly of printer from base.
Yep.. the waste ink nozzle hasn't slotted back into the gap in the sponges and is probably directing ink against the circuit board and off into the far right of the case where it leaks out the bottom of your printer. Solution, take apart again and make sure you get the waste tube aligned right.


There's a few others but I can't remember what there were... hopefully will save some poor sod from the same problem later though

 

[Trigger 37]

Websnail, I found a post of yours that took me to stevesforum on the subject of the "low ink Level" status coming from the Status Monitor. This was all back in 2006 and at that time you and others had started checking out ways to defeat and reset the low ink status. I was wondering how your efforts turned out. I'm at the point with my iP6600D that the first "Yellow ink that is Empty" message came up and of course I had no choice but to do the stop/reset button function to clean the monitor. I'm about to go ahead and refill my yellow, and I will use the procedure you outlined last June (Center>power off>refill>power on). I'm now also getting a low ink level indication on my black and I check it and it was at 50%. Canon is really stealing money out of peoples pockets. I and others have noticed that the new CLI-8 carts have a smaller reservoir and a larger sponge section, and of course this means that you get less ink to start with and they make you throw more away earlier since they force you to replace the ink tank before it is anywhere near empty. They are using any trick they can to increase their income at peoples expense.

Anyway, hope you came up with some answers.

 

[Molitor]

Trigger: I have an ip6700D, and refill the carts without major problems, although once it started giving me an "out an ink" warning and wouldn't continue printing even when I'd hit the Stop/Reset button. Once it did this, and for some reason I hit the "OK" button and it continued printing and I never got the error again (so far). It's possible that some of the seemingly malicious behaviour may be buggy firmware or simply poor documention. Then again, Canon did admit to making some models run slower when you use refills, so they're not above maliciousness: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/c...oryid=215&modelid=13390&keycode=2112&id=28083

To add to Websnail's thread:

4: If the printer stops with an "Out of Ink" message, and holding the "Stop/Reset" button for 4 seconds doesn't solve the problem, try hitting the "OK" button.

5a: If you routinely print a pattern instead of using clean-cycles to keep your nozzles unclogged, make sure the printer driver is NOT set to "plain paper". For example, in the ip6600/6700, "plain paper" will cause the printer to only use Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow inks. The Photo Cyan and Photo Magenta inks will not be used. Set the driver to a photo paper or Canon High-Resolution paper to use all the inks.

5b: In the ip6600/6700, 9600dpi mode (9600x2400 for C/M/PC/PM and 9600x1200 for Black/Yellow) is only used when "Photo Paper Pro" is selected, the quality is set to "Custom" and the slider is pushed all the way to "1".

6: Clogged/Ink-starved printheads will often show problems more readily when you use the fastest mode available, since it prints at a lower resolution and the head makes less passes. I've had perfect "Nozzle Check Patterns" that show stripes when printed on plain paper in the fastest custom mode, even though it would print photos perfectly in highest quality mode. If you get more white lines in faster modes, and the nozzle check pattern is ok, suspect ink starvation.

7: If you think you have paper feed problems, set the printer to "Quiet Mode" to force it to feed slower. AFAIK, my printer only feeds slower, the printhead moves at the same speed.

 

[websnail]

That pretty much covers it... To date there's no way to defeat the checking... just accept the terms and go with it..