Canon i9900 magenta only!

[jgbeam]

This is a weird problem that canon tech says is not a hardware problem. This printer has been working great for about 4 years. A few days ago, in mid-print, the colors went to strong magenta. First half of print fine, second half magenta. I did a nozzle check - perfect. After trying endless combinations of paper, profiles, color space, color management, ad nauseum, I found that I can get proper colors only if I select plain paper in the printer dialog and print on plain paper. If I select any other paper type it prints magenta, even on plain paper. If I select plain paper in the dialog and use any other paper type it prints magenta.

It can't be software or settings because the problem first happened midway through a print. I spent 30 minutes with a Canon tech person trying everything. I say it's hardware but Canon says it can't be. They have no solution.

Any ideas?

Jim

[René Damkot]

No idea really, but this might help: Click (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=495065&highlight=reset+printer)
Then again, it might not...

[TTk]

Have you uninstalled your driver restarted your pc and installed driver again ?? might have lost some data..

[jgbeam]

No idea really, but this might help: Click (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=495065&highlight=reset+printer)
Then again, it might not...

Tried it but no change. Thanks for the idea.

Jim

[jgbeam]

Have you uninstalled your driver restarted your pc and installed driver again ?? might have lost some data..

That was Canon's last suggestion too. Didn't work. I seem to be stuck with a $500 printer that will only print color photos on plain paper. Thanks for the input.

Jim

[Radtech1]

Have you tried changing out the magenta cartridge. I refill my cartridges and if I do not get an airtight seal on the fill hole, then the cartridge will flow like the Niagara and overwhelm all the other colors. Sounds like you might have a cartridge that broke it's seal.

Rad

[jgbeam]

Have you tried changing out the magenta cartridge. I refill my cartridges and if I do not get an airtight seal on the fill hole, then the cartridge will flow like the Niagara and overwhelm all the other colors. Sounds like you might have a cartridge that broke it's seal.

Rad

The mag cart is fine. Works as it should on plain paper and on nozzle check. Thanks for the suggestion, though. Any idea could be the one.

Jim

[rhurley]

Do you have a laptop or other computer that you can install the printer on? That seems like it would eliminate Canon's question of it being hardware related.

Rich

[jgbeam]

Do you have a laptop or other computer that you can install the printer on? That seems like it would eliminate Canon's question of it being hardware related.

Rich

Great idea. I tried it on a laptop and got the same results. So now I KNOW it's the printer and not the computer or driver. Probably some 25 cent firmware chip causing the problem.

This is so frustrating!

Thanks for your suggestion.

Jim

[rhurley]

Jim,

I'm glad that helped. It always seems like to have to eliminate all the other factors for a company to admit they need to even look at the problem It's the old problem of everyone pointing fingers at someone else.

Make sure you post the final "fix" from Canon.

Rich

[Radtech1]

So now I KNOW it's the printer and not the computer or driver.


Just for giggles, let us know what happens when you change out the magenta cartridge and run a head clean.

My money is still on the ink.

Rad

[jgbeam]

Just for giggles, let us know what happens when you change out the magenta cartridge and run a head clean.

My money is still on the ink.

Rad

I swapped for a new canon magenta cart. No change. As a last resort, I might try installing a full set of new canon carts and printing on canon paper to eliminate everything non-canon from the equation.

Jim

[Radtech1]

D'Oh!

Shoot! Sorry to have led you in the wrong direction. I work in the medial field, and one thing I know for sure is that 99% of our time is finding out what you don't have! So at least we know that it is downstream from the computer (thanks RHURLEY) and upstream from the ink supply. Gettin' closer.

Rad

[jgbeam]

D'Oh!

Shoot! Sorry to have led you in the wrong direction. ..... Gettin' closer.

Rad

It was an easy thing to try. I'm not givin' up yet. Full ink swap is next. BTW, I've been using MIS Associates inks (refillable carts)for the last two years with no problems at all. But I've got to rule out the inks so I'll do the full canon swap before I call canon again.

Jim

[René Damkot]

On a side note: Using other then OEM inks *will* very probably give a different color when you use the manufacturers icc profiles for the printer.
Using third party inks you should also be using a custom made .icc profile for the printer.

Probably has nothing to do with the problem at hand however.

[jgbeam]

It was an easy thing to try. I'm not givin' up yet. Full ink swap is next. BTW, I've been using MIS Associates inks (refillable carts)for the last two years with no problems at all. But I've got to rule out the inks so I'll do the full canon swap before I call canon again.

Jim

Well, 8 brand spankin' new canon cartridges, canon papers - no difference. Crap! I'm out of options. The printer will do a perfect nozzle check on any kind of paper but as soon as I put anything BUT plain paper in the machine it goes magenta on me. When I have an hour to spare I'll call canon tech again and see what they say. I'm expecting no help at all. I asked the guy if the printer detects the paper type and he said no. I know damn well that it does, probably based on reflectivity, but if he doesn't even know that, he's not going to have a clue about this problem. I say its a chip problem that could probably be fixed at a service center in 5 minutes but I'll never find out. I'm going to have to relegate this printer to non-photographic work while I look into a new 13 inch printer.

Jim

[Az2Africa]

Sorry to hear about the problem. My i9900 is in the shop now. It suddenly started flahing an error code of 14 blinks which the tech said was a bad card. $180.00 to fix. The only time I got magenta prints was when I forgot to turn off printer controls and once when the Cyan tank was not snapped in all the way. But you said it started in mid-print, so I have no idea why this has happened.

[jgbeam]

IT IS THE INKS!!!!!!

When I swapped out the MIS ink carts for the canon carts, the first couple of prints (on non-plain paper) were still magenta tinted but not quite as bad. That is when I posted that there was no change. After a couple of more prints, however, the problem started to clear up, I guess as the last of the MIS inks passed through. Now I'm getting beautiful prints on all papers. I have no idea why, after using MIS ink for about two years, that this problem would come up so abruptly. I intend to contact MIS for their opinion.

It's a relief to get this worked out because I really love this printer but I go through so much ink that the MIS inks were saving me a barrel of money besides being so convenient. As I go through this set of canon inks I intend to replace each cartridge with MIS, one at a time, until the problem comes back. If I can isolate the problem to one cartridge I might be able to mix the inks. It could also be a bad cartridge, even though the nozzle checks are good.

Still a mystery but at least I can print photos again.

Jim