Sudden printer error while printing for a client!!! Any ideas welcome...

Hey gang!

It's not like me to be stuck, but I am this time so any suggestions would be HUGELY appreciated.

The problem is this:

We have a Canon MP610 just for modest print runs and household stuff.

I was printing some pictures for a karate chum and all was going smoothly.

Then, with no variables changing, the black stopped "working" properly. Instead, I'm seeing purple, where the image should be blackest.

I've done all the recommended cleaning and head-setting but to no avail.

Missus Skygod has sent an urgent message to Canon Japan, but I don't know when they'll reply.

I've got to dash out to work now, but I'm wondering if it's a problem with my wife's PC - which is the one hooked up to the printer.

When I get home tonight, I'm going to load the print driver onto my laptop and see if I can print from that....indicating that perhaps a simple uninstall (on her PC) and re-install will fix it.

Any other thoughts would be welcome.

Cheers all.

Simon

Simon, does this happen when you print a test page from the driver properties?

You might also try turning on straight grayscale/B&W in the driver and see what the outcome is.

This began happening in my ancient HP "normal stuff" printer and I ended up just switching over to B&W and it behaves better. After all, the printer is at least 15 years old...

You changed the cartridge, too, right? in addition to the cleaning and setting?

Do a nozzle check and see if you look good there. If not, I'd say you have an ink clog or bad printhead.

Will it print black text? Canon inkjet's seldom clog.
First guess if you can lay down black text it's a driver issue.
Check Event viewer and Device Manager for errors if it's a PC.

Hey guys!!!
Just got back from work, and you're all stars
To answer:
I've done test printing, head re-setting, nozzle cleaning and changed the ink cartridges.
I've also printed out an MSWord document which had small photos embedded in it with no problems - though, they were pretty small pictures, maybe 2" per side max.
And the text printed was jet-black, clear, sharp, legible....in short, it's a mystery!

Next, as BlackHawk suggested, I'll do a driver check (using my laptop) and see if that sorts it out, the real motivator being that Canon replied saying (no prizes for guessing!), send it to us and we'll fix it and return it within 5 days for ￥10,000 (about $120!!!).


For any future problem-sharers, I'll post the result of the driver install/reinstall etc.....

And again, thanks so much to all for taking the time to make a suggestion.

Simon

Ouch, no easy fix... so I guess the laptop wouldn't not print the photos correctly either on it?

Print a nozzle check and see if all the colors have good full boxes. An error here can be subtle so look very carefully. If not try to clean just the group of nozzles that contains that particular box. I think it is not your black ink but another color. When printing color pictures, a printer will often compose black out of other colors. Don't spend too many tries cleaning nozzles as you will waste more money on ink than a new print head or maybe even a new printer would cost.

Thanks again for the latest advice.
I've tried my laptop. Didn't help, so I guess it's the printer.
But it's working beautifully for documents, so I'm off to the computer shop now to see what they say.
Considering the prices quoted by Canon for fixing, I might just buy myself a little printer to get the run done for the client. I should work out cheaper, and their fee was OK, so I'll still be in pocket and have a dedicated printer under my desk for photos only.

Thanks again all!

If you use it every 3-4 weeks Canons never seem to clog, in fact none of my Canon Ink Jets ever clogged! I have yet to have to clean one... sounds like a hardware failure in the printer.
Oh well

blackhawk wrote in post #9577629
If you use it every 3-4 weeks Canons never seem to clog, in fact none of my Canon Ink Jets ever clogged! I have yet to have to clean one... sounds like a hardware failure in the printer.
Oh well

Yep.
I'd go with that.
Did a check at the shop and the thinner of the two black ink cartridges isn't even releasing ink!
So I'm negotiating a deal on an Epson....

skygod44 wrote in post #9578445
Yep.
I'd go with that.
Did a check at the shop and the thinner of the two black ink cartridges isn't even releasing ink!
So I'm negotiating a deal on an Epson....

Epson? I had nothing but trouble!

Really haven't had a lick worth of trouble with my Canon printers.
Still have my i9900.

Been using an R2400 and R2880 for years without trouble... (knock on wood)

René Damkot wrote in post #9580077
Been using an R2400 and R2880 for years without trouble... (knock on wood)

I like the color fast inks you can get.
Perhaps they are better now, but the one I have I literally ripped it apart with my bare hands one day. It ate ink like crazy because of the cleaning(s)... and was a real pain.

My Canons see the same usage patterns even less at times with not one user cleaning needed as of yet.