Canon ip4200 Just bought Canon compatible cartridges, and whilst it printed fine 10 minutes ago, it no longer prints after I changed cartridge. The bigger black cartridge is empty, and I'm trying to print a grayscale image and it prints a blank page - leading me to think that the printer uses the larger black cartridge mostly, which would explain the blank page printout. Is here a way of switching it over so that it prints with the smaller cartridge, which is full?

You might want to double check to make sure that your printer takes two color cartridges? If I remember correctly, the Pixma takes one black and one color cartridge? If you put a color cartridge in the black ink assembly that would cause it to stop printing.

Double check and make sure that you have one black cartridge in the correct place and one color on the other side.

Either the ink you are using is not going to give the color you want, or you have print heads that are blocked.

Hi,

Unfortunately I have no idea which compatible cartridge you're using so it's difficult to provide a definite solution. However a few things to consider:

1. The cartridge needs to have a clear vent hole so if you haven't removed tape or a plug from a hole that was indicated in the instructions, you need to do this.

2. Try removing the cartridge and then touching the exit port on the cartridge with a Q-tip (cotton bud) to see if the ink flows to the cotton. If it doesn't you need to replace the cartridge.

3. Check the cartridge is sitting properly in the printhead.. The interface between the printhead, rubber grommet and the cartridge exit port is very important and the cartridge needs to sit in this properly.


My guess is that the compatible cartridge is not up to the job and you need to consider getting an OEM (Canon original) instead.

You may want to think about finding a refill kit and using the Durschtich (German) method of refilling using bulk ink and a chip resetter instead of compatibles.... Nifty-stuff forums have a LOT of information on this subject so it's well worth a look.

Hope that helps.

Martin

Hi,

Although refill inks can be quite good, it is likely the cause. Several companies do make good refill inks for canon but they are specific to model lines and you have to be sure you get the right ones for photo colour.

The inks you're using are likely "universal" inkjet inks and are fine for everyday printing but are rarely ever colour corrected properly for photo.

My recomendation to all of my customers is always to keep a new cartridge handy for photos but to use the refilled ones whenever they are printing anything else as it will give you the best balance between print cost and print quality.

Chris

Are you using original Cartridge or a compatible one? One possibility is you didn't remove the sticker on the top which covers the air hole., please run a cleaning cycle from your pc before printing and take a nozzle check print.

Look for ink clogged on the printer head. Run cleaning or deep cleaning after installing the new cartridge before printing. Take nozzle check print.

The cartridges may still be at fault, or there is a problem with the processor board in the printer. I have also seen problems with the ink jets in these.


Jerry G.

I had the same problem. Try cleaning the print heads. They tend to clog. Remove the cartridges, then remove the print head. Tilted slightly, it comes out easily. Run very warm to hot water over the print heads until they all run clear. Use a turkey baster to apply strong pressure to each head until it runs clear. Blow off the excess water with mouth or blow dryer. Insert into the printer and proceed to print. If that doesn't solve it, you might have a bad cartridge, but there isn't much that can go wrong with the cartridge. I have an ip4200 and an MP830. They have the same print heads and same cartridges. I have cleaned each twice and they work like new.

Try to manually clean the printer head. Take a cotton cloth and dab a little bit of alcohol (like whiskey) and then clean the printer head & the cartridges with it. Do remember it is a delicate process and if you messup, you might damage the printer/cartridges. So be careful & lemme know the result.

My IP4200 started doing this about a week ago it tells me I have two Cyan cartridges. I don't, cartridges are canon cartridges and were changed four months ago worked fine until now. Pressing the middle button the resume button is working eventually, so far, but I don't know for how long. Seems like a hardware problem as I deleted and reinstalled the software no difference and everything worked fine for the first four months.