topic Re: PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta in Desktop Inkjet Printers

PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta

edstevens — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 16:40:04 GMT

After my wife reported the printer is 'only printing blue', but not reporting any 'low ink' status, I ran a nozzle check. The two magenta bands did not print any color. Replaced the magenta cartridge, even though it did not report a low ink condition. Repeated nozzle check, but got same result.

Re: PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 17:03:15 GMT

Does your printer driver have a head cleaning option that you could execute?

Re: PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta

edstevens — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 17:33:06 GMT

Yes, it has a head cleaning function, and I used that to no avail before changing the cartridge.

Re: PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 21:45:42 GMT

There are YouTube videos on printer head cleaning. I have never used them and thus aren’t recommending them. Also the option to purchase new head. You would want to compare the price of a head with the price of a new printer, recognizing that the new printer also comes with a complete set of new ink.

Re: PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta

edstevens — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 14:29:08 GMT

Just as a follow-up, just got off a chat with Canon Support. They had me perform a 'deep clean' of the print head and that resolved the issue.

Re: PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta

gtingreenbelt — Mon, 02 May 2022 22:07:24 GMT

Hello Ed,

Thank you, thank you, and thank you! I had the same problem with my magenta printer head. Without looking up any solutions, I proceeded to do a cleaning and the printer told me, upon the printer head check I did afterwards, that I didn't need to clean the printer head [again]. But the magenta lines still didn't print. So I tried changing to a new cartridge and still got no magenta to print. I looked up the problem on the Canon Website and didn't find an answer after scanning several help pages, so gave up there. A friend suggested throwing the question onto the Web, which is what I did and where I found your problem sooner than I could have on the Canon Website. I did a deep cleaning and, voila, the magenta started to print again. I very much appreciate your saving me the time and expense of having to sign up for technical support!

Re: PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta

edstevens — Tue, 03 May 2022 13:00:54 GMT

@gtinggreenbelt - Well, I have to follow up that in my case, the deep clean only produced a clean test page. Under actual usage, I continued to have issues. If the magenta corrected, then I had problems with simply black text. I had been using third-party cartridges, so finally gave up and purchased a set of Canon brand, and that resolved the problem. I had been using third party for some time, having gone through several sets with no issues, and the set causing the problems had been in for some time. I know that some will say "well of course, you should use the very expensive genuine Canon cartridges".

Re: PIXMA TR8520 - Not printing magenta

gtingreenbelt — Wed, 04 May 2022 15:14:07 GMT

Hello Ed,

Thank you for the follow-up information. I, too, have been using third-party cartridges for a long time, but for me the deep cleaning worked not only on the test page but also in printing a map that I had been trying to print in four colors. I guess it's just the luck of the draw sometimes.

Best regards,

Germaine