iP1800 printer problem

[Hero1318]

iP1800 printer isn't printing solid / dark black anymore. Anything that's supposed to be black is coming out light gray on white paper.

Cartridge (#40) is half full, but a brand new cartridge does same thing.

I've run all the deep cleaning and testing routines available, but nothing seems to help. The sheets from the various tests don't show missing lines or streaks. The black color test is light gray, but all the colors from the color cartridge (#41) print fine in the color tests.

Not doing anything fancy, just printing documents and addresses on ordinary white 8.5x11 paper and envelopes.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Danny]

Hi, Hero1318!

So that the Community can help you better, we will need to know exactly which operating system is running on your computer, and the applications you're trying to print from. That, and any other details you'd like to give will help the Community better understand your issue!

If this is a time-sensitive matter, our US-based technical support team is ready to help by phone at 1-800-OK-CANON (1-800-652-2666) weekdays between 10 AM and 10 PM ET (7 AM to 7 PM PT).

Thanks and have a great day!

[Hero1318]

At the moment, still running XP SP3 Pro, but planning to update to Win 7 shortly.

Trying to print from Microsoft Word (Office 2003).  Straight text, no graphics.

This is a recent change because it was not an issue previously. Driver listed as "iP1800 Series" but I don't know version number or date.

Current settings:

Media : Plain paper (8.5x11" or size 10 envelopes)

Print Quality: Standard

Color/Intensity: Auto

Grayscale: OFF

Effects: (None checked)

Ink Cartridge: Use both black and color

Quiet Mode: Always use

As far as I can tell everything else is the default printer settings. Let me know if you need anything more.

Thanks!

[Hero1318]

I just received an email alert for this thread saying there was a new reply:

"Did it solve your problem?"

But I don't see that new reply or anything after my last post in this thread, so I don't know what was supposed to solve my problem.

The printer conitnues to print light gray instead of black text.  

[Ramona]

Hi Hero1318,

increasing the intensity setting in the printer driver may resolve the issue you are experiencing.  To do this, please follow these steps:

1.  Go to your START menu and click on CONTROL PANEL, then select PRINTERS AND FAXES, then VIEW INSTALLED PRINTERS.

2.  Right-click over the icon for your PIXMA iP1800 and select the PRINTING PREFERENCES option.

3.  In the Printing Preferences window, please click on the MAIN tab.

4.  Locate the COLOR/INTENSITY section and select the MANUAL option, then click the SET button next to it.  

5.  In the MANUAL COLOR ADJUSTMENT window that appears, locate the INTENSITY section and move the slider over to the darker section, then click the OK button to close out of the window.

6.  Back in the PRINTING PREFERENCES window, click the APPLY button and at the bottom of the window to apply the changes, then the OK button to close out of the window.

Hope this helps!

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[Hero1318]

Thanks for those instructions.

Intensity was set at 50% so I set it to ~75% and printed a Windows test page. It was still light gray but the colors in the Windows logo were fine.

When I set intensity to 100%, the Windows test page was somewhat darker but still gray instead of solid black.

Ran nozzle cleaning but that didn't help, and then ran deep cleaning but that also didn't make much/any difference. Black is still printing as gray.

Starting to wonder if I just got some bad black cartridges...