new Canon Pixma MG2220 printer - install problems on Windows XP

[JohnnyBob]

I bought a new Pixma MG2220 printer and received it 2 days ago. I followed the instructions and installed it from the provided CD on my 10 year old Compaq S4020WM desktop computer upgraded with 1GB RAM and 1TB hard drive running Windows XP SP3.

The CD installation took a very long time to complete (maybe an hour or so) and things did not work right. In particular the My Image Garden software was very slow and sluggish to respond. So I downloaded and installed the latest drivers and software from the Canon website on top of the existing installation, which did not help. The My Image Garden software began crashing completely with an error message about a bad .dll file. After talking to Canon tech support on the telephone, the support tech admitted that this software CD was probably not compatible with my old XP computer. The My Image Garden software uses like 500MB RAM which is too much resources for my machine. So the rep had me uninstall My Image Garden.

At that point I decided to uninstall everything and start over from scratch because something was obviously not right. For example, the Canon MP drivers were using 755 MB RAM, which seemed much too large. Obviously things had not installed properly from the setup CD, in general. The date on the setup CD was 2011, so apparently it was 2 years old, and long out of date!?

So I uninstalled everything except the Canon registration and onscreen user manual. I also kept Windows Adobe RGB 1998 because I didn't see any way to uninstall it. I also uninstalled .NET 4 which the setup CD had said was necessary, as well as Microsoft XPS EP which My Image Garden had also told me was needed. Then I cleaned up my computer as well as possible with help of Revouninstaller and Ccleaner, which was necessary because things were very messy with many uninstalled remnants and incorrect registry entries. I feel lucky to have survived those tasks without having to reinstall my op system. It wasn't easy.

Then I installed the following 2 modules (only) downloaded from the Canon website:

MG2200 series MP Drivers Ver. 1.01 (Windows 8/8...         01/31/13     14.07 MB
File Name: mp68-win-mg2200-1_01-ejs.exe
This file is a driver for Canon IJ multifunction printers. You can install the following items of the software: MP Drivers: The driver for Canon IJ multifunction printer. IJ Scan Utility: The software that allows you to easily scan photos, documents, etc.

*My Printer Ver. 3.1.0 (Windows 8/8 x64/7/7 x64/...         01/07/13     5.12 MB
File Name: mypr-win-3_1_0-ea11_2.exe
This file allows you to easily change the settings such as the paper source settings and provides you with information on how to solve problems such as ink smudging.

I believe that's everything required to access all of the print, copy, and scan operations of this MG2220 printer. Based on my current understanding, I would classify everything else as optional. I use free Irfanview for editing and manipulation of images, which seems a satisfactory substitute for the other software.

I did not reinstall .NET 4 or Microsoft XPS EP, because apparently they're only required if you install the My Image Garden and/or Quick Menu modules. I also did not reinstall the Easy-WebPrint EX module which apparently only applies to printing with the Internet Explorer browser, while I primarily use Firefox, Chrome, or Opera browsers. And of course I did not reinstall My Image Garden nor the Quick Menu, which were so problematical originally.

On the bright side, the Canon MP drivers appeared to install correctly this time, using only 35 MB RAM (vs 755 MB previously). Also the Canon IJ Scan utility was reinstalled automatically as a part of that driver installation process. Those items have their own shortcuts. I found it useful to make one additional shortcut via Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes > "Canon MG2220 series printer", to allow easy access to all of the internal printer settings and variables. Like I said, I believe this is all that's required, in addition to some image manipulation software such as Irfanview. I deal mostly with documents and never print photos nor use cameras. Those who have large photo collections and/or cameras may need something like My Image Garden or Easy-PhotoPrint EX.

I previously used Lexmark printers for the prior 10+ years, where everything is controlled by software from the computer. I never had to use the buttons on the printer. That's obviously different with this Canon printer, which will take some getting used to.

I'm disappointed that there's apparently no way to enlarge or reduce the % copy size with this model. Is there? I also don't find any setting for lighter/darker when making copies. Is there? There are apparently no other enhancements or filters available when copying. Are there? Similarly, scanning seems remarkably unversatile with this model and I can't find any way to set a scan for ligher/darker or apply various enhancements/filters. Are there?

The printing seems OK, but I must still decide whether the very limited copy and scan options will be sufficient to my needs. I'm not sure yet. I might take it back for a refund and get something better, if I knew what was better. That's another research project. Suggestions?

Thanks for any feedback.

[Karl1]

Hi JohnnyBob,

The PIXMA MG220 is one of our lower cost models and since it is so inexpensive compared to some of our higher end models it does not have some of the more common features such as enlarging and reducing as well as changing the brightness of copies.  Because the LED screen only has room for a 1-2 characters you are limited to copying as is and specifying the number copies. 

If you are on a tight budget but want something more feature packed, I would recommend looking at the PIXMA MG5420.  It's only a 20 dolalr difference on our website from the MG2220 and has signifigantly more features.  It has the ability to make the changes to the copies you are looking for as well as the ability to print and scan wireless from both your computers and your iOS and Android devices via Airprint and Google Cloud print respectively.

[JohnnyBob]

Thanks for your info but the MG5420 is more than twice the cost at my local Walmart and Staples stores.

I thought I was being smart to buy the MG2220 as a later model(?), but it looks like the prior model MG2120 has more copier and scanner features according to the online specs at the Canon website (see copies below).

For example the MG2120 allows 25%-400% reduction/enlargement when copying, while the MG2220 does not. Can you verify this?

Also does the MG2120 allow for setting copying to lighter/darker? (I don't understand that complicated technical lingo in the specs.)

Thanks.

Pixma MG2120
Copier    
Copy Speed (up to)    FCOT(Color) Approx. 30 seconds8
Reduction / Enlargement    25% - 400%
Copy Features    4-in-1 / 2-in-1, Auto Exposure/Intensity Copy, Face Brightener/Fading Correction, Fit-to-Page, Gutter Shadow Correction Copy, Image Repeat, Intensity, Multiple Copy: 1-9, 20 Pages, Photo Reprint, Preset Copy Ratios, Zoom

Scanner    
Scanner Type    Flatbed
Scanning Element    Contact Image Sensor (CIS)
Max. Resolutions    Optical:1200 x 2400 dpi
Interpolated:19,200 x 19,200 dpi
Scanner Features    Auto Document Fix, Auto Scan Mode5, Gutter Shadow Correction, Push Scan
Color Depth    48-bit internal/24-bit external
Max. Document Size    8.5" x 11.7"


Pixma MG2220
Copier    
Copy Speed (up to)    FCOT(Color) Approx. 30 seconds3
Copy Features    Borderless Copy, Fit-to-Page, Multiple Copy: 1-9, 20 Pages

Scanner    
Scanner Type    Flatbed
Scanning Element    Contact Image Sensor (CIS)
Max. Resolutions    Optical:1200 x 2400 dpi
Interpolated:19,200 x 19,200 dpi
Scanner Features    Auto Scan Mode, Push Scan
Color Depth    48-bit internal/24-bit external
Max. Document Size    8.5" x 11.7"

[scj7129]

If your computer is that old (10+) years, your resources are very limited!....not to mention if you have never run any utilities on your computer to clean up and defragment your hard disk can cause some serious latency issues!....Do you have USB version 1 or 2?  That can cause problems with file transfer speed. Is your hard disk a 7200 RPM disk?...instead of say a 5400 RPM disk?  Do you have a "plain vanilla" (no extra Compaq junk software) install of Windows XP Pro on your machine? A good piece of software for constantly keeping your disk defragged (page files included) is Diskeeper for XP. Also, if you have onboard video with all of the windows XP "eyecandy" enabled, that can eat into your resources and slow things down. If you got an inexpensive video card, you might have better results. Long story short, get yourself a laptop with Windows 7 on it...you can get a good one for around the $300 mark. My work purchased a Lenovo for me and it seems to do the job quite nicely! Advice, don't get a Vista machine and don't get a Windows 8 machine....to new.  From my experience in the "field", Windows 7 seems at the moment to be the most stable and compatible with various drivers and whatnot.

Good Luck!

PS--your computer is only going to be as fast as the "weakest link" in the data transfer chain!.....one of the biggest "bottlenecks" is the information lane known as the "bus" if your bus speed is 100 of 133 MHz, you might as well look at getting a new computer....you'll be much more satisfied!

[JohnnyBob]

That does not respond to my questions about the comparison of copy/scan features between the MG2120 and MG2220. That is my only remaining interest here, and I would welcome any knowledgable response in that regard.

The following is a response to the last poster, although this line of thought is no longer of interest to me...

Ordinarily I do not keep .NET on this XP computer because I know from experience that it causes problems. None of the software I run regularly requires it. However I installed .NET 4 from the Canon setup CD with my fingers crossed. I didn't think it would work, and I was correct. If Canon wants their printer software to be compatible with XP, they must rewrite it to avoid any dependency on .NET (in my opinion).

[scj7129]

The button scan feature on the MG2220 is called "push scan", which is initialized from the machine itself. I didn't check to see, but if this machine works with a TWAIN plugin, use that.  TWAIN is a plugin that is hosted by software such as photoshop or an OCR program--TWAIN is known as "pull scan" because you are initiating it from the computer and "pulling" it from your peripheral scanner. TWAIN almost always has more scan options available. If Canon has a TWAIN driver, don't hesitate to try it.

PS-- Microsoft .NET is only a framework that allows developers to make "slimmer" programs that leverage the framework...case in point and this works very well:

http://www.getpaint.net/

If you notice, the software download is only 3.5 Megabytes...that's because it leverages the .NET framework to provide many photoshop type features such as layers and filters.

Hope this helps!

[JohnnyBob]

Again, my only interest at this point is a comparison between the MG2120 and MG2220 copy/scan features, as explained in my post above. Reason: I can still return the MG2220 for a full refund until tomorrow, Monday, and get a MG2120 (or some other model) instead. In particular I wonder..........

The published specs on the Canon website for MG2120 say that 25%-400% reduction/enlargement is possible with the Copier function.

Can anyone confirm this? Thanks.

I'm asking because I've known published specs to be wrong occasionally.

[Karl1]

While the MG2220 is considered an upgrade, there are feature differences between the two: the addition of the ability englarge and reduce copies would be one of them.  Currently, our Canon Direct Sales site offers both models with a $30 difference between them :

MG2220

MG5420

[JohnnyBob]

Alas that still does not answer my question, which is...

The MG2120 specs say that 25%-400% reduction/enlargement is possible with the Copier function.

Can you confirm this is true, for a fact (not an error in the published specs)?

[Karl1]

Hi JohnnyBob,

Sorry, I thought that was adressed in my first sentence.  Yes it is true that the previous model did have this feature.  Why it is not in the MG2220 I cannot say, but if this feature is important to you I would look into the MG5420 as the 2120 is no longer available