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Canon Pixma MX922 not printing red

anickgb
Apprentice

My printer is not printing red. I tried : 

 

-Hard reset

-Cleaning

-Deep cleaning

-Changing ink cartridges

 

Any advice?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

GonzDog
Contributor

Okay here Goes! Just bought this 922 from Amazon for $69 bucks, to replace an old MX 870. I'm running a mac with the latest upgrades. My PGBK was doing the same thing. Test page no joy. I fussed with all the menu settings on the printer, nada.

I downloaded all the printer and scanner drivers from Canon, nada. I gave the iMac and printer a hard reboot, unplugged everything, restarted, nada. Checked all proxy, wireless settings, etc, nada. Yanked the cartridge, shook it, reinstall, nada.

The cartridge is brand new! Test page all colors minus PGBK. Checked forums, google,nada. Deleted all printer and scanner drivers, fearing corruption, reloaded all new latest again from Canon, nada. 20 test pages later still nothing, Getting close to tossing out to trash tonight. Took PGBK cartridge out again, noticed a 1/4 inch of orange tape on the front of the cartridge, no way, I'm saying. peeled it off, got a little rubbing alcohol applied to a Q-Tip ran it around the front and back of cartridge, especially into the ink hole, looked dry, probably voided my warranty. Then I ran the same alcohol infused Q-Tip where the cartridge gets seated, heck at this point I was ready to burn sage, wave it around the printer and chant. Went to test page and OMG it worked!!! Could a small bit of tape on the FRONT of the darn cartridge cause this? Or was the alcohol a priming agent? Beats me, All I know is that I have been fooling around with this nonsense for two days and nothing else worked!

So give it a shot and let me know!

View solution in original post

15 REPLIES 15

Thanks.  I had been deep cleaning like crazy to keep the red printing on my MX922.  I dunked both sides of a q tip in 70% isopropyl alcohol and put that to every hole (you can tell I don't know what is going on) in the troubled cartridge, waited a couple minutes, checked printer status, and printed the nozzle check page.  The red looks uniform and smooth.  I thought possibly the cartridges I used were no good and I am sure I tossed a good one.  I had gotten so disgusted I was going to buy a Brother inkjet as a replacement, but luckily no one had the recommended model in stock, so I searched some more and lucked on this forum and post!!  Since I changed cartridges, I would guess that maybe this cleans something in the printer itself that deep cleaning only temporarily clears?

Hey There! Glad it did the trick! I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the "Deep Cleaning" mode. It seems that the Canon system will detect the tiniest obstruction, i.e. adhesive tape or a micron of "junk" disrupting some type of sensor that basically freezes the printer from working. BTW I periodically clean the heads with a dollop of 70% alcohol on a q-tip to keep it running at qptimum, usually when I change a cartridge. Still printing like a champ! Glad it worked for you! Have a Great New Year!, All the Best!

GonzDog

CleanPrinterheadMX922.jpgI tried cleaning and took the print head out and rinsed it out with warm water using a small tube to get good pressure a couple of times but no success.  Then I tried using the Q-tip and alcohol on the printhead lines and it worked great.  

 

 

GonzDog
Contributor
Great! I'm glad that you didn't toss the printer! The q tip and the total removable of the adhesive tape does the trick! Don't forget to buy your replacement cartridges from Amazon! 3 years later and my printer is still kicking ass!

KS66
Apprentice

I was skeptical. Thought problem was a generic ink cartridge. Replaced the blue cartridge ,still red looked like pink and yellow was not printing although all showed full. So I took out all cartridges , swabbed with alcohol on print head, let dry and replaced ink. I did a test print for red and yellow It worked!! Small tip that has been a great help. Glad I didn't pitch all the ink cartridges I took out!

GonzDog
Contributor
Outstanding! Glad my q-tip "hack" worked for you. I sleep peacefully every night knowing I've saved another printer from the land fill!
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