iPF8400 manual printhead adjustment has no matching pattern

[meg510]

Hi,

after replacing the right print head, I'm fighting with a strange adjustment problem. The initial head adjustment is done and the nozzle check prints perfect grids, but photos are unsharp with about 1mm shift between different colours.
I did try then a manual head adjustment, but the vertical lines in the middle are also shifted to much to the left and there is no pattern with matching lines. Therefore I can't insert correction values. 

[meg510]

My post was unintentionally send to early, by confirming the attachment.
The middle lines are shifted to the right, not left.

Since I suspected a missalignment of the multisensor, I did already a Optical Axix and a Gap alignment, w/o success.
Has anybody an idea what I can do here?

...and please don't throw away my question immediately, since I'm not from US.
This printer is sold world wide and the answer can also be interessting for US owner.

Thank you and Regards,
Martin

[meg510]

I have found the solution to the problem.

When you start the printer in Service Mode (Press Load + Navigate while powering on), there is an expanded manual head adjustment menu: SERVICE MODE -> ADJUST -> HEADADJ. -> MANUAL HEAD ADJ

From here, you get the printout mentioned above (which can be very complex, depending on the selection: BASIC/DETAIL/EXTENSION). This printout should be used to find the best matching pattern and insert it into numerous parameters in the next menu: SERVICE MODE -> ADJUST -> HEADADJ. -> ADJ. SETTING

Using the BASIC pattern (as shown in the screenshot above), I couldn't proceed further and felt stuck. Then, I tried the other options (DETAIL/EXTENSION), which should match patterns without stripes. I made some corrections in ADJ. SETTINGS, but the printout became even worse. I was at a dead end.

However, I continued searching and found the saving solution in the reset menu: SERVICE MODE -> ADJUST -> HEADADJ. -> RESET SETTINGS

After that, I got matching BASIC patterns, and my printout was already great, even without further adjustments 🙂

I have no idea which of the countless parameters was set incorrectly, making it impossible to be corrected with the BASIC patterns (poor implementation from Canon), but with the reset, you can return to a good starting point.

To tell the whole story (which might be interesting for Canon to improve customer satisfaction): I got the printer for free as defective from the previous owner. He had given up after buying two new heads without success and bought a new printer. Even Canon support couldn't help him 😉

I hope this helps others who have navigated to this dead end 😉

[meg510]

One thing I forgot to mention:

In this situation, the normal head adjustments in the standard menu doesn't help. Even the initial head adjustment runs through without error but doesn't fix the significant 1mm misalignment. No idea what Canon intended with this. 
While printing, you might encounter the error 2820: "Cannot adjust printhead." The error codes provide this explanation:
Head registration unadjustable. The adjustment value has gone out of bounds during automatic head adjustment.

But no hint that you can get out of the situation by the reset in the service mode

[Sonya1]

Hi meg510,

Based on the issue you're experiencing, I recommend that you contact our Large Format Printer telephone support at 1-800-423-2366 (press option 1 then option 3 for Large Format Printers), Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST, excluding holidays. I hope this is helpful.

[meg510]

Hi Sonya1,
thank you for this information. As you see in the posts above, I could resolve the problem and everthing is fine now.
But good to know for next time 🙂
One additional Info concerning Firmware: 
I initially received the printer with Firmware Version 1.21. The first thing I did was upgrade it to version 1.50, but the problem persisted.