Pixma Pro 9000 Banding/Lines Across Photo

[hlawildlife]

Hi all, I've been having some trouble lately with my Canon Pixma Pro 9000 (Mark I) lately. Whenever I print, I get these lines running vertically along most of the image (except for the very end). 

I am printing using Windows 10, and have tried printing from both Faststone Image Viewer and Photoshop Classic. I've tried printing both to HP everyday photo paper and canon photo paper plus glossy II.

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

I've tried cleaning and deep cleaning the nozzles multiple times via Canon My Printer to no avail, automatically re-aligning the print heads, and resetting the printer. All ink cartridges are relatively new, at least half full or more. I even removed the print head, thoroughly soaked in warm water, ran water through it until no ink came out, then let it dry completely before testing again and got exactly the same result. I don't have any noticeable issues when printing a nozzle check on standard paper. Any ideas what might be causing this/how to resolve it? For reference, here is the image I am attempting to print.

This printer was working successfully for most of the time I've owned it.. I haven't had any issues and prints have come out fine until recently.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts on what might be causing the problem!

[ebiggs1]

OK do this align the print head.  Make sure your ICC profile matches the paper you are using.  Don't over clean the print head which you may already have done. Keep in mind the print head may be worn out. Now very important make sure you are using Canon brand ink and cartridges.

Use just PS to do the printing and switch on let PS manage the printer.  Never let the printer manage itself. Beside Canon ink right now I would just use Canon brand paper until this is resolved. You might set the color gamut lower. Other than a clogged printhead nozzle or misaligned printhead, the incorrect media type setting is top of the list of causes for banding.

[hlawildlife]

Thanks so much for your thorough reply. Unfortunately I am still having some issues - could you please confirm I followed your recommendations correctly and let me know if you have any other ideas? 

Here are the steps I did: 

1. Automatic print head alignment (via Maintenance in Canon My Printer)
2. Confirmed ICC profile (AdobeRGB) and used Canon photo paper (Canon photo paper plus semi-gloss)
3. Ensured that media type was set to match paper (Photo Paper Plus semi-gloss)
4. Already using Canon brand ink and cartridges (CLI-8) ordered from B&H
5. Used photoshop to print 2 images. Ensured that color handling is set to "photoshop manages colors", used printer profile for semi-gloss (Pro9000 SG1). Also tried with printer profile Canon IJ Color Printer Profile 2005.
6. Under print settings set color/intensity to "Manual" and Color Correction to "None"

I then tried printing two images and saw similar lines/banding in the results - not quite as bad as before but still very noticeable:

For a lower color gamut would you recommend CMYK? sRGB? Would appreciate any other suggestions!

[ebiggs1]

No don't use CMYK.  You might try sRGB. It's worht a try. Are you seeing anything on the monitor?  How much editing are you doing? Typically any time a slider is pushed very hard, the risk of pushing an image out gamut increases. Some sliders like Saturation and Dehaze will push you out of gamut faster than others. Less is more.

How many bits per color channel are you set to?  Set your bits per color channe to 24-bit, instead of 8-bit or 16-bit.  If it is set to 8-bit try 16-bit first.  If it is already at 16-bit, you can try 24-bit but I doubt it will make a difference but it might.

The 9000 is not a new machine. Just how much has this 9000 been used?

[hlawildlife]

Thanks again for the reply.

Nope - absolutely nothing on the monitor; the images look very clean with no artifacts or banding on screen. I've been making prints for a while and never had this issue. The prints with which I've had these issues are not edited or shot in a different way than many others. I don't push sliders hard and use low opacity brushes. Tried with sRGB, and 16bit. Unfortunately no difference.

This 9000 was actually pretty lightly used, which is why I was hoping to squeeze a few more years of use out of it, although it looks like at this point it might not be fixable/worth the time. 

Any other troubleshooting ideas? If as you suggested before, the print head is worn out either from it just being old/overused or if I overcleaned it, I'm guessing there isn't a straightforward fix..