Pro-100 one set of inks won't print

[Flyinby]

I bought a Pro-100 about 18 months ago, after being a devoted Epson user for years.  I was very happy with the print quality and, even if I didn't print for a couple of weeks had no problem with head clogging.

Then I had some things come up and didn't print anything for a couple of months.  Part of the black/gray/lt gray/cyan side was not printing, so I finished up the genuine Canon inks with cleaning, and replaced them as needed with a set of genuine Canon inks I bought from Canon's website.  After a few cleanings, even the particularly stubborn light gray was printing OK, so I thought all was well.

A week or so later I sent a nice 13x19 print to the printer and it was horrible again.  It took several more cleanings and some printing in between cleanings to finally get a clean nozzle test.  The magenta/yellow side always printed 4 clean full test bars, but the black/gray/cyan side was a sutbborn problem.  I used up most of my $120 set of Canon inks in cleaning, which was eventually successful, but I was becoming discouraged with Canon printers  (although I have an MG7720 that prints beautifully even if it's sat unused for a month or longer).

Now we were busy with the holidays for about 3 weeks, and I thought "I'd better print something or that sucker will clog up again.  Cautiously I printed a nozzle test, and the entire black/gray/cyan side was completely blank, and I've run through a deep cleaning and several regular ones, using up another expensive set of Canon inks, and I still have complete blanks on that side...not even a partial bar like before, and no sign of any improvement.

Carts were all pretty full when I started, and the clogged ones are wet with ink like they should be; set one prints perfectly and did on the first head check, set two prints nothing.

A search led me to a suggestion of "reinstall the drivers" which sounded ridiculous, but to make sure I tried from another network machine (the printer is on the wired network) with the same results...absolutely no black/gray/lt gray/cyan.

So much for "genuine Canon inks".  I'm not buying another $120 set of Canon inks for this disaster...I got maybe a half dozen 13x19's out of the last 2 sets, the rest was used for cleaning.

With old, long-neglected Epsons we used to use a few drops of Windex on the sponge where the heads park, and it was always successful eventually.  Does anyone know of any fix for this situation with the Pro-100?  I have some third party inks coming to see if I can get it to print, and if not it will go in the recycling and end my relationship with Canon printers for good, other than the reliable little MG7720, for which I will switch to the less-ridiculously priced third party inks.

I rember the old printer forums where Canon fans would deride Epsons as "always clogging", which is an exaggeration but they do at times have some issues.  But I never had any that would not clean up via windex or a new cartridge.  This Pro-100 has probably given me 25 large prints in total, and though the printer was pretty inexpensive with a rebate, the per-print cost is ridiculously high.  I haven't contacted Canon support as it's not under warranty and I'm not interested in sending it in for repair...I'll cut my losses and return to Epson.

So any suggestions to save me from having to trash this thing would be really welcome...I'm not adverse to taking things apart if needed, and at this point I have nothing to lose, but spending more money on it isn't an option.  Sorry for the long post but I'm still mad from looking at those last print head check results.

[indigoimagelab]

There's a YouTube channel that may help. Go to YouTube and search for "jtoolman". Then click on "Jose Rodriguez" (the first channel that comes up.) He has a ton of videos on the Pro-100 and other photo inkjet printers. When you get to his channel, click on the magnifying glass to search through his channel only, and type in "clog". You'll get a whooooole bunch of videos; I hope one of them helps you!

Neil

Indigo Image Lab

[Flyinby]

Thanks for the tip, Neil! I'll check it out and hopefully find something that works (and hopefully lasts so I don't have to be afraid to let the printer sit for a week).

[Flyinby · Accepted solution]

I about fell over when I walked into the shop and saw a nozzle check page with all the bars full and clear (I have a stack of probably 20 pages of unsuccessful ones with all of the right-side color bars blank.  As a last resort, I was going to remove the print head and soak it in Windex, but since it was that entire group not printing I had just about concluded it was a failed print head and the printer was destined for the trash heap.

I didn't find much new about the specific issue on the YouTube channel (though lots of good other information), so I resorted to my old "neglected Epson printer" tricks and filled a syringe with Windex.  I had already tried drops of windex on the pads atop the print head where the cartridge transfers the ink, with no success at all.

So with a blunt-needle syringe I forced a few drops of Windex down into those same pads (only on the clogged colors), then put a few more drops into the spongy material at the bottom of those cartridges.  Almost decided to fill some old carts with Windex and try printing or cleaning, but hadn't gotten that far.

Not expecting much, I waited a half hour then again hit the "print nozzle check".  Didn't even bother to go look for a while, as I expected it to look like the other 20 pages, after all sorts of cleaning, deep cleaning, cartridge changes, etc.  But no, I walked in and there was a perfect sheet, with all the color bars full and smooth!  Skeptical, I ran back and picked out an 8x10 and loaded some glossy paper, and sure enough, it printed fine.

If anyone from Canon reads this, you all need to find a better way for cleaning stubborn clogs that happen for no other reason than the printer sitting unused for 3 weeks.  Wasting $120 worth of ink and buying another $120 set may be good for your stockholders, but in my case it's good for the third-party ink people, because I'm done using OEM inks.

This printer had never used anything but genuine Canon inks, and yet it clogged far worse than any Epson I owned since 1995, after sitting about 3 weeks (shut off properly, not using a power strip and with no low cartridges).  I wanted to use OEM inks due to the better assurance of print longevity and color-quality control, but pumping expensive ink through them in hopes of unclogging is, in this case, not within reason.  I may opt for refilling, or stick with the 1/10th the cost third party inks, but my faith in this printer is gone, though it prints beautiful prints.

Thanks to Neil for the help, even though I was unable to find the exact issue.

[judrob13]

I bought this printer about 9  or 10 weeks ago. It worked well until now.  I have the same problem you did; I didn't print for about 2 weeks.  Cleaning recleaning and deep cleaning havent't worked,  I will try the windex cure tomorrow.  Maybe your report will save me a lot more trouble. And I'm much better acquainted with the printer now!

[kk11]

Printing the test page, I lost both cyan and black. Cleaning through the utility multiple times didn't fix my problem. I cleaned the printhead per this youtube video. Search HBT How to unclog a Canon Pro 100. It involves soaking the printhead in 10 parts distilled water, 2 parts isopropyl alcohol and 1 part ammonia for 1 day. My black ink came back and the faint bars went away. I was skeptical but it was my last option. And it worked!

[Flyinby]

After years of repeated clogging on the Black/grey/cyan side of the printhead, and being unwilling to stay home to babysit the printer so I could use it daily (or at least weekly), I was about ready to junk it.  While the prints from my pigment-ink Epson Workforce aren't quite as stunning as the Pro-100's, at least it always comes up with a clean test print.  The third party inks I eventually went to (after wasting too many $125 genuine Canon sets of ink trying to clean up clogs) do not produce long-lasting prints, especially if unprotected by glass.

I hadn't seen the more recent videos about removing and cleaning the printhead, but finally did mix Windex and denatured alcohol half and half in a syringe, and applied it to the contact pads under the cartridges and to the cartridge bottom pads.  The alcohol seemed to do the trick, as I did one cleaning cycle and got an almost-clean test page.

So I removed the print head and used a spray bottle of Windex to squirt the heads underneath, the top pads, and generally clean up the whole thing from my many repeated cleaning attempts earlier.  The spray stream from the Windex bottle seemed to be just right to get into the heads without being too much or damaging anything, and when I no longer saw any colors from the squirted areas, I wiped it down well and put it back, with the same cartridges.  Perfect test page, nice print quality, and it seems to be staying unclogged.

Now the dilemma...since I want to go back to Canon inks due to the fading issues with third party, I went to Canon's site and picked out the full set (or tried to, until I saw the "out of stock"), which also offers a nice bonus of 50 sheets of 13x19 paper.  Seems ironic that Canon, the manufacturer of the printer, would not have ink...many of the single cartridges are also back ordered or out of stock.  Amazon apparently has the set, but then no free paper bonus from Canon.

Anyway, if trying to use Windex to clean the heads and it's not succeding, try mixing in some denatured or isopropyl alcohol...worked quickly for me, and did no apparent damage to anything.

[AngryTraveler]

Well, here's something that will make all of you feel smarter, because of my own bone-headed move.  Struggled for over an hour trying to figure out why prints looked great at low res, and green on high res.  Great after a delay and green on the second print.  One color (photo Magenta) prints good on a nozzle check, then disappears on the second nozzle check.

Well, if you forget to take the tape off one of the vent holes when you install a new set of cartridges...

They look great now!

[Anfinj]

I've given up on trying to solve this problem. I've bought 4 canon printers in the past and this is the last one. I have washeds the tank tray, replaced all ink tanks and cleaned, cleaned deep cleaned, deep c;leaned and all I get is red. I have a Canon MX922 that lasted several years but last year I bought the PRO10 to print and sell photos. It's useless now. Canon is testing my loyalty (have a Canon Rebel camera).