What do you mean by "the nozzle check pattern is a maintenance function which is stored in the printer's memory?" The PGBK image prints but ALL the vertical lines are ellipses. Also the number of pages and version that prints at the end of the nozzle printout are double printed on top of each other. The text printed in the column by the C/M/Y/BK/GY colors is perfect. It is only an issue with the PGBK printing, and ONLY VERTICAL printing.
If this was a encoder strip problem would not all text be off?
This is incredibly frustrating. Our business has over 20 of these Canon MG series printers and several of them have developed this exact same issue. To be told to replace the print head that costs what a new printer costs is nuts.
I can't believe there is a clear explanation for why this happens. The only reason why there are not hundreds, if not thousands, of people reporting this is that they don't know what to search for to find this thread. I have spend hours looking for an answer and finally found this thread. Most people I bet give up and trash the printer, of course this is what is desired by Canon (new sales). If we don't find a satisfactory solution we will stop buying Canon printers and ink period.
If someone can find an answer that is NOT to clean the encoder strip (never solved this) or replace the print head it would benefit many, many people.
