PIXMA MX922 printer not printing black

[traciflome]

My pixma MX922 is not printing black text.  It will print color.  I have changed my ink, cleaned it and shut it on and off.  Thoughts?

[DrPhant0m]

Hey.  

I have an MX922, and I have the PGBK not printing issue as well.

I used to work as a Geek at BestBuy, and I learned a lot about printers while I was there.  

I don't have a fix for this issue (yet)...  but a little explanation:   the "pigment black" (PGBK) ink is cheap to manufacture, but it's actually a very dark purple color, not true black... and so you get a bigger tank for less money.  The printer, software, and drivers are smart enough to know what is text and what is a picture... which is why printing as a photo or on photo paper will cause the printer to bypass the pigment black for the better dye-based black.  If your PGBK is not working, this will help you get something printed, but you'll use the more expensive dye-based black for everything.

Everyone here probably knows by now that the cartridges do not have the print head on them...  the cartridge is just a tank with a sponge on the bottom, and the print head SUCKS the ink out to spray out of microscoping nozzles.  The print head is permanent, but replaceable...  meaning that you only get 1 print head with the printer and you don't typically have to replace it, but you can swap it out if need be.

If the PGBK is not coming out... it's not an issue with the cartridge directly, it's a problem with the print head. Though using low-quality knock-off cartridges could eventually gum up the print head/nozzles.  I suppose there's a chance that the circuitry of the printer itself may be malfunctioning and not communicating correctly with the print head.  It's easy to remove the print head and inspect it (take all your inks out, flip a lever if you have one, and pull).  You'll find that there are a lot of small electrical connection pads on it, that mate to connections on the printer.  If there's bad circuitry on either side... you will have a problem. 

I tried cleaning my print head with rubbing alcohol and a prep pad, but I have not yet tried the solution where you run a specialized liquid through the head or let it sit for hours/days.   Aside from getting a replacement print head... I bet this is the best bet, in case the circuitry is working fine, but the PGBK just happens to be clogged or gummed up.   There is a surprising amount of ink that comes out of the print head when you flush it... so it may take some vigorous cleaning to get any clogs out.

I've read a few users here that have replaced the print head, and still have the same problem.  Or, they replaced the print head and got a different problem.   Barring the possibility that the printer circuitry that "talks" to the print head is bad... This makes me believe that the replacement print head was either used or poorly refurbished.  Either way, that print head had issues in the past, and they were not fixed.   I would bet that any replacement print head that Canon sends out is remanufactured.  If this is the case... send it right back and ask for another one.

If anyone has the LUXURY of swapping print heads between two identical printers and reporting back if the problem follows the PRINTER or the PRINT HEAD... it would be a good illustration of where your problem is.

Good luck to all!

[Mememe1]

Hi all,

It's been almost a year since I first posted my dilemma. I've given up on getting the PGBK to print. I'll still use it for photos, which it does well, copy and scanning. I hace since bought a HPOfficejet 3830, which is also wi-fi capable, which makes my husband happy. I bought the MX922 to replace a Canon iP4500. It, too, stopped printing PGBK and the other colors started to streak. Again, I cleaned the printhead with a long soak in water for a few days, popped the cartridges in but I could not set it up to recognize the printhead at all. Just churned and chugged away. It sits on the floor collecting dust. 

I see no reason to contact Canon since, as others here, would get only canned responses. 

It's not worth replacing the printhead. Sorry, Canon, you lost a loyal customer.

[Jv1e]

I did a search of most all the posts and answers and didn’t find and answer to my PGBLK problem of not printing...

Model: PIXMA, MG7500 series
Problem: When using Plain Paper among with Photo Printing on the setup, PHBLK will not print. All other colors work ok. BUT, PGBLK works when I use photo paper instead of plain paper. What’s up with that? How do I get it to print blacks on plain paper?

Setup is up to date Windows 10. Thanks.

[ArthurJ]

Hi Jv1e,

Please contact our support group at 1-800-OK-CANON (1-800-652-2666), Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM EST.

We look forward to hearing from you.

[lwalker62]

I read numerous tags on this and was about to try drastic methods on the nozzles, etc. However, folks in the threads below suggested changing the setting for the type of paper to a different resolution. BINGO!  That worked even though the deep cleaning and test pages showed no printing in black. Have no clue why. Try it!

[Christacean]

I have a bit of good news. The black (large) ink cartridge is nororious for clogging and I think I understand why. And I fixed it myself.

When you print a lot of 2-sided documents, the printer switches to the pigment (small) black cartridge to avoid smudging when the paper if flipped. As a result, you'll wear out that ink tank much faster! You'll also under-utilize the large black ink tank (PGBK). I also leave my printer on all the time, even when I'm travelling away for weeks. Maybe these two things combine to cause the case where the PGBK ink just dries up.

To avoid this... set simplex printing for text at least once per week. Or do a print head cleaning (selecting only the PGBK tank) for the cleaning once every two weeks.

So, you're not printing from PGBK at all (based on doing the Nozzle Check and not seeing ANYTHING at the top row where you should see something for PGBK). This means the ink is most likely really badly clogged.

For everything below, do at your own risk. You may have a different issue than I had, but from what I see from this thread, there are no solutions offered to this very common problem. But you could potentially damage the print head. In my case, I was considering buying a new printer if this didn't work, so it was my last resort.  Read on.

There are cleaning agents out there for your print head that don't require removal, but for me, this worked best:

Create some cleaning solution: (1 cup filtered water, 3 drops dish washing detergent, 3 teaspoons Isopropyl alcohol) -- heat the water first in the microwave not to boiling but hot to the touch, then add the soap and alcohol. This is exactly what is in those "professional" cleaning solutions. The only tool you'll need is a plastic syringe. Those are cheap.

Remove the print head by following the various you-tube demos for the MX-922. It's easy, and much safer in my opinion than messing with a tight workspace. When you get the print head out, don't touch the print heads where the ink jets are. If your print head is an utter mess of ink and dirt, it's safe to run it under hot tap water. If you get the electrical contacts wet, don't worry too much. I'll discuss more in a sec about that.

Use paper towels in a sink as your work surface, and put the print head ink-jet-side down (the paper towel will start to soak up some residual ink, but that's okay). You want to unclog the larger black ink cartridge port, so I'll focus on that one. I used a cheap plastic syringe, but I cut out the center "nipple" so that it has a contact "ring" that matches the size of the PGBK ink input screen. Suck up 5 - 10 ml of your hot cleaning solution in the syringe, gently place it over the PGBK ink port and start injecting the fluid. It will be messy and not all go in, but some will. The act of pushing the hot fluid in there will loosen up the gunk, but be patient. It takes a LOT of 5 ml syringes-full of fluid, and you want to use at least half of the cup of cleaner you made in this process. You don't "pull" on the syringe, but PUSH fluid in, and avoid air bubbles as that may damage the print head. Now, if the clog is on the ink jet side (or if it's so gummed up you can just tell), I recommend very lightly using a q-tip, dipped in your cleaning solution, to clean up the ink jets, but don't apply any pressure. If you're nervous, just run hot tap water over the ink-jets instead.

When you know the clog is cleared is when you dab a "dot" of cleaning solution on the input port and a few seconds later you see it absorbed. If it's still staying as a "bead" of liquid, it's still clogged and you need to keep going. Some recommend walking away for 20 minutes or so (to let the cleaner do it's work internally), then come back and push more in with the syringe for a final cleaning. I didn't do that.

Blot as much of the moisture as possible, and if you have one, use a can of computer spray duster (compressed air) to speed up the air drying of the electrical contact part of the print head, and nearby parts that you can't get to by blotting with a paper towel.

Also, bonus points if you take a 2nd syringe with a blunt needle on it, suck up some black ink from an old cartridge (or spare ink tank if you have refills), about 3 - 5 ml, and gently "bead" it on top of the PGBK port until it absorbs, and there's an ink mess coming out of the ink jets as seen on your paper towel blotter. That means you freed up the clog, or at least some of the clog!

If you do the re-inking, it can be messy, so blot up any spillage, dry everything reasonably well, and re-assemble the print head into the printer (following trusty YouTube videos).

Run a "Cleaning" operation once, then do the Nozzle Check. If everything looks perfect, you're done! If there are some streaks still in the PGBK section, you might have to run a few more Cleaning (just for that one, not the color cartridges), and try the nozzle check again. In my case, after I did the 3 - 5 ml of ink recharge before re-assembling, I got a perfect nozzle check pattern.

Then probably do a print head alignment routine.

Good luch & peace out

[Mememe1]

Hi Christacen,

You really make this sound like this will work! I hope so! I will try your solution soon and report on my success here. In the meantime I bought another printer, a HP 3830, that I've had no problems printing at all for the past 1 1/2 years.

Thanks!

[Gerald42]

My MB5420 would not print the black grid section at all on the test page. Here is how I fixed it.  I installed the Full Driver & Software package for Canon MB5400 utilties software (for Mac). Then, Printers > Options > Utilities > Open Printer Utility. Choose Deep Cleaning.  Do deep cleaning for Black BK only.  Print the test page. Keep doing that several times until it looks good.  I had to do this about 4 times, and then I did regular cleaning for all colors a couple times until everything was perfect.

[Christacean]

Your method is what I first tried before resorting to the print head removal cleaning. It's always better to clear the clogs your way, if you can afford the extra ink 🙂 -- it's cheaper than a new print head, that's for sure. Glad you got it working.

[wanderson29]

Christacen,

I signed up just to say YOU ARE THE MAN! I didn't quite get so detailed as you with the syringes and just ran the print head under hot water and used some rubbing alcohol, but it brought it back to life. I already gave one Canon to Goodwill over the exact same issue, but now I was able to save this printer due to your great advice. Thank you.