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Maxify MB2320 - is it cost-effective to repair? how?

DSB
Apprentice

My Maxify MB2320 doesn’t print black property. When I print a page of black (text or a block of all black), about 1/2” will print fine, then there’s a white gap of about 1/2”, then another 1/2” of printing, etc. This repeats for the entire page. When I print a color picture, the color parts print fine for the whole page; only the black parts are banded. 

I’ve tried a bunch of things. Nothing’s helped. I’m wondering if there’s something I can do on my own to fix this problem. More details below.

My hope is to resurrect the Maxify and sell it on CraigsList, as I bought my own printer while I was out of town. As such, I don’t expect to get over $100 for it, and I’ve already sunk $26 for the new cartridge. If I can’t solve this on my own without buying more cartridges, unfortunately it’s not cost-effective to me to fix it.

The details:

For printing, I am connecting via MacBook Air, running macOS Monterey 12.2.1.
I’m seeing the same issues for both printing and copying.

Printer is about 7 years old. Was working perfectly a year and a half ago. While I was out of town for a few months, my non-tech-savvy roommate reported that the printer wasn’t working, and that he bought a new printer. The Maxify was unused for about a year.

About a week ago I tried bringing the printer back to life. It reported that the color cartridges were empty. I replaced them with new (that is, unused) cartridges. These were ones the roommate had purchased but not installed. So they are probably a year or so old, but still in the original sealed packaging. Off-brand, not Canon.

After that, colors print fine, but black is still “banded”.

I’ve run “cleaning” a couple of times, and have done at least three “deep cleaning”. 

Upgraded the printer firmware to the latest version (4.020). Checked the website and verified no new driver needed for my laptop. (Driver is included in macOS.)

I replaced the black cartridge with a new Canon cartridge.
Did another deep cleaning.
None of this made any difference.

When printing, if I change the print quality from “Standard” to “High”, then the entire page of text will print. There are no 1/2” gaps of missing print. 
When making a black copy, if I change the print quality to High, then all the text prints (no white bands), but the text is lighter - dark gray instead of black.

I also tried printing a large rectangle of all black. In Standard mode, it prints the same pattern of alternating bands of black and white. However, the black bands aren’t quite solid. They have a narrow white line about 1/8” from the bottom of the band. When I print the black rectangle in High quality mode, it does much better at printing the entire rectangle, but it still has stripes of black and dark gray, although narrower than 1/2”.

Can anyone give me a clue what’s going on and how to fix it? My best guess is that there’s something mucked up with the print head. It’s not cost effective to replace the print head. Looks like I might be able to remove the print head and clean it. As I understand from the online tutorials, I should then install new cartridges (old ones aren’t supposed to be reused). With the cost of ink, that sounds like a gamble that will at best break even if it solves the problem and I sell the printer.

Thoughts?
Thanks much for any clarification anyone can provide.

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

DSB
Apprentice

@Dexman335, thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, I haven't come up with anything in my $0 cost range to address the problems. I'm posting the printer for free on Craigslist, in case any local techie wants to work on it. Failing that, it's off to e-cycle. 

View solution in original post

4 REPLIES 4

dexman335
Rising Star

If the unit needs to be serviced, a call to Canon Customer Support would be the starting point. Consider the amount of time & money spent to try to get the printer functioning properly, vs the cost to replace it outright when determining if repairing it is worth it.

@Dexman335, thank you for taking time to reply. I am indeed considering whether the cost of repairing is warranted. Part of the challenge in this situation is that because of the printer’s age, I would have to pay $20 to even talk with a service rep. The apparently small chance of recouping my expenses makes risking even that amount unappealing. I posted here in case someone recognizes the symptom and can easily identify the solution (which may be “give up on it”).

@DSB, thank you for the follow-up post.

I own an MF743 and am not overly familiar with the Maxify product line.

Once the age of a unit and the inability to resolve an issue using all available tools becomes an issue, I would go the replace the printer route. 🖨  🙂

DSB
Apprentice

@Dexman335, thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, I haven't come up with anything in my $0 cost range to address the problems. I'm posting the printer for free on Craigslist, in case any local techie wants to work on it. Failing that, it's off to e-cycle. 

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