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canon printer

11 years ago

canon pixma mp500. blinking cartridge light means it is low or empty. i have 2 black inks. a 5 and 8. i got a new 5 but it will not print text. must be a clogged print head? has not been used for 2yrs so i would say yes?

This post was edited by cavell on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 11:40

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Comments (6)

Elmer J Fudd
11 years ago
Long unused inkjet printers (such as you describe) tend to not work, I think the cartridges dry out. I can't say whether it work with new cartridges or not, I personally stopped using inkjets a long time ago.
chas045
11 years ago
I have used Canons for many years. I would think the print head was clogged too but I have noticed that cartridges can fail too. I believe you said you had a new pigment black however so it is probably the head. There is a nice site that gives advise on repairing printers and a large section covers Canons.

I sometimes had good luck by removing the inks, removing the print head and simply running water over the print head from both the ink and paper sides until no more inks come out. I let it completely dry before reinstallation.

I assume that you remember about the print head cleaning routine in the maintainance tab and the following diagnosis from printing the colors and black grid? If not look it up. However, two years sitting dry might not be the best time to try the head cleaning routine.

Here is a link that might be useful: Repair site
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stoveguyy
Original Author
11 years ago
flushed print head with hot water. no text. got fresh generic black 8 cartridge. still no text. and the cartridge light would not glow. went back to store and got a refilled canon cartridge. the light is now glowing. but still no text. i flushed print head again. and now it works. maybe 2 sessions of flushing did the trick.

This post was edited by cavell on Sat, Jan 10, 15 at 20:36
chas045
11 years ago
Glad to hear that something worked. FYI, the black 8 cart almost certainly had nothing to do with anything except allowing the printer to work. The ink for text is the large pigment 5 cartridge.
stoveguyy
Original Author
11 years ago
I think all the cartridge lights were blinking initially. I got all new cartridges and all the lights are steady. I assume blinking means something is wrong. Is it low? Or empty?

This post was edited by cavell on Fri, Jan 16, 15 at 11:15
chas045
11 years ago
Slow blink means nearly empty (time to reorder or whatever). Fast blink means essentially empty. Usually a fast blink will shut down printing after a little more use and will give an alert message that cartridge must be changed.

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