Problem with printer

[CMoldie]

I have an oldish Canon printer which, when printing colour documents is fine - including the black and white text. Same same if I print a page as an image.

 

However, when I print a mono document, the text is broken and faint - for all the world as if the jet was partly blocked. It doesn't matter what format it is, pdf, Word, whatever. I have tried the cleaning routine in the printer software, without effect.

 

Any ideas what the problem might be?

[KannikaP]

Sounds like the Black print head is up the Swannee.

[doctormann]

If the print head is removable - Canon print heads usually are - try soaking it in Windex or some similar glass cleaning fluid for a few hours.  You don't need to immerse the whole thing, just the part with the tiny little jets.  A bit of agitation probably helps. You may need to repeat a couple of times.  Then take the head out of the fluid bath and carefully remove the excess liquid, using a tissue.

 

Now reinstall in the printer and run the head deep cleaning cycle - you may need to do this more than once.  Hopefully, the printer should then work normally.  No guarantees but I have used this technique on blocked print heads and it has always worked for me.  Worth a try anyway.

 

You may need to re-align the head after this - there will be a procedure for this in the print driver.

[patman30]

if it is not expensive

"Wreck it buy a new one"

sounds like printer head is blocked
can try cleaning by soaking as suggested above etc
you can also buy a new printer head from China to fix
(buying locally will be more expensive and usually not worth it)

you might be better to just save time and go buy a new cheap printer
as it doesnt sound like you use it much
remember to print a page at least once a week just to keep the heads clear

[CMoldie]

Thank you all for your replies. I think Patman is right - the problem has come from not using it much, and one cheap printer to replace another may be the way to go. It is, after all, over 6 years old.

[lopburi3]

Does it have print heads or are they part of the ink cartridge (just get a new b/w ink in that case)?