Canon MP390 Stripy Text

D

daffy_dowden

Geek Trainee
Hi All,
I'm having a problem with my Canon mp390 printer, it's printing text all stripy (see attached image). The blocks of colour seem to work properly (although admittedly I've only tried printing in monochrome) but the text isn't legible. I've tried aligning the printer heads, cleaning and deep cleaning them, but it made no difference, so I'm guessing it must be the actual heads or something.
Since I just took this printer in to get repaired for a duff paper feed (still annoyed they didn't print a test sheet and spot this problem!), I was wondering whether you'd know how easy this problem would be for me to fix? How much are the parts are likely to be? and is there any tutorials on this?

Or would you advise me to go back and get a pro to sort it?

Many Thanks!
Daf
 

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the printer is either got an empty black ink tank or you need to replace the print head, get a replacement black ink tank first (you'll be able to use a spare ink tank later)

BTW: it looks the same when you need to replace the print head or replace an ink tank
 
Didn't realise both problems looked the same. Also, I forgot to mention but I replaced both ink tanks with no change in printing quality. How do I go about changing the print head, is this easy?
Cheers!
Daf
 
Can you clarify whether your printer is a laser or inkjet device? I will assume you are using an inkjet for now..

You may not realise this, but the print heads for an inkjet printer are not stored in the printer itself, but in the cartridges. Therefore should a 'print head' become faulty, the problem is easily resolved by buying a new print cartridge.

If you have already replaced the cartridges and the problem persists, I can think of only a few reasons for this:

1) Check the printer quality settings in the printer's properties dialog box. Make sure the quality settings are set to 'normal' or 'best'. 'Draft' quality usually yeilds the kind of output you are getting at the moment.

2) Reinstall the printer drivers. Download the most up-to-date drivers from the manufacturer's website.

3) The paper feed is still mis-functioning. Feeding the paper too fast with no consistancy.
 
it's definitely an inkjet, are you sure they're stored on the cartridge though, because there are auctions such as this on ebay which are a lot more than the cartridges I buy, so I'm not convinced that they're the same. Could this be the case?
Cheers,
Daf
 
mega said:
You may not realise this, but the print heads for an inkjet printer are not stored in the printer itself, but in the cartridges. Therefore should a 'print head' become faulty, the problem is easily resolved by buying a new print cartridge.
Click to expand...
not always

daffy said:
it's definitely an inkjet, are you sure they're stored on the cartridge though, because there are auctions such as this on ebay which are a lot more than the cartridges I buy, so I'm not convinced that they're the same
Click to expand...
your right daffy

BTW: check this FAQ from canon
 
Thanks Donkey,
I've performed a few of the tests on there and the text is still stripy, so I'm still thinking that the print head must need replacing, and that an ebay auction is my best bet, even if I then take it to someone to get it replaced; at least they won't then charge me £60 for parts and then extra for labour!
 
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