The most important piece of advice on this subject is to always be honest about the last thing that happened before the printer stopped working. Many people leave out important facts like the printer has been in the loft for 7 years or they dropped it a couple of weeks ago. They are sometimes also a little creative about when it last worked and say it was last week when it was last year. The best chance of getting a successful repair is to give the repairer all the facts and then he can make an objective decision about whether there is any chance of succeeding. If he doesn't have all the facts he will optimistically attempt a repair only to fail and you will end up paying and still have a broken printer.
If the printer was only a £50 printer to start with and you have had it a number of years the best option is to just replace it once you have tried the obvious like a head clean (this assumes the fault is poor quality print or blank pages). If the printer has been unused for some time you will need new ink cartridges as a minimum and the print head will almost certainly be blocked too. You can attempt a few head cleans using the built in printer tools but there is no point continuing with this for too long. Some ink cartridges have a new print head built into them and this will resolve the problem but if your cartridges are merely ink containers and the printer has its own print head then an attempt will need to made to clean it. The print head is easily removable on some models but not others and as stated at the start of this paragraph if you have a £50 printer the repair is going to cost more than the value of the printer.
In the event that you have a more expensive printer and repairs can be carried out an important thing to note is that the manufacturer never intended home users to be able to repair printers or replace parts. They often state that there are no user serviceable parts. Information on how to carry out repairs and the availability of parts is scarce and the intention is that you take the printer to a recognised service centre for repair. Not many IT support engineers attempt the repair of printers because the likelihood is that you will charge the customer some money and not succeed. I do attempt repairs but only on the clear understanding of how much it will cost and the clear understanding that I may not be successful.
The most popular repair is the cleaning of print heads which have been blocked either by lack of printing or using compatible rather than genuine ink. Printing blank pages even after inserting new cartridges is a favourite where the print head is blocked but problems with the driver, ribbon cable or other components can also cause this so even when the print head is fully clear you may not resolve the issue. Below is a description of some work I carried out on a Canon Pixma MP780 and an example of how you can succeed with some determination and also some money!!
A customer asked me to take a look at his Canon MP780 because there was no power. He had been using compatible inks for a while and the printer suddenly appeared to detect this and issued a warning before total loss of power. The printer was an expensive one that had given good service and the customer was keen to spend some money to get it going again rather than just scrap it and get a new one. I tested the power cord and then dismantled the machine to find the PSU board where the power enters the machine. I then called Canon's UK repair centre and they said the fault was a common one and it would be a failed PSU board. However, they advised me that they wouldn't attempt the repair themselves as the printer was a 2005 model and the boards were £100 each and no longer available. They therefore advised me that it was time to let the printer go. I made a note of the part number from the PSU board and researched it and to my surprise I found that I could pick up a new board in Germany and get it delivered to the UK for £20. I purchased the board, waited some time for it to arrive, then fitted it and to my disappointment still no power. I then did a bit more research on Google using Canon forums and made an interesting discovery.
Many users of Canon Printers had experienced their printers shutting down when using compatible inks and it seemed that in extreme circumstances the print head overheated, burnt out and blew the logic board which is the main board in the printer. If this was the case I expected the printer to still power on and give me some sort of message about a failed print head or logic board rather than nothing at all but further research revealed why. When you power on the printer the first thing that happens is that the logic board checks the print head is okay and then sends a message to the PSU board that it is okay for the printer to start. In the event there is a problem with the print head or the board the message never arrives and therefore no power is supplied. I checked the print head and discovered that the compatible Magenta Ink was completely empty. I queried with the customer whether he had ever received a message telling him that the Magenta ink was empty. He hadn't seen this message presumably because the compatible cartridge wasn't working quite as a genuine one would. It seems that if the printer continues with an empty cartridge the head keeps trying to pump the ink harder and harder until the head eventually overheats and fails. It is perhaps interesting that the customer saw a message telling him that he didn't have genuine cartridges rather than a message telling him he had an empty cartridge immediately before the failure. I therefore knew I needed the minimum of a Print Head and possibly a Logic Board too.
I saw genuine new Canon Print Heads for as much as £121 but picked one up for £38 although cheaper options were available in China. This arrived and didn't resolve the issue so I placed another order with my contact in Germany for a Logic Board which remarkably was also £20 delivered. After another wait I fitted the board, re-assembled the printer and everything is now working fine. The customer has now decided to revert to genuine Canon inks to extend the life of his new Print Head and the printer as a whole. The moral of this story is that if you are prepared to try hard enough you can bring an old Printer back to life without spending too much money as long as you can find the parts. However, you wouldn't go through all this unless you have an expensive printer or one you are very attached to.
As always Churchdown Computers can offer assistance with Printers or any other IT related matter. If you do need assistance you can call Mark on 07557 483438, email mark@churchdowncomputers.co.uk or fill out the form on theContact Page
