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Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: iggam on December 07, 2006, 01:24:16 pm

Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: iggam on December 07, 2006, 01:24:16 pm
My Canon iPF5000 had a problem of which I have not read in the forum or elsewhere, so I thought it could be useful to share my experience.

About 2 months after installation the printer started to warn me that the magenta ink tank was missing (of course it was not). I pushed it out and re-inserted it; this low-fi technique worked for about 5 or 6 times. Then, the magenta ink indicator suddenly dropped down, and I started to receive a warning about the fact that magenta ink level was quite low, although it was certainly as full as the other tanks. After some more prints the reported magenta level was so low that the printer refused to do an automatic cleaning cycle (and to print, too).
I called Canon Italia support service. They sent a technician and he installed a new magenta tank (130ml full) at no cost. It took 14 (fourteen) days  .
After this I also heard from another iPF5000 user that he  had a similar problem, but on the green ink tank.

If anyone else had this problem...

Ciao,
Stefano
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on December 07, 2006, 02:35:20 pm
Sounds like there was something wrong with the chip on the ink tank, or perhaps a physical problem with how the tank mounted?  I am surprised they sent a technician rather than just mail you a new ink cartridge and ask you to send the (presumably defective) one back in a pre-paid shipping box.  Pretty expensive to send a tech out to replace an ink tank :-)

No problems since the new ink tank was installed, I assume?

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: iggam on December 07, 2006, 03:01:56 pm
Quote
No problems since the new ink tank was installed, I assume?
No, but only one day (and one print) has passed since the replacement.
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on December 07, 2006, 03:13:44 pm
I will add your experience to the Wiki FAQ, since at least one other person had a similar problem.  Might save someone else the hassle of a service call if they can convince Canon to just send a replacement tank.

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: serf on December 07, 2006, 09:20:29 pm
Similar experience with the original magenta tank; bought new one before it got extreme & (knock on wood) no problems since with the new one.

Quote
I will add your experience to the Wiki FAQ, since at least one other person had a similar problem.  Might save someone else the hassle of a service call if they can convince Canon to just send a replacement tank.

--John
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Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: TS-500 on December 19, 2006, 07:17:07 am
Same here with Magenta after one month.
But in Germany they told me that the replacement parts like ink tanks are not under warranty. So I had to buy a new one.
I send the old one to Canon and they tested the tank. It was a failure at the chip. They they send me a new tank. I asked if the can send an other colour because I have already bought Magenta because of the failure. That was not possible.
Now I have Magenta more than I need.
Not really a good service I think.

Thomas
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: Martin Phillips on December 19, 2006, 07:32:31 am
We had the same problem with a newish yellow tank 2 months ago. The distributor shipped a new tank the next day with no charge. No problems with 2 further sets since. One tank flashed up on the 8000 a couple of weeks ago, but a reset solved that.

Martin

Quote
Same here with Magenta after one month.
But in Germany they told me that the replacement parts like ink tanks are not under warranty. So I had to buy a new one.
I send the old one to Canon and they tested the tank. It was a failure at the chip. They they send me a new tank. I asked if the can send an other colour because I have already bought Magenta because of the failure. That was not possible.
Now I have Magenta more than I need.
Not really a good service I think.

Thomas
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Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: jonreid on December 19, 2006, 02:06:30 pm
I just had the cartridge missing yesterday with Grey.  I reseated it and the error went away.

The other interesting thing is that the usage of Grey is almost twice that of any other colour (I do more colour than B&W).  Is that normal ??
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: holmherzer on December 19, 2006, 07:00:20 pm
My PM cartridge reads 100%. This is the start-up cart, all the others read 60%. Canon says its most likely the chip and if I send it in they will check it and if bad they will replace it. That's helpful.
    I did have the chips go bad on two carts on my 4000. I had to send them back to Epson and they replaced them.

David
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on December 19, 2006, 07:05:26 pm
Quote
My PM cartridge reads 100%. This is the start-up cart, all the others read 60%. Canon says its most likely the chip and if I send it in they will check it and if bad they will replace it. That's helpful.
    I did have the chips go bad on two carts on my 4000. I had to send them back to Epson and they replaced them.

David
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=91486\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I would hope they would take your credit card number, send you a replacement  cartridge and then wait to decide whether to charge you after they examined the returned cartridge.  Otherwise, you have to buy an extra cartridge while they take their time to examine it, or not print for a while.

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: David White on December 19, 2006, 07:39:21 pm
I had a similiar problem with the starter magenta cartridge.  It stayed at 80% for a long time but I ignored it since the others were going down fairly evenly.  When it finally did run down the indicator did change.  I haven't had any problems with the regular cartridges.  I wonder if they had a bad batch of chips that were installed on the starters.
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: TwiceDaily on December 20, 2006, 07:14:59 am
My 1st cart has just supposedly run out. It is, as someone else has mentioned, the Grey. Strange thing is I took it out and can still feel (if you know what I mean) ink slopping about inside.

Do you think this is a chip failure or just normal? Has anyone else that has replaced empty carts felt like they still contained some ink or have they felt and sounded completely empty.

Thanks in advance
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: Gary Damaskos on December 20, 2006, 11:12:49 am
I have replaced 5 so far and so far each has felt utterly empty, little weight and no sloshing sound.
Gary

Quote
My 1st cart has just supposedly run out. It is, as someone else has mentioned, the Grey. Strange thing is I took it out and can still feel (if you know what I mean) ink slopping about inside.

Do you think this is a chip failure or just normal? Has anyone else that has replaced empty carts felt like they still contained some ink or have they felt and sounded completely empty.

Thanks in advance
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=91564\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: cariarer on December 21, 2006, 04:47:05 am
I actually had the opposite today. My PM ink showed 80% all the time. I didn't bother much, as other cardridges were similar. Yesterday, all of a sudden, the printer told me to replace the card very soon. It instantly went from 80% to 20%. I took the card out and it felt, very, very light. The problem is, I have to do prints for customers (before Christmas) and local shops don't have the ink. I ordered some yesterday evening and it should be there tomorrow. It will be very, very tight. Usually, I order when the ink goes to 20%.

Till now I only replaced one cardridge and it was really empty )

Regards, Marco...
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on December 21, 2006, 10:25:12 am
These ink level problems have been frequently reported for the Canon Starter inks, to the point that it appears there was a defective batch of chips or some other systemic problem. Haven't seen any reports of problems with the 130 ml cartridges.  

Canon should step up to the plate here and take care of these problems promptly.  Reports to date have indicated that the cartridge has to be sent in and tested by Canon before being replaced.  Meanwhile, the user has to go buy inks with their own $$$ and then ends up with an EXTRA cartridge when Canon replaces it.  

One user reported requesting a different color than the defective starter cartridge (since they had already gone out and purchased a replacement at their own expense), but Canon refused.  Very poor compared to the support by Epson Pro Graphics.

This topic has now been added to the Wiki FAQ:

http://www.canonipf5000.wikispaces.com (http://www.canonipf5000.wikispaces.com)

(including the inadequate response by Canon on this issue thus far)

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: CRDubeau on December 23, 2006, 12:18:11 pm
Just thought I would add to the general discussion about this issue.  Had the same thing with my yellow tank about a week into the use.  My issue seemed to be that the printer no longer recognized a cartridge was installed in that position.  After checking it and feeling it to be as full as the other starter cartridge, I clicked and played with the menu.  I some how got to a  menu option I was asked if I wanted to keep printing and had to agree to some legal warning about using non Canon ink.  The yellow now displays as “?” in the LCD indicator.  The printer does make me check every 50 or so prints (7.5 x 10) if there is still ink.  I have now finished some 350 pages of printing and have time to deal with this issue.  Sounds like a call to Canon is warranted since I no longer can track the ink level in that cartridge and from the discussion sounds like there is no way to get it back.  The only thing I am nervous about is running the cart dry and getting air in the line.  My question would be how long I should keep going with this situation.  I just have a few cartridges starting to drop to 40%.

The only other issue over all that printing is the tray (bottom one) not feeding the paper reliably.  I was using Moab Kayenta matt paper when this occurred.

Carl
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: CRDubeau on December 28, 2006, 09:53:33 am
I thought I would add Canon Canada’s at (1-800-OK-Canon) response to the ink tank issue.  I was told there is no warranty on consumables.  Just go out and buy and new one.  The only other suggestions was clean the contacts (didn’t work) and try removing and replacing the print head (I refused to try that one unless he provided me with a new set of inks).  There was no supervisor available I was told. Discussion ended at an impasse, I just told him I would be returning the printer since it had only been a few weeks.  Five minutes later someone phones me back and says that although they have never heard of this problem and there is no warranty on consumables they would exchange the yellow ink on this occasion.  One is being sent out Puralator and a prepaid envelope to return the defective one.  Overall not impressed with the customer service hope it gets better.  A side note the big 1-800 number for support that came with the printer did not work for me, automated message from a mailbox service saying box did not exist.

Carl
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on December 28, 2006, 10:56:33 am
Carl,

I have added your (very negative) experience to the Troubleshooting section of the FAQ.  We need to publicize this so that the message gets back to Canon that the failure of these chips, reported by multiple people is indeed THEIR problem, not ours.  I can't believe a company like Canon would risk their reputation (and future sales) with this kind of nonsense.

I have added a strong warning about the defective starter ink cartridges to the front page of the Wiki due to its importance to potential purchasers.

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: jonreid on December 28, 2006, 09:37:17 pm
I can report it is not just the starter carts that have the problem.  I have had a full Grey cart that kept showing as not detected.  I could reseat it and the problem would go away for a short while.  After a while I gave up and put in a new cart.

I dropped the faulty cart into Canon and they are replacing it.
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: Ron Woolhether on December 30, 2006, 03:25:58 pm
I can add another instance of a starter cartridge problem to this list - mine occurred on the PM cartridge 20 days after initial printer installation. Due to a very busy December, I had only run about 10 test prints through the machine, and have had the printer in auto sleep mode.

The first "ink tank empty" error was resolved by reinstalling the cartridge in it's bay. The second error occurred the following day, and reinstalling the cartridge did not solve the problem, so I went through a similar menu navigation as Carl, agreeing to a legal warning about turning off ink monitoring to the tank. The PM cartridge now displays as a ? on the LCD indicator and in the GARO status monitor, but printing appears to work fine.

I tried to find a way to reset the monitoring of the ink tank, but apparently this will only occur when I replace the tank with a new one. Unplugging the machine for a time period of 30 minutes didn't resolve the issue (I didn't think it would, but thought it may be worth a try). Neither did gently swabbing the contacts on the tank.

I am wondering if this problem has occurred on machines that have been left in sleep mode or turned off, or both. Just trying to narrow it down and see if maybe the printer's auto sleep mode may be contributing to the apparent cart chip failure in any way.

-Ron
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on December 30, 2006, 04:26:33 pm
Ron,

I would insist on a replacement cartridge from Canon.  One of the posters on the Wiki has a contact at Canon PR and has alerted them to this problem.  If they don't hear about these defective cartridges (or some problem with the firmware or whatever), they will have no incentive to fix the problem.

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: Ron Woolhether on December 30, 2006, 05:04:50 pm
John, I'll definitely be giving them a call and insisting on a replacement tank. And many thanks for the info you put up on the Wiki, and to those who have posted about it here as well. I'm spending the weekend putting this printer thru some serious testing and will post up any other findings as well.

Ron
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: CRDubeau on December 31, 2006, 01:38:49 pm
Hi Ron,

I would look into getting a replacement cartridge from Canon.  My "?" status only workd for about a week.  The printer then failed to recognize the cartridge and stopped printing until the cartridge was replaced with a new one.

Carl
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on December 31, 2006, 02:04:17 pm
Ron,

You may have better luck/easier to get problem resolved by going to the dealer who sold you the printer.  One dealer recommended this to me in private email.

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: iggam on January 08, 2007, 12:10:14 pm
John,

When the tecnhician came to replace the defective starter ink tank, I indicated him that also non-starter ink tanks could have the same problem, while Canon warranty does not cover consumables. He said that, in such case, I should have asked for a replacement directly to the dealer. My reply was that I really can not imagine any dealer that, here in Italy, would accept it. I am still of this opinion.

As for the possibility of disabling ink level detection, I discovered (accidentally) that it is reported in the documentation. However it is not clear wether and how this can damage the printer (with air bubbles in the pipes, maybe). The relative path is ../iPF5000/eng/usersguide/html/tp000129.html

Finally... today, for the first time, I have finished a starter non-defective ink tank, which is GY; by agitating it I can tell that it is almost totally empty. In total, I have printed on 16.9m^2 of paper (65% semiglossy, 35% matte, mostly color).
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: Martin Phillips on January 09, 2007, 08:07:59 am
I have just had a failure of the BK cartridge on our iPF8000 also, we keep a set of spares for both printers however so there was no stress.

Immediate replacement was sent from our UK dealer (azzuriprint.co.uk) as with the iPF5000). He simply asked that we send the dud cartridge to the UK distributor Velmex so he could be credited for the replacement.

This shows the value of a good dealer - especially as he got us the first 8000 into the UK a couple of months ago!

This has been posted on the wiki already.
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: Matthias Blum on January 10, 2007, 01:01:18 pm
Same here in Germany. I called my dealer and he sent me a new cartridge and asked me to return the defective one to him. He told me, that he could give the defective cartridge back to canon. No Problem.

Until now I only had the tank-Pproblem with the 90ml-starter-ink, but not with the 130ml-spares.
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: neil snape on January 10, 2007, 01:36:57 pm
Seems strange that Canon would not guarantee their cartridges.

HP have an expiry date printed on their carts and print heads. Both are fully covered by warranty.
There have been some failures of the chips, and some print heads over the last years but a very very limited number. In all cases the defective parts are sent/replaced  via DHL or local messanger with a return package and new replacement from /to to the service dept of HP local sites.
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on January 10, 2007, 02:18:38 pm
Neil,

I have added your comment verbatim (with attribution) to the front page of the Canon IPF5000 Wiki (section on defective cartridges):

http://www.canonipf5000.wikispaces.com (http://www.canonipf5000.wikispaces.com)

If you have any objection to this I will be happy to remove the comment or make it anonymous.

Thanks.

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: ternst on January 10, 2007, 03:22:23 pm
Here is one more Canon tech support and ink tank experience I can report. When I first got my ipf5000 back in November, it would not give me a good printhead alignment. When I called HP support they said they were going to send out a tech - from another state (we don't have anyone close to where I live). Someone else told me to try a reset of the printhead, which I did, and the problem was solved - at the expense of a little bit of ink that had to be dumped. When I called the HP guy back to tell him I did not need a tech guy to come out, I asked what he could do about the additional ink that had to be dumped. Not only did he ship me a FULL SET of 130ml ink carts (all 12 of them), but also a new maintenance tank to boot! I was a very happy camper. I have since sold the printer (since I got a z3100) and the guy I sold it to also became a happy camper since I gave him all the new ink carts.

Tim Ernst out in the sticks in Arkansas
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: davidby on January 12, 2007, 04:23:29 pm
Quote
My Canon iPF5000 had a problem of which I have not read in the forum or elsewhere, so I thought it could be useful to share my experience.

About 2 months after installation the printer started to warn me that the magenta ink tank was missing (of course it was not). I pushed it out and re-inserted it; this low-fi technique worked for about 5 or 6 times. Then, the magenta ink indicator suddenly dropped down, and I started to receive a warning about the fact that magenta ink level was quite low, although it was certainly as full as the other tanks. After some more prints the reported magenta level was so low that the printer refused to do an automatic cleaning cycle (and to print, too).
I called Canon Italia support service. They sent a technician and he installed a new magenta tank (130ml full) at no cost. It took 14 (fourteen) days  .
After this I also heard from another iPF5000 user that he  had a similar problem, but on the green ink tank.

If anyone else had this problem...

Ciao,
Stefano
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Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: davidby on January 12, 2007, 04:27:18 pm
Quote
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I have a 4 month old Canon ipf 5000. About a month ago, the magenta cartridge (one of the original 90 ml carts) started giving an error messsage that it was out of ink. Upon checking, the cartriidge appeared to be about half full- I shook it and re-installed it and it worked.

This happened several more times over a couple of weeks, then I went away for a week. When I came back, I got the same error message, but this time shaking the cartridge did no good- the only solution was to replace the cartridge despite the $20-30 dollars worth of ink still in it.

I called Canon tech services and they told me there was nothing they could do. Apparently while the printer itself has a one year warranty, the 'disposables' only have a one month warranty. After a long wait, I was finally put through to Wanda in
customer service (866-886-1901 x2497). She told me she would 'look into it' and call me back within 48 hours. It's now 5 days later, and three messages have not resulted in a call back.

After I posted the above at DPReview, someone was kind enough to send me a link to this thread, so now I know I'm not alone. I'll try to take the problem up w/ B&H, where I bought the printer.

Is this typical of Canon customer service? You'd think that if they are attempting to establish themselves in a new market against a dominent player like Epson they'd try a little harder!
David
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: John Hollenberg on January 12, 2007, 05:01:25 pm
David,

Complain long and loud.  Ask to speak to a supervisor, and keep escalating it up the chain.  Write the head of Canon USA.  The fact that Canon isn't willing to stand behind their cartridges (and that the cartridges have an apparently higher defect rate in the chips than other printers) is going to hurt them in the marketplace.  We need to raise a storm about this issue.  There is actually a warning on the front page of the Wiki:

http://www.canonipf5000.wikispaces.com (http://www.canonipf5000.wikispaces.com)

about this very issue, along with a quote describing the very reasonable and generous policy of HP.  The issue has been brought to the attention of Canon PR people as well.  I don't think Canon moves fast on anything, but we need to keep after them.

--John
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: Sam25 on January 12, 2007, 07:02:15 pm
Quote
I have a 4 month old Canon ipf 5000. About a month ago, the magenta cartridge (one of the original 90 ml carts) started giving an error messsage that it was out of ink. Upon checking, the cartriidge appeared to be about half full- I shook it and re-installed it and it worked.

This happened several more times over a couple of weeks, then I went away for a week. When I came back, I got the same error message, but this time shaking the cartridge did no good- the only solution was to replace the cartridge despite the $20-30 dollars worth of ink still in it.

I called Canon tech services and they told me there was nothing they could do. Apparently while the printer itself has a one year warranty, the 'disposables' only have a one month warranty. After a long wait, I was finally put through to Wanda in
customer service (866-886-1901 x2497). She told me she would 'look into it' and call me back within 48 hours. It's now 5 days later, and three messages have not resulted in a call back.

After I posted the above at DPReview, someone was kind enough to send me a link to this thread, so now I know I'm not alone. I'll try to take the problem up w/ B&H, where I bought the printer.

Is this typical of Canon customer service? You'd think that if they are attempting to establish themselves in a new market against a dominent player like Epson they'd try a little harder!
David
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=95330\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

David,

I had an ink cart go bad as well. If you go over to john's site you will see my post about this. I would recommend you contact Donald in customer service He is the one who seems to handle all the ink cart issues. While they do seem reluctant to openly admit there is an issue, after I mailed him the defective cart, along with a printer status report showing the other inks were at 60%, He mailed a new 130ml replacement without any hassles.

Sam
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: terryco on February 02, 2007, 11:45:06 pm
Another confirmation that it isn't just the starter cartridges.  I bought a "show room used" model of the iPF5000 from Canon New Zealand. It came with some new and some partly used 130 ml cartridges (no 90 ml starters).  I got it just before Christmas and it worked fine.  Yesterday (Feb 2) I opened the lid on the ink tank container and when I closed it again a warning message said it couldn't determine the ink quantity in the Red cartridge.  Since then it has variously suggested that there is no Red cartridge, that it is empty or that it cannot read from it.  The cartridge is obvously close to full! On Monday I'll see how Canon NZ's response compares to the others reported above.

Terry
Title: iPF5000 ink tank problem
Post by: PJPhoto on February 03, 2007, 02:45:48 am
I just replaced my first cart today, the Gray.  I happened to look at the printer and it said "can't continue replace cartridge" or something like that.  Appearently it was doing a cleaning cycle and didn't have enough to finish it.  I replaced the cart and it did its cycle and went back to bed.  The used cart seems pretty empty.

Oh, and my waste tank shows back up to 80% again...weird that it would go from 60 back up to 80 but its done that once before.  WHATEVER!      

I did just print 12 images for my first show(!) and am getting very posistive responses about the prints though!  Hoping to sell a few or many!

Thanks!
Philip