I am having an issue with banding/lines in the print from my MP-980. The lines are perpendicular to the paper travel path. Sometimes the lines are light, like less ink was applied, while other times they are dark, like more ink was applied. When the lines occur, they are spaced according to the print quality. Normal (3) quality they are maybe an inch apart, while by highest (1) they are about a millimeter apart. They don't seem to occur throughout the whole print at least from what I've printed so far, and are usually seen about 1/4 of the way in from either end of the paper. They aren't always visible, but if you have solid patches of the same color it makes it easy to see. In many prints you can't tell at all, but prints of certain color tones, or with the solid patches of color can show it.
What I've done:
-happens on photo papers and plain paper too. Canon Plus II, Canon Pro II, 20lbs plain, 24lbs plain
-nozzle check - looks perfect
-manual alignment - did my best, 5 different times trying different variations for the first page black lines which bleed a bit so are difficult to know what to pick since it's done on plain paper
-nozzle cleaning - tried it even though nozzle check looked perfect
-reseated print head - as per canon support, did a realignment after, did not help, but it sure did eat up a lot of ink
-returned and got a second unit - first was v01, this is v02. But the exact same thing is happening.
Questions:
-Can the MP-980 produce band/line free prints with close inspection, or am I expecting too much?
-If the first question is yes, then what am I doing wrong, I would assume after trying 2 units from different batches seeing the same thing either it's inherent in the printer or I'm not doing things right.
-Can other Pixma printers produce completely band free prints? I've seen other posts about someone having trouble with another pixma printer showing banding, even in a replacement, even in print samples canon sent. Maybe I'm just too picky about the bands?
