Solved: Canon Pixma ip4200 suddenly won't print

I have Windows Vista and after two years of no trouble, my Canon won't print anything. I have reinstalled drivers, cleaned out all Temp files on the computer and cleaned out the printer queue. Still no luck. The printer comes on fine and shows no signs of being broken. The computer recognizes the printer, sends info to the printer and then nothing happens. The queue shows an error, but gives no code. Help!!

 

The operative words here is TWO YEARS.

Welcome to the joys of Canon's Waste Ink Full issue. You might want to run the Canon diagnostics program and see if the Waste Ink Tank (those sponges under where the print carriage rests when not in use) are 'full'. The method for resetting the printer can be found here - http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/printer/38424

Good luck

A-N

 

I don't think that is the problem because the printer printed a test page when I preformed a self test.

 

Unless it was told in the print buffer to pause all jobs, which you can check by looking down by the clock on your toolbar - if there is an icon of a printer there, click on it and bring up the Print Buffer window and see what's in there. You might have to clean it out, or un-pause the first job waiting. BUT...

Canon's will do diagnostic test prints, even when the waste tank is full. That is just an added feature that these HP based cartridges give them.

A-N

 

Would this happen if I have never used anything but Canon cartridges?

 

They are Canon cartridges - HP makes them for them.

A-N

 

Thanks, I guess what I meant is that we always replace the cartridges. We never refill them.

 

Actually, these types are easy to refill, since they technically aren't sealed (the label on top is all that keeps them from leaking all over the place), but if you read that article I directed you to above, unless you disable the timer on them, they'll shut you down.

Did you check your buffer to see if there are any jobs waiting to print? Also, reinstalling the drivers might not have been the best thing to do, if you left the printer plugged into the computer when you did that, since USBs don't want the device plugged in while doing that. Windows want to 'find' devices when new software is installed.

A-N

 

There are no jobs waiting to print. I did unplug the printer when I reinstalled the drivers. I also found in the device manager a warning that said my drivers are either missing or corrupt.

 

Ah - interesting - and does the Print and Fax file on the Control Panel show just the one iP4200, or are there two icons now?

A-N

 

just the one icon

 

Do you have the original setup disks, or did you download the drivers from the Canon website? Also, does the power light blink while sitting idle?

A-N

 

I just realized that we have been talking about the wrong cartridges - this unit uses #8 cartridges (which are Canon based, not HP) - when the lid is open and they move to the middle, are any blinking? Are any not lit at all?

This is a two tray machine - is the upper/lower tray switch set to the correct tray?

Is there anything IN the second (lower) tray?

Do you have a PictBridge enabled camera that you can plug into the front USB? If so, try printing a picture through this jack using the camera (doing a demo print using the internal demo isn't enough).

A-N

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/c...categoryid=257&modelid=11641#SupportDetailAct

 

I contacted the Canon support people and they took me through a ton of steps for deleting and reinstalling drivers and I am finally back to printing. Thank you for your time and suggestions.