Canon MP490 won't print color

[Joel]

Hi all. Love these forums because they really help the guy who doesn't know what he's doing...

I just installed my father-in-laws Canon Pixma MP490 on my desktop. It's been sitting unused for over a year. I was going through the steps to check everything out and when I printed a nozzle check page, the black came out great but I got absolutely no color out at all. I tried the nozzle cleaning and then the nozzle deep cleaning and still no color. Zero (by the way, the ink level shows nearly full). I've read online about removing the print head and manually cleaning it (I assume ink is clogging it somehow, but I find it odd that only the color is not working). But, I'm not sure if this thing has a removable print head.

Any thoughts on next steps? Is it possible the cartridge is clogged?

Thanks in advance for the help!
Joel

 

[Toby P]

Hi Joel,

If it's been unused for a year it may be the cartridge or the printer.

You can check for both.

this will check the cartridge, let the videos roll and it will show you a few soloutions.

Now to the printer, it may need a couple of cleaning cycles again or some solution to leave overnight and soak through the print head in the printer. These are pretty tough printers.

I would also suggest trying to print a couple of pictures as it's not been used it may take a while to get the ink flowing, last resort try and get some new ink cartridges and test them. If this doesn't work then you might just have to get a new printer. You can get these pretty cheap now on ebay or invest in the newer canon models.

The only problem with these types of printers is that you have a combination colour cartridge. The newer canon printers are alot better and have an indiviual slot for all the cartridges (up to 5) and produce better prints for cheaper prices. Have a look at the newer MG printers I use a MG5750 and have no problems.

Hope this helps.