problem with Canon 900

it had printed a couple of pictures way wrong, so I first clicked on cleaning, and it turned itself off.

It would not come back on. after unplugging and plugging back in. it would come on, but when sending something to print, it says printer not
responding. It appeared it was not communicating with the computer.

I re-installed the cd that came with it.

Still not responding.

anyone had this type of problem.?

Sorry for the obvious, but is the USB/parallel cable connected correctly? You could try an alternative cable.

If OK, is there any indication of a problem with the ports in Device Manager?

Have you made any siginificant changes to the program you use for printing? Is there any other problem with the computer/OS generally?

If you're on XP/Me, have you tried a restore from a point before the problem appeared?

In haste,

Rik

The cables have been uplugged and plugged back in to make sure they were ok.

I am on Windows XP, and nothing had changed at all since last printing.

and when you say device manager, I am thinking this is the control panel part where the printer is located. It appears to be ok.

It has been mostly fine for 3 years.

What would be expected life expectancy of a home printer, not used on a daily basis. not large volumes of printing.

I use canon inks, and love the way this printer prints.

Maybe its time to get another. I cannot think of anything else to do. and would think it would be a better deal to just get a new one, than to have this one looked at.

Thanks for the help,

Lanna

You ask about the life expectancy of a printer. I have no facts, but my printers are all Canons and they have been working busily for several years with only minor problems, and those easily solved.

For this reason, it doesn't seem likely that your printer is dying of old age, and I'd guess it's more likely to be a computer snag, but until someone peers into the guts of your setup, it's difficult to say for sure.

I run Windows 2000 mainly, but on my XP notebook Device Manager is accessible by right clicking the MyComputer icon, selecting Hardware and then Device Manager. If you see a coloured item, eg a yellow question mark against an item, it means all is not well. No marks is all OK. Expert help is required at this stage if you have a problem.

You could try a System Restore. Start, Programs, Accessories, System tools, System Restore. The trick is to follow the prompts and choose a date before you started to have problems. Once the system is restored to that earlier date, try printing again. If this doesn't improve things, at least you've got a hint that the printer is more likely to be th source of your troubles. You might want to make a restore point before you start, so you can come back to today's computer, although System Restore can do this for you.

Good luck,

Rik

I'll check out that device manager tonight after work.

thanks for all the help Ric.

Have you checked the cartridges for enough ink? Does the head move when you power it up? Check to see if the cartridges are all seated correctly.
--
Ian the RF Cat.



RFCat (Vee Kay three Y A Y) aka irm
LOVE MY 10D
Have fun while learning digital photography.
http://www.pbase.com/ianm_au
equipment in profile

OK, I have found the device manager, and under imaging devices, it only has my scanner listed, and it has a yellow exclamation next to it. checking further, it says I need to reinstall that driver. I am assuming this is the install cd, and update driver. however. My printer is not listed there.

But I did reinstall my printer software. is it suppose to be under imaging devices also?

could that be messing up my printer.?

when I do power up the printer, the head moves back and forth. I have also checked that all the ink cartridges are in properly also.

Thanks so much for helping me check in to this. I really really appreciate the help.

Lanna

Move the printer USB connector to a different port on the PC. Make sur eth eprinter is powered up when you do and when you plug it into the new USB port the PC should tell you it has found some new hardware. Then follow the instructions. If no, there are at least 2 possibilities,
1. a faulty cord
2. the interface on the printer has failed.

--
Ian the RF Cat.



RFCat (Vee Kay three Y A Y) aka irm
LOVE MY 10D
Have fun while learning digital photography.
http://www.pbase.com/ianm_au
equipment in profile

My i9950 didn't respond the "authorised" repairman had to replace the motherboard and some "small part".
Cost around 400AUD all up.
Not nice.
--
Rudi

It's about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby. - Elliott Erwitt

The problem with the scanner in Device Manager (DM) and your other problems suggest, but certainly don't prove, that there's a snag with some aspect of your computer, rather than your printer. Because your computer connects through a port or USB connection, it's here that a blockage could occur if one of these is causing you trouble. Certainly my Canons don't appear in DM directly, but I'm not familiar with enough other printers to be dogmatic about whether you could see one in DM.

There is a small chance that a completely unrelated device is causing you grief that's showing as a printer snag. For example, I had a faulty modem on one computer that caused USB hubs or the devices connected to them to seem intermittently faulty, even though the hubs were connected to the computer through USB ports and the modem was a PCI device. For such problems you need some hands on help, and I'd suggest preferably from an expert friend to start with, before you spend good money on commercial help.

If you get a chance to do a System Restore it might be a good idea. It's as safe as anything is on a Windows computer as long as you follow the prompts with some intelligence and thought. See my previious post.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Rik

I haven't given up completely yet, so I will keep trying things. I have done a system restore a few times, although, I would do that as a last

resort, but then again, I'd hate to buy a new printer just to find out I still have a problem.

The more this stuff happens, the more I do learn. Especially with all the help from dpreview people, they're the best.

hopefully soon, it can be resolved. We get so used to these electronics, they make our life easier, and harder at the same time!

Lanna

update- I never did get it working. I decided to go get a new printer, after some research. I stuck with Canon, got a pixma 6600. it prints just as great as my 900.

however, it did not work at first. computer wasnt recognizing the printer, so I decided to try the ports in front of the computer. It worked from there. then, thought, maybe the other printer would work from those also, but it was having the same problem as before.

Only thing I could think of is , what ever happened to the 900, it must have messed up my back ports when it happened.

Glad the front ones work for the present time.

It could be only a matter of time. ..

but I will keep printing as long as I can, but know another problem may crop up later. (knocking on wood) Lanna

Thanks for letting us know the outcome.

Sorry to hear it meant a new printer. Good to hear it's going well.

The best of luck with this one.

Rik