Print head blocked

[beegeebee]

I recall some time ago that if the resevoir where the printer goes through its ritual on start up, of firing inks through into a soak up resevoir, it is possible to remove this item, clean it and hey presto--- the printer continues to work as it should! can anyone confrim/deny please and if correct how do I get to teh item on a Canon iP4600 please?? Many thanks for any help as a new print head is around £80 the same price as a new printer!!! B.

[sir.prize]

This is worth a try before you do anything else

1 Press the "Power" button to turn off the printer.
2 Press and hold the "Resume" button.
3 Press the "Power" button.
4 Release the "Resume" button.
5 Press and release the "Resume" button twice. Release the "Power" button.
6 Press the "Resume" button four times when the indicator lights turn solid green.
7 Press the "Power" button. The printer will turn off.
8 Press the "Power" button to turn the printer back on. The ink chamber is now reset and the printer will operate normally.

[beegeebee]

sir.prize. What a brilliant answer and so bl'''y quick! Have just followed your instructions to the letter but, a small deviation. After item 5, the printer did its own thing with item 6! Everything all back to square one. Have printed out an A4 glossy of Christmas Cactus and it really is excellent. Many thanks. Have now printed your instructions onto a glossy anplaced it reverently into its own pristine folder. B.

[sir.prize]

Good luck

[beso]

I have cleaned the waste ink "reservoir" in a 500 series Cannon printer. It is nothing more than a big sponge in the bottom of the case. It does eventually become saturated and the printer warns of it based on a count of cleaning cycles. Cleaning it is an incredibly messy job and requires a quite a bit of dismantling of the printer.

There is a series of steps to reset the warning which may be what sir.prize has posted. However the sponge has to be cleaned out or the reservoir will eventually overflow.

[Wak]

I can confirm what Beso says as I cleaned the reservoir pad in a Canon 1000 a few years ago.
1/2" thick pad in the bottom tray of the printer, hard to get at and very messy to clean.
One tip I would pass on is:- NEVER put your Canon printer on it's side as the ink in the reservoir will run out and it will be quite a lot of ink, guessing at about half a cupful.