The new Canon line of printers present a problem for people wanting to refill their carts with bulk ink. Canon has made the cartridges signal the printer via an electronic counter the number of prints- as opposed to the earlier system of a purely optical device to signal low ink level.
This means, that if you refill the original carts, the printer will not sense a full cart- because its COUNTING PRINTS as well. This is how Canon "encourages" the consumer to only buy their cartridges, which are obscenely priced.
How to get around this?
Here's the bad news--- THERE IS NO WAY TO RESET THE INK TANK LEVEL INDICATORS from my research, despite rumours here and elsewhere. Don't waste your time asking people to send you the code. It doesn't exist- and that's why its not posting ANYWHERE.
But there is a work-around so you can refill and keep using the printer without shelling out $14 for an official cart.
INK CART REFILLING ON NEW ip4200 Printers (and similar) WORK-AROUND
Here's what you can do....
METHOD #1 - Easiest, but it disables the ink tank level indicators. 1) Ignore the low ink indicator, and press the RESET BUTTON to continue printing. If you press and hold the reset button for 5+ seconds, it will disable the counter for that particular ink tank. Refill tank now.
2) Repeat as needed. You will get a dire warning that this will void you warranty, blah blah blah. If you do need to take your printer in during warranty and you've disabled ink tank counting, simple reset the entire printer as describe below for the wate tank warning, and nobody will ever know. SAVE YOUR CANON CARTS with a bit of ink left in- your printer will need to have Canon carts installed for warranty service.
3) Eventually you may be warned that the tank is empty. Press reset as above to disable and continue printing.
If you think this entire thing is ridiculous- you are right. Get an earlier model that takes un-chip carts, like an ip6000, or ip3000, or i960. Much simpler and you get to use the ink tank indicators after refilling.
************
You can reset the entire printer with the WASTE TANK reset (below) when you need to clean or change the waste tank PAD (its really not a tank) See the above instructions for the i960 and similar for other Canon printer waste tank changes. Here's the ip4200 reset options: 1) With the printer power turned off, while pressing the Resume/Cancel button, press and hold the Power button. (DO NOT release the buttons. The Power LED lights in green to indicate that a function is selectable.)
2) While holding the Power button, release the resume/Cancel button. (DO NOT release the Power button.)
3) While holding the Power button, press the Resume/Cancel button 2 times, and then release both the Power and Resume/Cancel buttons. (Each time the
Resume/Cancel button is pressed, the Alarm and Power LEDs light alternately, Alarm in orange and Power in green, starting with Alarm LED.)
4) When the Power LED lights in green, press the Resume/Cancel button the specified number of time(s) setting).
Time(s) LED indication Function Remarks 0 times Green (Power) Power off When the print head is
not installed, the carriage returns and locks in the
home position capped. 1 time Orange (Alarm) Service test print . 2 times Green (Power) EEPROM information print 3 times Orange (Alarm) EEPROM initialization 4 times Green (Power) Waste ink counter resetting 5 times Orange (Alarm) Destination settings After entering the destination settings mode, press the Resume/Cancel button the specified number of time(s)
to select the destination. For detail, see "Destination settings procedures" below. 6 times Green (Power) Print head deep cleaning (Cleaning of both black and color) 7 times Orange (Alarm) Reserved 8 times Green (Power) CD / DVD check pattern 9 times Orange (Alarm) CD / DVD print position correction (horizontal: X direction) 10 times Green (Power) CD / DVD print position correction (vertical: Y direction) 11 to 13 times Orange, Green, Orange(Alarm, Power,Alarm) Return to the menu selection 14 times Green (Power) Left margin correction Not used
in servicing. 15 times Orange (Alarm) Return to the menu selection
Time(s) LED indication Destination CD / DVD print 0 times Green (Power) No change of the destination 1 time Orange (Alarm) Japan Supported 2 times Green (Power) Korea Not supported 3 times Orange (Alarm) US Not supported 4 times Green (Power) Europe Supported 5 times Orange (Alarm) Australia Supported
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by dragonlord666 (1/13/07 10:12 AM) reply
HI I'm a complete newbie here, I live in the UK (if that makes a difference) but I've refilled two of my ip4200 tanks, I got the ball out of the hole under the "8" on the label, refilled, then put in a small rubber bung with a small piece of duck tape over it to make sure it holds in and is air tight. So far, so good, no ink leakage.
Now I followed the reset above but am a little confused as to how many times I should press the reset/cancel button, I pressed it 4 (ink tank reset)but am still getting the tanks flashing. Should I have pressed it 3 times?
Am I doing something wrong or did I miss something.
if all else fails I'll just disable the ink info and if I ever need to take it to a service centre I'll turn it back on - but normally it's cheaper to just buy a new printer!
Thanks for any info/help.
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by Desirae (3/14/07 12:52 PM) reply
It's Desirae here and I am very much in "Newbie". I have bought a Cannon ip4200 printer and I am trying to disable the ink tank level indicators, but I can't understand the lingo or jargon you boys are talking about.
If anyone can kindly talk me through the process in extremely simple words I would be most grateful. I need to be able to reactivate the ink tank level indicators when I take it in for servicing under the warranty. Does the printer record any information that tells a serviceman that I have tempered with the ink cartridges or ink tank level indicators?
How do I do this?
Is there anyone out there who can direct me succinctly and walk me step-by-step through the process? I'm not even sure what a waste tank is... is that the ink cartridges you guys are talking about?
Thanks so very much... Desirae.
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by Anonymous (6/12/07 12:43 AM) reply
The new Canon line of printers present a problem for people wanting to refill their carts with bulk ink. Canon has made the cartridges signal the printer via an electronic counter the number of prints- as opposed to the earlier system of a purely optical device to signal low ink level.
This means, that if you refill the original carts, the printer will not sense a full cart- because its COUNTING PRINTS as well. This is how Canon "encourages" the consumer to only buy their cartridges, which are obscenely priced.
How to get around this?
Here's the bad news--- THERE IS NO WAY TO RESET THE INK TANK LEVEL INDICATORS from my research, despite rumours here and elsewhere. Don't waste your time asking people to send you the code. It doesn't exist- and that's why its not posting ANYWHERE.
But there is a work-around so you can refill and keep using the printer without shelling out $14 for an official cart.
INK CART REFILLING ON NEW ip4200 Printers (and similar) WORK-AROUND
Here's what you can do....
METHOD #1 - Easiest, but it disables the ink tank level indicators. 1) Ignore the low ink indicator, and press the RESET BUTTON to continue printing. If you press and hold the reset button for 5+ seconds, it will disable the counter for that particular ink tank. Refill tank now.
2) Repeat as needed. You will get a dire warning that this will void you warranty, blah blah blah. If you do need to take your printer in during warranty and you've disabled ink tank counting, simple reset the entire printer as describe below for the wate tank warning, and nobody will ever know. SAVE YOUR CANON CARTS with a bit of ink left in- your printer will need to have Canon carts installed for warranty service.
3) Eventually you may be warned that the tank is empty. Press reset as above to disable and continue printing.
If you think this entire thing is ridiculous- you are right. Get an earlier model that takes un-chip carts, like an ip6000, or ip3000, or i960. Much simpler and you get to use the ink tank indicators after refilling.
************
You can reset the entire printer with the WASTE TANK reset (below) when you need to clean or change the waste tank PAD (its really not a tank) See the above instructions for the i960 and similar for other Canon printer waste tank changes. Here's the ip4200 reset options: 1) With the printer power turned off, while pressing the Resume/Cancel button, press and hold the Power button. (DO NOT release the buttons. The Power LED lights in green to indicate that a function is selectable.)
2) While holding the Power button, release the resume/Cancel button. (DO NOT release the Power button.)
3) While holding the Power button, press the Resume/Cancel button 2 times, and then release both the Power and Resume/Cancel buttons. (Each time the
Resume/Cancel button is pressed, the Alarm and Power LEDs light alternately, Alarm in orange and Power in green, starting with Alarm LED.)
4) When the Power LED lights in green, press the Resume/Cancel button the specified number of time(s) setting).
Time(s) LED indication Function Remarks 0 times Green (Power) Power off When the print head is
not installed, the carriage returns and locks in the
home position capped. 1 time Orange (Alarm) Service test print . 2 times Green (Power) EEPROM information print 3 times Orange (Alarm) EEPROM initialization 4 times Green (Power) Waste ink counter resetting 5 times Orange (Alarm) Destination settings After entering the destination settings mode, press the Resume/Cancel button the specified number of time(s)
to select the destination. For detail, see "Destination settings procedures" below. 6 times Green (Power) Print head deep cleaning (Cleaning of both black and color) 7 times Orange (Alarm) Reserved 8 times Green (Power) CD / DVD check pattern 9 times Orange (Alarm) CD / DVD print position correction (horizontal: X direction) 10 times Green (Power) CD / DVD print position correction (vertical: Y direction) 11 to 13 times Orange, Green, Orange(Alarm, Power,Alarm) Return to the menu selection 14 times Green (Power) Left margin correction Not used
in servicing. 15 times Orange (Alarm) Return to the menu selection
Time(s) LED indication Destination CD / DVD print 0 times Green (Power) No change of the destination 1 time Orange (Alarm) Japan Supported 2 times Green (Power) Korea Not supported 3 times Orange (Alarm) US Not supported 4 times Green (Power) Europe Supported 5 times Orange (Alarm) Australia Supported
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by dragonlord666 (1/13/07 10:12 AM) reply + / - HI I'm a complete newbie here, I live in the UK (if that makes a difference) but I've refilled two of my ip4200 tanks, I got the ball out of the hole under the "8" on the label, refilled, then put in a small rubber bung with a small piece of duck tape over it to make sure it holds in and is air tight. So far, so good, no ink leakage.
Now I followed the reset above but am a little confused as to how many times I should press the reset/cancel button, I pressed it 4 (ink tank reset)but am still getting the tanks flashing. Should I have pressed it 3 times?
Am I doing something wrong or did I miss something.
if all else fails I'll just disable the ink info and if I ever need to take it to a service centre I'll turn it back on - but normally it's cheaper to just buy a new printer!
Thanks for any info/help.
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by Desirae (3/14/07 12:52 PM) reply + / - Hi guys
It's Desirae here and I am very much in "Newbie". I have bought a Cannon ip4200 printer and I am trying to disable the ink tank level indicators, but I can't understand the lingo or jargon you boys are talking about.
If anyone can kindly talk me through the process in extremely simple words I would be most grateful. I need to be able to reactivate the ink tank level indicators when I take it in for servicing under the warranty. Does the printer record any information that tells a serviceman that I have tempered with the ink cartridges or ink tank level indicators?
How do I do this?
Is there anyone out there who can direct me succinctly and walk me step-by-step through the process? I'm not even sure what a waste tank is... is that the ink cartridges you guys are talking about?
Thanks so very much... Desirae.
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by dianapocol (7/21/08 7:23 AM) reply
If you are talking about resetting the ink levels of cartridges, there are now a couple of resetters on the market. The most popular (and I have one) is the ReDsetter.
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by Anonymous (7/22/08 1:40 AM) reply
METHOD #1 - Easiest, but it disables the ink tank level indicators. 1) Ignore the low ink indicator, and press the RESET BUTTON to continue printing. If you press and hold the reset button for 5+ seconds, it will disable the counter for that particular ink tank. Refill tank now.
Where does the reset button above exist?
PS. Pebe, are you the same Pebe from the linuxforums?
Re: Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by Anonymous (7/22/08 4:11 AM) reply
Yes, as Anonymous says, the easiest way is to simply disable the Ink Tank indicator. Not difficult at all...
Simply "Ignore the low ink indicator, and press the RESET BUTTON to continue printing. If you press and hold the reset button for 5+ seconds, it will disable the counter for that particular ink tank. Refill tank now."
Works really well for me.
Desirae.
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by richking (8/13/08 12:28 AM) reply
Hello, When performing a waste tank reset for a Pixma ip4200 I understand the posted method up to pressing the Resume/Cancel button 4 times to get into Waste tank reset mode but what do you do after that? Do you just switch off the printer? Press the power button perhaps? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks, Richard
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by Cooper, R (12/2/08 12:07 PM) reply
Hey, name's Ryan and I think I got a work-around going through trial and error. I'm from a small business in Vancouver, Canada, and we put out thousands of pieces in mail-outs each week, so cheap ink & reliable printers are very important to us. To work around Canon's steep OEM cart cost we drilled out & refill our ink carts as necessary, and that worked just dandy until Canon's avarice became manifest (chips). Through (LOTS) of trial and error, and several dead printers, I think I got something.
PLEASE NOTE, this has been tested only on two Canon iP4200's running in-house refilled OEM carts, which have already had all ink monitoring disabled through the nasty message screens saying "You have installed a refilled ink cartridge. Your warranty will be void if you continue. We are notifying Canon Central Authorities. We will eat your firstborn daughter" etc.
When the Ink Tank Error (with no details other than "change the ink cartridge with the light out" message), follow the following procedure to try to get your printer out of its total lockdown:
- With the power on, make sure nothing is in the print queue
- Lift the service/cartridge change lid
- Remove all ink tanks affected
- Unplug power to the printer at the back of the printer
- Install your cartridges (full, of course, so refill here if necc.)
- Reinstall the power plug and close the lid.
- WAIT! After the initial power-on sequence, the power light showed solid green, indicating preparedness to print, but about thirty seconds later the printer started some kind of check sequence (nothing on screen to indicate what it was doing). This took about another twenty seconds, and the printer returning to the ready state. WAIT! It actually did this several times, on both of my test printers. I suggest simply walking away for five minutes and returning after it's done its thing.
- Once it's done (read as "doesn't do anything on its own for at least two minutes straight"), print whatever you wish, your problem should be solved.
As we now have these two printers working and a solution for when our other two do this (and to be able to reuse our previously "dead" printers all stacked behind me), we're going to be investing in a CISS system for each one, to prevent the possibility of this happening again due to ink running completely out or a cart becoming dislodged during the refill process.
Please let me know what luck you've had (or not!) with this procedure, especially as it pertains to other models of Canons. I know you'll try, because, quite simply, the situation you're in sucks as much as mine used to, but now I'm printing just fine! Also, I encourage any of you who have accounts at other forums to spread my work-around once you've confirmed it works, as I've been using several sites for reference, but actually had to make myself a member of one (this one) before posting this work-around upon it's development. As I don't have the time to go around to every forum discussing this issue to sign up and share, please help disseminate this information if you have access to another site. People deserve to be able to, in a free market, capitalistic society, use whichever consumables they wish in a product they bought! The purchaser owns the printer, not Canon, and thus the purchaser should not be punished for owning it and making their own decisions!!
Hope this helps! Ryan in Vancouver, BC.
Re: ip4200 INK TANK RESET and WASTE TANK RESET by Svend Poulsen (12/21/08 10:02 AM) reply
Unfortunately I have tried about 5 CIS systems (continuous ink from tanks) for Canon printers. They all failed, some faster, some took a month or so to fail.
These are sold on ebay and elsewhere and it would be a great bargain if they were reliable-- but they are not.
The problem lies with the design of the Canon carts. Eventually the seal between cart and head lets air into the system, and then you get air in the hose that leads to the tanks.
Maintenance is a nightmare. Really, I would LOVE to report differently, but I can't.
Eventually I would think that a chinese manufacturer will come up with inexpensive chipped carts for newer printers- but till then, we will have to make due with the suggestions already posted.
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