Canon Pixma IP4000 printer has banding problem

[tjaisv]

Just bought a new Canon Pixma IP4000 printer and have been getting quite a bit of banding (vertical lines) on black colored graphics. I'm using plain paper. What could be causing this? If i don't fix this i'll probably take it back and either get a replacement or a completely different printer.

 

[Peter]

This isn't normal. But note that on plain paper, you'll never get really brilliant results for printing images. Canon's printers and their drivers do not even bother use "best" quality as long as the media type is set to "Plain".

Run the nozzle test (from its properties windows) and see whether it needs cleaning.

And then if you please, up the media type from "plain" to "high res" or at least "coated" paper. That'll then let you use higher quality print modes as well, including the "weaving" ones.

 

[Zepper]

After you run the nozzle check as recommended above, run the automatic head alignment procedure (which you should have done when setting up your printer initially) and see what happens. In high quality mode, my iP3000 has NO banding whatsoever.
. Also make sure you have the latest driver installed (1.80a for 2k/XP) - it does make a difference plus it has the option of doing a manual head alignment which the original version lacked. Disconnect Printer, Uninstall the original drivers - reboot and install the new drivers per the initial setup instructions. Then redo the nozzle check and head alignment.
. I just ran a plain paper test in standard mode and I don't get any banding there either... And depending on the paper some manual tweking of the settings (instead of Auto, use manual color settings where you can choose the type of printing you're doing like graphics or photos). Using non-Canon papers almost insures you will need to do a little tweaking. Kodak has recommended settings for its papers for the i860 which is much like the iP4000.
.bh.

:moon.

 

[tjaisv]

ran the nozzle test and did the head alignment again, and changed the paper type to "high resolution"...still no luck

as for installing the latest driver, i don't think it would help in this situation...but i might try it before i take it back

 

[Peter]

Make sure the paper path isn't being obstructed, and on "high resolution" paper, choose a higher print quality setting as well. As I said earlier, the high speed modes don't weave the lines, which is good for text prints but not for graphics.

 

[tjaisv]

thanks guys

chose high quality print setting

then ran deep cleaning on black cartrige

then ran regular cleaning on all cartriges

Well...something must of worked, as the banding problem is now gone. Later i'll see if i can go back to the standard print setting without encountering the banding again, since i really don't want to waste so much costly ink whenever i have to print plain-papered graphics. If it works then i probably won't take it back.