How would I determine if the problem is the print head?

[Felecha]

Canon BJC 2100

Every now and again the wife or the daughter says Dad, the printer's not working. Once the cable had come unplugged. Sometimes a reboot does it. Once or twice over the life of the printer, I reinstalled the driver and that did it. By far the most often the ink ran out. Refill, and we're back in business.

This time, none of the above. My next guess is the print head is gone. But that I have no experience with at all, except to know that it pops out real easy, and its lots more expensive than a cartridge but less than a printer.

Any way to definitively tell if that's what's gone? It whirs and moans and cranks the paper through and the head flies back and forth, everything seems normal except that no ink is on the paper.

 

[Zepper]

Probably the only way you're going to know for sure is to replace the print head. But it could always be the head driver circuitry. Or just dirty contacts between the head and the head cable or cable to driver board. If you plan to keep the printer long-term, go ahead and buy a new print head - it will eventually burn out and need replacing anyway.
. If that doesn't fix it (hoping it's still in warranty) you can send the thing back to get the driver board replaced.
. Oh, it's a BJC-2100 - probably long out of warranty. An equal or better printer can be had for less than $100. on clearance/sale at any big box store - disregard previous drivel...
.bh.


Two to go!!

 

[Felecha]

Yeah, that's the problem - how much for a head, vs. $100 new.

But I just bought a Canon S300 a couple of months ago at BestBuy, at the $100 level, and the quality of the print is just a little less than what I was used to with the the wife's BJC2100. Not quite so crisp and clean. I don't mind, but she prints stuff at home to take to work, and has said she notices the difference when she has to use mine.

The 2100 has been nice. Given to us by a friend a while back. Hate to lose it, but hate to buy a head and find that's not it.

and where do you go to buy one?

 

[Zepper]

I have often seen heads (usually a kit with the head and a full set of ink carts.) in the better stocked big-box stores like CompUSA or go to Canon's web site, find out the part no. and do a google search on the part no. in quotes (e.g. "part no.") because part nos often have chars that are interpreted a search instructions when located outside quotes.
.b.h.


P.S. The color head kit is BC-21e ($53. from Canon - $37. from on-line vendor of unknown rep.), if you do a lot of black-only printing also consider the BC-20 ($37. from Canon) which gives you faster and better black printing. I have seen these everywhere; CompUSA, BestBuy, Office Depot/Max, Staples, etc. .bh.

 

[BabeAtBzBoyz]

Can you run the program that runs it through cleaning cycles? Have you tried that lately. Usually, even a stubbornly dirty and caked print head will start working after you shoot lots of ink through them (5 cycles of print head cleaning). Try that before you go off and spend money. Also, if the print head comes off easy, you can usually clean them topically with appropriate cleaning solution and an appropriate rag. Contact manufacturer. May be something simple like soft cloth and rubbing alcohol. Good luck.

 

[Bleep]

I have had a couple of these printers. I would almost guarntee that the printheads are kaput. You may be able to rejuvinate them by taking out the ink carts and boiling the head for about 5 minutes, sometimes it works and sometimes not. Generally what happens is that the heating element goes to heck in the printhead. I used to be able to get the printhead and the 2 cart's at sams for $38.00
These are nice printers.

Bleep

 

[Peter]

If we're talking about the BC-21 color print head, this one lasts quite long, but not for ever. I have also seen cases where the ink had been empty for a while, and the new ink wouldn't flow down into the head and nozzles.

Take the head out, let it soak on a wet paper towel for a couple of hours, run cleaning cycles. If it won't revive, your options are buy a new one (isn't too expensive considering it includes another ink set), or get a new printer. S100 is exactly the same thing in a new shell (old technology, but handy if you have lots of BC-20/21 ink cartridges to use up), S200 and S300 are somewhat better with larger ink cartridges and higher resolutions.

Try to find someone to borrow a known good head from, that shouldn't be too hard. Any BJC-4xxx, BJC-2xxx and S100 use the exact same ones.

regards, Peter