Why is this happening?

[Mike Guilbault]

this is two prints side by side.  The one on the right (with the arrow) is printing a band of streaks at the beginning of a print job.  The one on the right is from my 4900 and the one on the left is the 9900.  This just started recently and I can't put my finger on why it's happening.  Any ideas?

Printing out of LR, multiple images per page on each job.

[Garnick]

Hi Mike,

Is this happening on every print or is it intermittent?  At first glance it appears to be what's commonly referred to as ink starvation, although in reverse order of sorts.  Ink starvation occurs during the print cycle, but manifests at some point throughout the image, not usually at the beginning.  As I understand the issue it is believed to be caused by a drop in pressure within the cart during printing, so although it prints fine at the beginning it will drop nozzles during the cycle.  One suggestion is to shut down the printer, pull all carts and agitate as usual, reinsert and restart the printer.  If there are any issues with air bubbles or ink settling in the cart this procedure might cure it.  Also, if you are using expired carts(as most of us do), this routine might go a long way toward preventing future print head issues.  If you have been following my 9900 saga on Eric's thread you will no doubt have read this already in my recent post. Of course you will likely have to run some cleaning cycles as well.

Just a thought and I hope it is of some help.

Gary   

[Mike Guilbault]

Thanks Gary... I'll try a restart and agitation.

It happens only at the very beginning of a print job.  This has happened for the last 3 or 4 jobs with a day or two in between, so it's consistent in that it happens on the first print of every job.  There are a few cartridges that need replacing and I've been swapping them in and out so that may be a factor too.

[Garnick]

Are your nozzle patterns full before printing, no dropouts?  Do you hear the usual sounds while the paper is loading, pump startup etc?  If not it could mean that the pressure pump is not completing its job before the printing cycle begins.  Also, if a cart is not seated quite as it should be it may not be pressurized properly at the beginning of the print cycle.  These are all guesses of course, but having experienced three years of intermittent issues with the 9900, perhaps one of these suggestions will produce some positive effects.  If I think of anything else I'll chime in and I'll await any further info from you as well.

Good luck Mike,
Gary 

[Garnick]

One more thought, you might want to send your original post to Eric on his website - http://myx900.com/manure-requested/.

[Mike Guilbault]

I replaced the near-empty cartridges with full ones and did a nozzle check - LC and VLM were showing gaps so did a cleaning and still showed. Shut down the printer, re-seated the cartridges and as Gary suggested, agitated them a little and reinstalled. Ended up doing a power cleaning on the LC and then two on the VLM and they cleared.  No problem after that.

I think it was the VLM that was giving me a problem.  It was so close to empty and maybe some air got in with the swapping out with the full cartridge for cleaning. Seems to be working ok now.  I've got a few more jobs to print tomorrow so I'll know for sure then, but I think I'm good.

On the other hand, the 9900 worked as it should - no clogs and just kept churning out prints! 

[ZOG]

I've had the same problem with the 11880.... My heads probably need to be replaced.... Please inform us if you found the problem. I've done a nozzle check under the service menu. It's quite different than the one we're used to. I also saw some major flaws in my nozzles. Vacuum and pump could be another theory....

Thanks!

Andre

[Mike Guilbault]

The 9900 printed today without issue.  No clogs, no cleaning needed.  I think the problem was in swapping out the near-empty cartridges for new ones, back and forth, possibly air getting into the cartridges or lines.  Not sure, but it's working just fine now.