Cannon MP830 on the blink

[hardhatter]

I need your help with a printer which has gone on strike.

We bought a Canon MP830 3 years ago. It worked fine, did a lot (I do mean A LOT! Inktcartridges replaced every 3 months!) of printing.

Last couple of days it seemed to have more trouble starting up; it made a bit more grinding noises according to my wife. Yesterday it had to print a few pages, but the last page did not seem to print at all: my wife turned the printer off and tried to turn it on, which it refused.

When I got home I unplugged the printer from the outlet and gave at an hour to discharge and plugged it in again and tried to turn it on: not a thing.

Now what is going on with it (internal fuse blown, transformer gone, motherboard fried,...?) and is it worth it get it fixed or should I just go for a replacement?

[green granite]

I think I would get a new one. You could try cleaning it and make sure the print head isn't jammed but I doubt it would be economical to get it fixed.

A good source for all Canon stuff is: eBay UK Shop - Canon Outlet EOS SLR Cameras Compact Cameras Digital Cameras:

[Saab Dastard]

Given that the most expensive part of any inkjet printer these days seems to be the ink, I would agree with GG, and also endorse his suggestion about the Canon ebay outlet.

If you have a lot of ink left, might be worth checking if your existing cartridges fit any current Canon printers.

SD

[hardhatter]

That would be a shame, I paid nearly 400 euros when I bought it, pretty steep devaluation of a printer, gone in three years.


Is my printer a fluke, or is it the average life span of a printer these days?

[Saab Dastard]

I have never bought a MFD, but I know several people who have, and they seem significantly less reliable than separate devices. All but one of them (75%) are on their second MFD (that's one each of Canon, Lexmark and HP) - I've had my separate Canon scanner and inkjet longer than any of them, without problems.

There's a great deal of convenience (and space saved) with MFDs. but at a cost premium, as you have discovered.

Perhaps, at that price, it is worth repairing.

It might be something simple, but going to the manfr., you'll probably shell out £50 to be told either that it's not possible, or the repair would cost more than a replacement.

If you happen to know of a local PC / printer specialist (NOT PC world!!) that will take a look on a no-fix-no fee basis you might be in luck.

SD

[hardhatter]

Update

Well,

don't ask me how, but after having unplugged the PC and replugging it after a week, somehow the printer has resurrected itself from the dead. Now it has three error messages, one is for the printerhead ( I expected that), one for the scanner lock (? it is unlocked, as it should be) and an error code, 5200.
I managed to remove the printer head and it looked ok, well, used of course after two years, but other than that, fine.

I'll try to order a new print head and see if that fixes the problem. Anybody here know what that would cost, a new print head? It is difficult to find on the Web, I haven't even found a part number for it....

[BusyB]

I've had an MP810 for over 4 yrs and the screen has failed. You can still scan, print and photocopy but you cant resize photocopies using the screen.

I've replaced it with an MP990 so am happy to pass it on to someone with a good supply of ink cartridges. PM me if interested (west sussex).