Printer problems and solutions for the Canon MP360

Problem: Display is showing "Waste Ink Tank Full"

Solution 1: You need to drain the waste ink tank and reset the counter. You will need to either (a) take your printer to a repair shop to do this, or (b) drain the ink tank yourself. Details of how to do this can be found here.
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Problem: Prints are coming out too dark

Solution 1: This is a common issue that is largely down to personal taste. The only real way to improve (i.e. lighten) your prints is to first lighten them using a piece of photo editing software. A good choice would be Adobe Photoshop elements, but there are free alternatives. Do a google search for "Free Photo Editing Software" (there should be a google search box on this page near the top).
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Problem: Very low print quality

Solution 1: There are a number of steps you can take to solve this problem (in order of easiest & least expensive first).

1. Make sure you have tried printing a nozzle check and you've carried out all the maintenance tasks that the manual alows (align print head, clean print head etc).
2. Your cartridge may be faulty. Ink cartridges that use non-genuine ink are of variable quality and you use them at your own risk. Even genuine cartridges can expire if used after the expiry date. Bad ink can clog your nozzle. It may be that you have a dried-out ink cartridge - try another one if you have one handy.
3. The print head may need cleaning. There are Canon print head cleaning kits available (use Google top right) or you could try doing this yourself - some people have had success immersing the print head (not the cartridge) in cleaning alcohol, warm water or using compressed air to gently blow through the nozzles.
4. Buy a new print head. Check the prices before you do this as (a) you may be throwing good money after bad, and (b) the price of a new printer may be the same as a new print head. Again, use Google (top right of this page) to search for these if you wish.
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Problem: Genuine original Canon vs Compatible & Refill Cartridges - which should I use?

Solution 1: It really is up to you. There are many people who swear by refills and compatible cartridges, and many others who have had problems with them. In a nutshell:

Dangers: Compatible/refilled cartridges vary in ink quality. Poor quality ink can dry out your print head and cause damage. You can replace your print head, but this can cost as much as a new printer. You will also invalidate your warranty by using non-genuine ink.

Benefits: Canon ink is very expensive and good quality compatible substitutes can severely cut the cost of printing without damaging your printer.

Minimise the risks - you can take the following steps to minimise the risks of damaging your printer (it's a good idea to follow this advice whether you use genuine cartridges or not):

- Try not to let your cartridges run dry - this can clog the print head.
- Always power off the printer using the printer's power switch rather than simply unplugging and switching off at the mains. The reason is that some printers keep the ink in a ready (i.e. open) state when they are printing to keep printing time shorter. When you power off the printer, it closes the ink cover, keeping the ink tanks sealed. If you just unplug the unit, it will not cover the print head and leave it exposed. For this reason, you should restart your printer and shut it down again if you experience a power cut while the unit is on.
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Problem: Printer would do text now or very faint yet the photos come out well with plenty black on them

Solution 1: Sounds like a problem with the black nozzle of your print head. The reason that photos are printed fine is that they use colour ink (i.e. red, yellow and blue all at once) to make black unless the colour is what the computer considers as "absolute black" - on photos it is almost never absolute black.

The solution is to (a) make sure you've tried all of the different cleaning procedures on the black nozzle, then print out a nozzle test (in the printer's maintenance menu). If this doesn't work, you could try cleaning the print head (I heard that a can of compressed air works well), or maybe even check the price of a new print head (google!).

Remember that you should ALWAYS turn your printer off using it's power off button and NEVER just directly at the mains - if you don't let it shut itself down properly it will leave the cap off the ink tanks and dry itself out.

Hope this helps,

Krimbo
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Problem: display shows 343 will not print

Solution 1: Try resetting the power
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Problem: how do you open this printer?? I have problems with paper feed and cannot seems to be able to sort it out, I would like to open this machine and see if there is something that blocks paper feed

Solution 1: It is quite a complicated machine to open - there are many plastic clips on the inside of the casing that are very difficult to deal with. If you really want to open up the machine, check http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/inkjetstuff11.html for help (that's what I used when I wanted to drain the waste ink tank). However, given that it's so hard to get into, when I had a phantom paper jam I stuck my hand as far into the paper exit slot as I could and eventually I pulled out a very small, very inky scrap of paper that had torn off.

If you really want to take the printer apart, by all means give it a go. However, having done both I strongly recommend you try to resolve your paper feed problem without taking it to bits!

0 out of 0 people found this solution helpful. Solution 2: Download the service manual for 390 which is similar to the 360. It is available free from soft-manufaktura.ru/manual/hp/mp390sm.pdf
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Problem: check printer press set key

Solution 1: check printer press set key
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Problem: My Canon SmartBase MP360 prints with nearly every third line looking very bold and other lines are normal or very faint. With two new genuine Canon cartridges I have performed cleaning and deep cleaning, print head alignment and manual cleaning, nozzle check, and ink counter reset but there is no improvement in the patchy result. Please advise. Thanks. Alma Birks

Solution 1: It sounds like the printer head is clogged. Try cleaning it - see step 3 on the problem 'Very low print quality' above.
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Problem: the display shows put in cartridge

Solution 1: I have that problem and I suspect the ribbon cable was faulty and, consequently, the cartridge was not detected. Getting replacement ribbons is difficult, if not impossible.
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