Canon Printers monopoly practices?
I have just had a week without my printer courtesy of Canon.
I put in a new inktank, and the printer started telling me 'Cannot recognise inktank' and listed all 4 inktanks. Canon Pixma iX4000. The reset light lit up with 4 blinks.
So, this is the bloody annoying Canon attempt to force you to use their expensive ink rather than cheaper compatible cartridges - I guess.
I begin by replacing cartridges at first just the blank then them all. I buy about 8 new tanks from various suppliers including a refill yourself solution and get ink all over me and the desk.
Nothing solves the problem so I ring Canon and a continental voice tells me that the problem is that I am not using Canon original cartridges and he refuses to engage except to tell me that compatible cartridges can or have ruined my printer. I'm assuming it is simply a question of finding an override - the internet tells me that pressing the reset button for 5 secs might be the answer, or turning off and on while pressing the reset button.
Does not work.
So i put in a proper black canon ink tank black being the one I changed when the error arose. No improvement, I take it out and notice for the first time that there are 4 little copper prongs which obviously interface with the annoying microchip that it inserting in all canon inktanks, one of them is bent out of position. I carefully bend it back and low and behold the printer works again.
The problem was caused because I had purchased a black cartridge which was not the fat one but thin as the other 3 tanks, and I tried fitting it - this obviously did the bending.
Now the reason I have typed all this in - is that I now hate printer manufacturers as much as I hate banks, because firstly the built in obsolescence that killed my old canon, and b, the use of these chips which is obviously a clone buster and really does not give any useful functionality.
Why do they get away with selling printers that use ink which costs more in a year than the printer itself!
I put in a new inktank, and the printer started telling me 'Cannot recognise inktank' and listed all 4 inktanks. Canon Pixma iX4000. The reset light lit up with 4 blinks.
So, this is the bloody annoying Canon attempt to force you to use their expensive ink rather than cheaper compatible cartridges - I guess.
I begin by replacing cartridges at first just the blank then them all. I buy about 8 new tanks from various suppliers including a refill yourself solution and get ink all over me and the desk.
Nothing solves the problem so I ring Canon and a continental voice tells me that the problem is that I am not using Canon original cartridges and he refuses to engage except to tell me that compatible cartridges can or have ruined my printer. I'm assuming it is simply a question of finding an override - the internet tells me that pressing the reset button for 5 secs might be the answer, or turning off and on while pressing the reset button.
Does not work.
So i put in a proper black canon ink tank black being the one I changed when the error arose. No improvement, I take it out and notice for the first time that there are 4 little copper prongs which obviously interface with the annoying microchip that it inserting in all canon inktanks, one of them is bent out of position. I carefully bend it back and low and behold the printer works again.
The problem was caused because I had purchased a black cartridge which was not the fat one but thin as the other 3 tanks, and I tried fitting it - this obviously did the bending.
Now the reason I have typed all this in - is that I now hate printer manufacturers as much as I hate banks, because firstly the built in obsolescence that killed my old canon, and b, the use of these chips which is obviously a clone buster and really does not give any useful functionality.
Why do they get away with selling printers that use ink which costs more in a year than the printer itself!
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