Waste ink absorber is full

Canon i9100 clear error message "waste ink absorber"

I am so proud of myself for doing this. Canon wanted me to take it to a service center, which would cost more than it's worth. I DIY'd the ******!

First I had to open up the machine, which was not easy.

1. Open cover so carriage comes to center, as it does when you change ink cartridges.

2. Unplug without powering down

3. Undo the usb and take off the plastic plate that is in the back left, where the usb plug is. It's a separate piece from the rest of the cover.

4. Next you want to take the full cover off. You'll need several flat head screwdrivers for this next step. Put the screwdrivers into the tab holes that are marked with an arrow. There are 2 in front side, one on each side and one on the back right, all near the bottom of the machine. Don't pry it off but gently coax the tabs so they release the cover. You may need a 2nd person for this.

5. On the i9100, there are two screws in the back left and right, holding the entire carriage and ink cartridges. These are the only 2 screws holding the machine guts to the bottom plastic piece. Looking at it from a top view, the screws are pointing straight down, not into the sides.

6. There will be a bunch of wires connected to the machine guts. When you lift up the unit, be careful not to break any of the wires. I just swung the inner guts around, so it was still connected but now I was able to get to the waste ink absorber pad, which covers pretty much the whole bottom.

7. You'll need gloves as you pull out the pad. It is VERY full of ink. I washed it in water for a good 5 minutes, squeezing and rinsing out as much ink as I could (in my basement slop sink). I put the cleaned pad on towels over my radiator to dry, which took 1.5 days.

8. I reassembled the whole thing, although the pad shrunk a bit. If you can find the pad, it might be worth buying a new one.

9. I followed Xanda's steps to clear the error message.

Plug in power cable


While pressing Resume button press and hold Power button (do nor release the buttons)
Release Resume button (still hold Power button)
Press Resume button twice in a row (still hold Power button), after that release both Resume and Power button (then the printer standing bye)
Press Resume button 4 times then turn off the printer

10. But in clearing the message, my printer driver had to be re-installed, which I got from the Canon website.

It works perfectly now!!!

Canon i9100 clear error message "waste ink absorber"

I am so proud of myself for doing this. Canon wanted me to take it to a service center, which would cost more than it's worth. I DIY'd the ******!

First I had to open up the machine, which was not easy.

1. Open cover so carriage comes to center, as it does when you change ink cartridges.

2. Unplug without powering down

3. Undo the usb and take off the plastic plate that is in the back left, where the usb plug is. It's a separate piece from the rest of the cover.

4. Next you want to take the full cover off. You'll need several flat head screwdrivers for this next step. Put the screwdrivers into the tab holes that are marked with an arrow. There are 2 in front side, one on each side and one on the back right, all near the bottom of the machine. Don't pry it off but gently coax the tabs so they release the cover. You may need a 2nd person for this.

5. On the i9100, there are two screws in the back left and right, holding the entire carriage and ink cartridges. These are the only 2 screws holding the machine guts to the bottom plastic piece. Looking at it from a top view, the screws are pointing straight down, not into the sides.

6. There will be a bunch of wires connected to the machine guts. When you lift up the unit, be careful not to break any of the wires. I just swung the inner guts around, so it was still connected but now I was able to get to the waste ink absorber pad, which covers pretty much the whole bottom.

7. You'll need gloves as you pull out the pad. It is VERY full of ink. I washed it in water for a good 5 minutes, squeezing and rinsing out as much ink as I could (in my basement slop sink). I put the cleaned pad on towels over my radiator to dry, which took 1.5 days.

8. I reassembled the whole thing, although the pad shrunk a bit. If you can find the pad, it might be worth buying a new one.

9. I followed Xanda's steps to clear the error message.

Plug in power cable
While pressing Resume button press and hold Power button (do nor release the buttons)
Release Resume button (still hold Power button)
Press Resume button twice in a row (still hold Power button), after that release both Resume and Power button (then the printer standing bye)
Press Resume button 4 times then turn off the printer

10. But in clearing the message, my printer driver had to be re-installed, which I got from the Canon website.

It works perfectly now!!!