Horizontal lines when printing in color from Canon printer

The print-head is like a paint-brush -- brush sideways across a white-coloured wall, and you should get a wide "band" of paint. If only half of the paint-brush has paint on it, then only half of that "band" on the wall will get painted, leaving a horizontal strip of white showing through.

So, launch the Canon software that is installed on your computer, and run a few "print-head-cleaning" cycles, to unclog those ink-jets that are _NOT_ shooting the ink onto the paper.

clean the head of the ink. then do the calibration for canon.

try to change the color ink. horizontal banding (the pink or other color lines appearing means horizontal banding) when there is a problem on one of the heating element of the printer head. since almost all canon printers have head built in the inks, replacing the faulty ink will solve the problem. if not then the controller of printhead on the carriage and mainboard needs to be checked.

from cnet review of the product

• Unfortunately, as with the Z1420, fast print speeds come at the cost of print quality with the Z1300. Black text prints, though nicely dark, were beset by obvious jaggedness. The color graphics print had a slightly faded look to it and color blocks showed graininess and faint horizontal striations. Barcode-style patterns were muddled, too. For our tests, we printed color 4x6 photos with the standard black and tricolor cartridges, as Lexmark did not include photo ink tanks with the test unit. The colors were dull, details were hazy, and again, the entire print was marred by graininess and faint horizontal lines. That said, nobody buys a $25 printer to print photos for framing or to create displays for a classroom science project. A $25 printer is a convenience item for occasional reference prints, and as such, the Z1300 does its job.

Inkjet printer quality
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Photo Graphics Text Canon Pixma iP1800
Good Good Good Lexmark Z1300
Fair Fair Fair Lexmark Z1420
Fair Fair Fair

see owners manual PIXMA MX700 Quick Start Guide pages 85-93,:Nozzle Check
Pattern,Print Head Cleaning,Print Head Deep Cleaning and Aligning The Print Head

YOU DONT HAVE ENOUGH INK ANYMORE.

the problem is very simple the magenta ink the cartridge is over or the head is been blocked from where the magenta ink comes out,
because red colour requires ---yellow plus magenta(pink)----to make it red.and ----dark yellow plus magenta(pink) -------- for brown colour.

Useually if your printing has lines through it it means that the head (where the ink comes out ) is had it & your up for another head. Sorry but useally big bucks I hope it's still under warranty

My daugther also has a Pix780 so I just replaced my print head with hers and now the colour prints great. I guess I'll try cleaning mine first and if that doesn't work, I'll purchase a new one when the dealer who services Canon opens on Tuesday. I could also buy one from the Canon website for something like $60. I copied the following from Canon's sites under the FAQs. Sounds like you may need to replace your printhead.

How does a Canon Printhead work?
The printhead delivers very small drops of ink onto the paper. The ink from the cartridge is transported via small tubes. Heating elements heat the tubes, creating a small bubble of ink. The heating element determines the size of the drop to be applied to the paper.

How do I know I may need to replace my printhead?
There are a few symptoms that may indicate printhead failure or a clogged printhead. If the following symptoms continue even after replacing the ink cartridges and trying the troubleshooting steps in your user's manual or those listed below, you may need to replace your printhead:

• Pages come out blank, or you see poor print quality
• Pages you print appear to be missing colors
• Colors on the printed page are quite a bit different from what shows on the screen
• Horizontal white lines or light-colored lines or light streaks appear throughout the page

Why would the printhead have problems?
After hours of printing, the heating elements may fail after being turned on and off hundreds of thousands of times. The printhead can also become clogged or blocked with paper debris or solidified ink. If your print quality is poor or your printer will not print at all, it may be time to change your printhead.

Hi George,

It sound's like an ink-feed issue:

1) Dirty heads, even after cleaning
2) No-ink or poor quality ink
3) Damaged head: some are part of the cartridge, some are not
4) Air bubbles in ink

The test page is typically not as hi-res nor as saturated as a
photo print. The hi-res photo puts the greatest demand on the print head.

The color lines you see are actually lines of missing color,
where the head has failed to deposit ink, so one or two primary
colors are missing from the complete picture.

For example missing yellow will make a blue line.
Missing magenta will make a green line
Missing cyan will make a red line.... etc..

Clean the heads again and again, print again and again,
hoping to flush the system.

BUT, keep in mind that cleaning wastes huge amounts of
ink and tiny little cartridges of ink cost more than many new printers.

Martin