2012-07-05

Canon Pixma MX700 printer dead and resurrected (Not!)

My Canon Pixma MX700 printer died the other day as it was printing. It just went completely dead, as if the power cord was unplugged. Today I decided to troubleshoot it. First, I tried a different power outlet. That was not it. Then, I checked the power cord. No problem there. Then, I took out the power supply box and disconnected it from the printer, then I reconnected it and put it back in. No improvement. Then I opened up the power supply box and examined the circuit board in it.

Canon Pixma MX700


I am not terribly familiar with hardware, so I could not tell if the smell was of burned electronic components or if it was just the regular smell of electronics that have been sitting inside a closed box for a few years. Nothing looked burned though, and all the electrolytic capacitors seemed intact. I located 3 fuses on the board, and I checked each one of them for continuity. They were all fine.

So, I decided to give up, and I started putting things back together. I placed the circuit board back in the power supply box, I closed the box, and then for some reason I did something backwards: first I connected the power chord to the power supply box, and then I connected the power supply box to the printer.  As I was attaching the connector, I noticed that one of the pins was momentarily making a little spark. And then lo and behold, the printer came back to life! The printer had fixed itself!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I hate hardware.

UPDATE 2012/07/13: nope, the resurrection was only temporary. The printer is dead. Dead as a doornail. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I hate hardware even more.