Perform Bottom Plate Cleaning (Mac OSX)

After confirming that the cable is connected and the printer is powered on, perform the following:

1. Remove the paper from the auto sheet feeder.
   
   
2. Fold one sheet of letter-sized plain paper in half so that the short edges of the paper come together, and then unfold the paper.
   
   
3. Load the paper in the auto sheet feeder with the opened side up, and the crease down.
   
   
   (The image below is an example using the iP4000 model.)
   
   
   
   
   Note: Set the folding paper with the ridge of the crease facing down. Otherwise, a paper jam may be occur.
   
   
4. In the Apple menu select System Preferences
   
   Note: In versions of Mac OS X older than 10.4, open the IJ / BJ Printer Utility from the Library>Printers>Canon>BJPrinter>Utilities folder.
   
   
5. Open Print & Fax.
   
   
6. Make sure the correct printer is selected and, depending on OS version, click 'Open Print Queue...' or 'Print Queue...'.
   
   
7. Click the Utility icon.
   
   
8. Select the printer, then click 'Maintenance'.
   
   
9. The BJ / IJ Printer Utility is launched.
   
   
   
   
   
10. Select 'Cleaning' from the drop-down menu.
    
    
    
    
    
11. Click the Bottom Plate Cleaning icon.
    
    
    
    
    
12. 'Execute' Bottom Plate Cleaning.
    
    
    
    
    
13. Bottom Plate Cleaning will start.
    
    
    
    
    
14. The paper will be fed and ejected.
    
    
15. Examine the ejected paper. If it is still smeared with ink, perform bottom plate cleaning up to two times. If the last ejected paper is still smeared, use a cotton swab to clean the inside of the printer.

If Bottom Plate Cleaning does not resolve the issue, you may need to clean the inside of the printer manually. Follow the steps below to clean inside the printer with a cotton swab:

1. Turn off the printer, remove the power cable from the outlet, then open the top cover.
   
   Notes:
   -If you open the top cover with the printer powered on, the print head holder moves and may jam your finger or result in a printer malfunction.
   -When cleaning the printer, do not touch the metallic shaft, or the film strip. If you spread the white grease on the shaft to other parts or touch the film, it may cause damage to the printer. If you touch the grease, after washing your hands, continue cleaning.
   
   
2. Using a cotton swab, carefully clean the ink around the protruding ribs as indicated by the blue arrows in the figure below.
   
   
   
   Clean carefully the area around the protruding ribs (particularly around the foot).