Canon Pixma MG5420
My Canon MG5420 is not even a year old and has been great, till I really needed it to work at its best. WE just lost our God Daughter recently and I needed to print photos for a tribute wall. Well all of a sudden, it started printing weird. Everywhere it is supposed to be black, it looks like it actually places a kind of flat looking grey sheen where the Black is supposed to be.

Experienced technical support provide their insights in answering this question :
From your description, it doesn’t sound like an ink problem at all. I would think it is more likely the computer is at fault. Driver issue or something in the settings.

How to Identify and Fix Common printer Problems ?

Our sources include academic articles, blog posts, and personal essays from experienced technical support :

A common cause of faded, faint printouts from your inkjet printer is dried ink particles causing a blockage in your printer. The printheads on an ink cartridge can be become blocked if the printer is not used for a period of time, so it is recommended to print a few pages each month to maintain the print quality.
Appropriate paper is not being used. The toner cartridges have reached the end of their life. Check the toner cartridges status and replace the toner cartridges of the colors have reached the end of their life.
Ever wonder why your prints sometimes appear faded or streaky? It`s usually because the printhead inside your printer is clogged or dried out. Like with most printers, Canon printheads can clog due to ink or dust drying up and collecting in the nozzle.
Check the ink levels

Sometimes, the printer may not print black ink because it is low or empty. You can check the ink levels on the printer`s display, or by using the software that came with your printer. If the ink level is low, replace the cartridge or refill it according to the manufacturer`s instructions.

Check you have the latest drivers installed for your printer, try uninstalling and reinstalling your printer drivers or try changing the driver settings (adjusting the paper settings has been known to solve the problem). Fully Reconfigure the Printer – If all else fails, you can try entirely reconfiguring your printer.
If there is plenty of ink and the printer does not print, clean the Print Head then print the nozzle check pattern to ensure ink is ejected properly. If the problem is not resolved after performing Print Head Cleaning twice, carry out the Print Head Deep Cleaning.
If you have a gray background when printing, verify the paper you are using meets the recommended paper specifications and check the printer`s environment. Also, cleaning the laser glass, cleaning the drum and corona wire or replacing the toner may resolve this problem.
Unlike full-color printing, which applies multiple colors in various concentrations, grayscale printing only uses black ink to compose an image. In order to represent the variations in tone and contrast within the image, the ink is applied in concentrations ranging from 0% black to 100% black.
Why is CMYK black not black? If you use 100% K to create a black in CMYK color mode, you`ll end up with a deep gray, not a true black. To get rich black, you need to add the right amount of all four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
In the CMYK model, grey is obtained by adding black (K). To compose a tone of grey, make sure that you set your black (K) color to a certain percentage between 0% and 100%. Avoid using the three other colors (by setting Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow to 0%).
If your PC or the LCD screen on your printer is telling you that your ink cartridges are full but no ink is passing through to the paper, then it`s most likely that you are dealing with a clogged printhead. Blurry documents and images that appear faded are also signs that it`s time to remove the excess ink.
Ink cartridges can dry out over time. If they are sitting in your machine for an extended period, they will eventually dry up and become unusable. The simplest way to combat this problem is by printing more frequently or running regular cleans and ink tests to ensure the nozzles remain clean.
A series of Canon printers allows users to continue printing on a single button press. User can hold down Stop/Reset/Resume for five seconds and then release it. By doing so, you can continue printing regardless of the low or empty cartridge estimate.
Clean the printheads: Sometimes the issue why you are unable to print in color is because our printheads are clogged with ink. Clean the printheads and then print a document to check if color printing works. Some printers also have in-built programs that can clean themselves so remember to check for that.
With the printer powered on, select Setup . Select Device settings . Scroll to the bottom of the menu list and select Reset settings.
If your printouts have incorrect colors, try these solutions: Make sure the paper type setting matches the paper you loaded. Make sure the Black/Grayscale or Grayscale setting is not selected in your printer software. Run a nozzle check to see if any of the print head nozzles are clogged.
What is the difference between monochrome and grayscale printing? In monochrome printing, there are only two colors – black and white. The printer will only be printing black and the white will be unprinted. In grayscale printing, the printer will print everything in different shades of gray.
8 bit color format

It is commonly known as Grayscale image. The range of the colors in 8 bit vary from 0-255. Where 0 stands for black, and 255 stands for white, and 127 stands for gray color. This format was used initially by early models of the operating systems UNIX and the early color Macintoshes.

The hex code for black is #000000.
The color black can be printed in many ways using CMYK printing. The two black colors we recommend are K100 black and rich black. The subtleties between these blacks is hard to see on screen, but the difference in print output can be drastic, so it is important to pay attention to this.
Black can be achieved in 2 different ways. Regular black has CMYK values of: C = 0, M = 0, Y = 0, K = 100. Rich black uses CMYK values of: C = 60, M = 60, Y = 60, K = 100.
Saving a file as RGB for print can sometimes impact on the way certain colours are printed meaning you won`t get the finish you are after. Most printers will convert your RGB file to CMYK but it can result in some colours appearing washed out so it is best to have your file saved as CMYK beforehand.

Relevant Questions and Answers :

the most relevant questions and answers related to your specific issue

Black prints as a grey sheen
ANSWER : From your description, it doesn’t sound like an ink problem at all. I would think it is more likely the computer is at fault. Driver issue or something in the settings.

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Canon Pixma MG5420

changing from printing in photo black to black ink
ANSWER : You can change the black ink cartridge and choose either Matte Black or Photo Black.You will need to use the Black Ink Conversion Kit that came with your printer. The kit includes three conversion cartridges (yellow, magenta, and cyan), which are used to reduce the amount of ink consumed in the conversion. dissertation writing service

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Canon Pixma MG5420

HP Laserjet 1320tn printing grey instead of black
ANSWER : Try this test. Put a page into the manual feeder and do that same test. When the end of the page is just about to enter the printer, open the lid. Take out the toner cartridge and pull back the shutter. Look at the image and see if it is black. The explanation is that there is high voltage going to both the toner cartridge and the charge transfer roller below it. If the image on the drum is black, then the fault is at the transfer roller not getting enough high voltage. The transfer roller pulls the image off of the drum and down onto the paper. It would not be a laser scanner problem as any issue with it would not result in an overall gray image, but combination of gray and black. It will probably turn out to be a bad HV power supply, which will need replacement. I’ve never seen this particular problem on this model.

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Canon Pixma MG5420

Canon Pixma MP610 won't print in black
ANSWER : Printer cleanings use wet ink to clear dried up ink. Yeah, that works real well. The best way to clean the heads is remove all the ink tanks. Next to the tanks on the right, there is a plastic release lever. Pull up on it and it will release the heads. Reach in and pull them out. Take the heads over to the sink and run hot tap water into the screen for the black and then turn it over and run it over the heads on the bottom. Repeat a few times and reinstall.

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Canon Pixma MG5420

C1660w black printing light
ANSWER : Have someone fixed this? I have the same problem. Please help.

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Canon Pixma MG5420

when printing front and back, the front will print well but the back will fade
ANSWER : It happens because second side voltage is much higher and the board breaks. Are you getting this issue in auto duplex only, or same error you are getting when you print second side manually?

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Canon Pixma MG5420

Black line on printed copy
ANSWER : Have absolutely no idea what kind of machine you have so here’s the generic answer. Big copy glass, little copy glass to the left of it. Take window cleaner, put it on paper towel, clean little glass.

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Canon Pixma MG5420

black cartridge not printing
ANSWER : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thrZtvAhKm0

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Canon Pixma MG5420