topic Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print in Office Printers

MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

david07666 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 21:36:55 GMT

My MF743Cdw suddenly stopped printing. The message at the bottom of the display says:

"Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and it just keeps saying this - it doesn't go away and it doesn't complete.

When I send something to the printer it shows up in the status queue on the remote UI as "Waiting" but never prints

The printer is a few months old and has printed almost 3,000 pages already.

I did put non-canon cartridges in it a few weeks ago but it's print printing just fine since then and the "Canon Genuine Mode" is Off.

I couldn't even shut it down by pressing the power button - I had to unplug it. But when I plugged it back in I was in the same situation.

Any thoughts?

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

shadowsports — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 15:04:47 GMT

Try reseating the toners. Ensure everything in the toner carrier is properly aligned, seated, etc.

The process can take time and, cannot complete if print jobs are pending.

Hard to say if its your 3rd party toners. They might be the problem. It doesn't matter that "they have been working". This is a cumulative issue that can result from a accumulation of toner on the fixing assembly.

Here is everything I could find:

Cleaning the Fixing Assembly - Canon - imageCLASS MF746Cdw / MF745Cdw / MF743Cdw / MF741Cdw / MF644Cdw / MF642Cdw / MF641Cw - User's Guide (manual.canon)

<Maintenance> - Canon - imageCLASS MF746Cdw / MF745Cdw / MF743Cdw / MF741Cdw / MF644Cdw / MF642Cdw / MF641Cw - User's Guide (manual.canon)

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

david07666 — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:16:03 GMT

Hi Rick,

I tried reseating all four cartriges but that did not work. I do have my original Canon cartriges that came with the printer and all but Yellow still have toner in them. I'll try replacing with those and see what happens.

David

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

david07666 — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 18:55:56 GMT

Well, the problem has corrected itself and I don't know why, though I have an idea. I tried reseating the cartriges and that did not help. I never did get to putting my old, original Canon cartriges in.

However, in addition to getting the message about trying to auto clean the fixing assembly, I did also notice that there was that related messager about making sure I had the correct paper loaded. Of couse I had it loaded - but I realized that I might have actually overloaded it. So on my last try to fix it, I both reseated the cartriges again - but this time while the machine was on (when I did it before the machine was off when I reseated them) and I took out a bunch of paper. And it worked! So I don't know which of my two actions fixed it, nor even if either of them really fixed it.

I also did a successful deep clean of the fixing assembly, the one that prints out the really dark chevron instead of the light chevron.

I did turn off auto-clean, by the way.,

If I get any more info I'll post it here

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

Hector — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:15:51 GMT

Hello david07666,

Third party toner cartridges can cause problems with print quality and performing maintenance functions. If you are having problems cleaning the fixing assembly when you have third party toner loaded, you can try removing the toner and turning the printer off and on. Once the printer is back on you can reload the toner. I would suggest leaving the leaving the auto clean option off until you have a genuine Canon toner cartridge. You can start the cleaning of the fixing assembly whenever you notice any toner smudges on the paper. Third party toner cartridges can also cause issues with print quality and are unable to perform print quality adjustments.

Did this answer your question? Please click the Accept as Solution button so that others may find the answer as well.

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

david07666 — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:46:23 GMT

Hi Hector,

Thanks for your input. FYI, I ended up turning the auto clean back on.

In the end I don't think it was a problem with the toners, I think it was that issue where I'd overloaded the paper cartridge and the printer was spuriously telling me there was a problem with the paper that I'd loaded (see my previous post in this thread, the one where I said it auto-corrected).

I will do everything possible to avoid Canon cartriges, a full set of which costs ~$700 for the high yield, versus ~$100 for 3rd party. I understand that Canon and all printer manufactureres work on the razor blade theory of marketing (give away the razor, make your money on the blades) but Canon (and everyone else, HP, Brother, etc.) really charges an awful LOT for cartriges. So far these cartriges are working fine so unless my problem recurs or I start having another problem, I'm sticking with this plan

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

david07666 — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 02:07:44 GMT

I have some other info to add. It happened to me again but it had nothing to do with the paper, as I thought in my last post. I don't know what caused it - but here's what I did to fix it this time.

1. I tried to do a b&w copy from the machine's UI and it hung
2. Then Cancelled the copy
3. When I cancelled it completed the auto clean!
4. It was OK from that point.

I did turn off the option to Autoclean the Fixing Assembly as one of you suggested earlier. I'm convinced, now.

MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

TMP1 — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 17:31:29 GMT

I have tried all the prior solutions. I replaced the starter cartridges with new ones, reloaded the paper, and restarted the machine. How can I turn off the Auto Clean Fixing Assembly option, so it doesn't do this automatically? Also, is there a way to stop the warnings for non Canon cartridges everytime it starts?

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

david07666 — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 22:34:32 GMT

There is no way to stop the warnings about non-Canon toner.

To turn off auto clean:

<Menu>
<Adjustment/Maintenance>
<Adjust Image Quality>
<Special Processing>
<AutoClean Fixing Assembly> NOTE: you might have to scroll up to find this
<Off>

and then I think it asks you to save and you select <Yes>

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

HarveyL — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 21:04:05 GMT

I have the same problem as noted above. It is a serious problem that Canon appears to intentionally sabatoge the use of 3rd party cartriges. Maybe Canpn should more reasonbly price their cartriges. Be that as it may, How do you turn off the auto clean fixing assembly" function. Thank you.

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

HarveyL — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 21:18:47 GMT

Thank you. After turning off Auto Clean Fixing Assemby I was able to print a test page. Harvey

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

elkdubes — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 20:03:04 GMT

Same issue with an MFP743 ... none of the solutions presented has worked so far...

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

anoriega — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 18:37:30 GMT

Thank you! this worked for me on a MF741C dw

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

sven_the_huge — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 16:34:51 GMT

David,

Thank you for posting this. I tried everything you had tried prior to seeing this post. This worked immediately. It is screaming of a SW bug in the system. However, now I am good and able to use the printer completely.

Scott

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

mikearoni — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 17:51:26 GMT

Thank you!!! This worked for me after trying everything else for hours, this simple fix worked within seconds. I signed up just to give your answer a thumbs up to push it up the list to hopefully help others with the same issue.

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

dmitri — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 22:49:25 GMT

This worked! Thank you!

And thank you to Canon for establishing and maintaining community website - since user manuals are useless.

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

kimchee411 — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 23:23:20 GMT

Copy and cancel worked for me too. Brilliant workaround!

Re: MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

JWMN — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 04:22:29 GMT

To force the printer to power down, hold the power button down for about 10 seconds and it will exit and shut down.