Call to Arms for the dreaded U052 Wrong Printhead Error

[macnicol]

This is a "call to arms" for all of you Canon customers who have had this problem and have had their printers disabled because of it.  Please respond with the model of your printer and if you were able to fix it, what you did to fix it. 

We need to put pressure on Canon to respond this product defect.  It appears to be bad firmware that does not allow the user to override the problem and to continue to use the printer even in a degraded mode.  From my investigations the problem is NOT a printhead issue - no way one can be printing fine and then have this error alert without having changed the printhead or ink cartridges!

Canon, PLEASE take this issue seriously and provide a solution across the affected models.  If nothing else there should be a trade-in allowance for those printers that have been affected by this product defect.

I have had many Canon printers because they have superior functional specifications. I want to be able to continue using Canon products but only if I can have confidence that this product defect will not destroy my investment.

If Canon is unresponsive our next step should be to aggressively publisize this product defect on social media and on major product vendor outlet sites as negatives reviews.

Forum Users, please reply with your affected model number(s) and with details of any succdessful fix procedure.

[realfoneguy]

Yes, your printer just out of warranty from the year they provide may have been sitting on a shelf for two years. Would it be so bad to spend a lousy $30 to find out that the head is defective. They really don't have to do anything even by law. You have contacted them and they have proven they will not. If $30.00 would do the trick and fix the issue, is that not better than spending $200 for a printer of equal value?  This is a throwaway society. It is time we take a few minutes and purchase worn or defective parts and fix what we have rather than give more dollars to china and other overseas manufactures. Think of all the goods that have been tossed just because it is easier to buy a new one rather than to take a screwdriver to thaones we have. If it turns out that my printer is defective I guess it will have to be OK then, but I work in a field that repairs broken equipment by using defective gear with parts that are good. It's not that hard to figure things out if one tries. if it's a basket case, so be it. I don't know of any printers made in the USA at the price we pay. So one either tosses the unit or finds a way to fix it.

[puppylove]

Well, just wrote a whole reply and guess what - deleted.  Funny...it was just about fixing stuff yourself vs. getting a good deal on a new unit and having 2 yr warranty on your Amex or CC.

Sigh. Off to wash my mouth out lol!

[mathman54481]

Where do you keep entering this information. In this thread?

Rick

[realfoneguy]

Is that 2yr warranty, it will come to an end and after 2 years and 2 months the printer dies. You are in the same boat and out the cost of both printers and have none now. Great solution.

[puppylove]

I replace them before the 2 years is up, selling the old one and using that $ for the new.  (This was an exception as it didn't have the 2nd y plus I had a death in the familiy and everyting else took a back seat.)  I'd rather put that $ into the new one and start with something current/more features/2 year coverage, than into something old/already having problems/zero coverage going forward.

Of course, that is just my situation. For others it would make sense to do the opposite.

[ReverseEMF]

"If $30.00 would do the trick and fix the issue, is that not better than spending $200 for a printer of equal value?"

If you peruse the commments on this thread you will see that many have tried that and failed [thus their solution will likely cost $230 -- to use your accounting].  The whole point of the outrage on this thread is that none, have yet arrived at a solution or satisfaction from Canon.

"Think of all the goods that have been tossed just because it is easier to buy a new one rather than to take a screwdriver to thaones we have. "

Again, contained within this thread are numerous testaments to the desire and attempt to resolve this problem--so far to no avail.

"I work in a field that repairs broken equipment by using defective gear with parts that are good. It's not that hard to figure things out if one tries."

It sounds to me that you haven't experienced this particular problem.  But, if you ever do run accross it, and find a solution, then I [and I'm sure we] would love to hear about it.

[Yule]

All the stocked up ink cartridges for this printer become useless too. Who's bearing the cost???

[thezillionthsue]

Don't know who's bearing the cost, but Canon are certainly making some money out of it, if they're genuine Canon cartridges .....

[Aardvark]

"Has anybody had any joy with getting an answer from Canon about all these people with the same issue?? I think it's disgraceful." This thread has been going now for over 14 months and there has been no reliable cure, either from enterprising technically minded posters or Canon themselves. I think we can all draw our own conclusions about Canon's attitude to their customers. This attitude has driven loyal Canon customers away to buy from other manufacturers.

[penmagic]

I have a Canon MG 5320 printer.  My printhead was not printing blue anymore, no matter what I tried.  I called the canon tech and they suggested a new print head.  I need the backloading printer for my card company (which Canon stopped making) so I bought a new print head for $104.00 total cost.  Just got it  in the mail, installed it and got the U052 message. I went through the whole procedure of reseating it about 4 times with no luck.

  To see if this was a printer error or printhead error, I took out all the ink cartridges and installed my old MG5320 printhead that I had just taken out.  NO error message with this one.  Put the new printhead back in and again the error message.  Canon parts is closed now so I can't call until tomorrow and don't know if I can return it, but since I was told they were non returnable I am doubtful. I have just bought a head cleaning kit and hope it will clean the old one as from what I see on this forum the new one is unusable. 

  To be clear, this problem is being caused by the newly purchased printhead and cured when I put in my old printhead. So fair warning for those considering purchasing a new printhead.