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.

[Momodee]

How did you get them to replace your printer?

[yami]

How did you make them exchange yours for free?

I got mine as a gift then literally no proof of purchase.

[mascapollo]

Talking about the printer that is not affected because it is not connected to the internet. When my MG5320 gave the U052 error I reverted to my nine years old Pixma IP3000 printer that was working fine. I was using the printer with my XP drivers. When I migrated to Windows 7, the operating system installed a new driver from windows update, then I innocently dowloaded an "on top of" driver from Canon  (canon web site says it installs on top of the windows update driver) and sudenlly my Pixma IP3000 printer stoped to print black, just prints on color. I tried to clean many times the printer head just to find that when cleaning it wastes black ink, but it prints nothing, not even a faded black. I think that driver I downloaded from Canon "programmed" the printer in some way to do that so I've been "forced" to go to a new printer.

I don't know why they do such horrible thing to us, loyalty fans. I have no printer and no scanner. I don't live in USA so it is very difficult to purchase a printer and return it if it is bad. So i have to carefully study what next printer should I choose. I've never did that with Canon. It always worked fine. They really don't care what a waste of resources they've caused. One hundred dollars is an annual salary in many countries. I prefer to give $100 to a charitable cause that to buy another Canon printer.

[Billcran01]

My Pixma 610 died earlier this year, but now that I think about it, the problem occurred immediately after I downloaded an updated driver.  Not sure why I did it, just trying to make sure I was up to date.  I managed to get it going a bit longer after I thoroughly cleaned the print head, but it lasted only a few days more and them became a doorstop when the U052 error message wouldn't go away.  The last time I'll do an update without prompting or a problem occurs.

[ReverseEMF]

This is probably a coincidence.  I didn't update the firmware [at least not knowingly] on my MP530 and it succumbed.  Though, perhaps the firmware that it came with, was newer than the firmware in your Pixma 610 before you updated.  If so, then it's possible this is a problem introduced in a "recent" firmware update, and perhaps a "fix' [or workaround] is to load the printer with an earlier version of the firmware.  If one of you who are monitoring this thread, manage to test this, please let us all know. 😉

[Aardvark]

When my MP560 displayed the error there was no way to do anything further, including trying to change, remove, or update drivers or anything. Game over. A shame Canon deleted the photo of my printer with the sledgehammer in the middle.

[ReverseEMF]

"A shame Canon deleted the photo of my printer with the sledgehammer in the middle."

Would have liked to see that 😉

[johnwsmith]

I have an MP560 and just received the dreaded U052 error.  Does anbody have a resolution.

[wiredefx]

I guess someone got their post deleted. Got an email that someone posted in here and the link said I don't have sufficient privileges.... And no new post when I got here. lol.
I loved canon printers ever since Ive owned my first computer, it just burns me to no end that canon is screwing us. My first canon printer was a BJC-200 (or something like that). It was quickly upgraded.

[yami]

I wish I knew why Canon shoot himself in toes!

It really did not worth...

They could simply recall affected heads and everybody would be happy.