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.

[Printer_girl]

We were told by the Canon repair people that these printheads are no longer available.

[mediajammer]

Likely it is only temporary. I've been getting a lot of network errors that come and go. I think there is some sort of communication problem going on. It's a good thing they didn't put a Canon chipset on the Voyager - it is still working after 37 years in space. It currently takes 18 hour to communicate with the earth - a time still better than my current communication time between printer and computer. I fear I may have permantly lost communication with the craft, opps, printer. Come in MX700. ....

[videodude]

Printheads are still available, but don't waste your money.  It won't fix the problem.

[Aardvark]

Correct. I have read all of over 662 postings about this issue and not one person who has wasted money on a new printhead has managed to cure the problem error message. Save your money for a new printer, but no another Canon.

[videodude]

During a recent telephone call with Canon, I was told by a "knowledgeable" Canon tech rep that a new print head isn't the solution, and not the issue, and not to waste the time or money to try a replacement print head in order to clear the error code. When I further questioned him as to the nature of the error, namely the main board or firmware, he politely "clammed up" and wouldn't talk about it any more. Sounds like I got a little too close to the truth and the company line is NOT to talk about it. Bottom Line: they KNOW what the problem is and what has caused it; Canon doesn't want to admit to anything, probably for fear of liability. As of today, all Canon has done is offer me a "courtesy discount" that is about equal to what their products sell for on the street. Obviously, that isn't acceptable.

[Printer_girl]

It appears this is a built in obsolescence issue as the local "authorized" Canon repair guy said with in one week he had 5 calls on this error code with the same model of Canon (MX700).

[videodude]

I really don't think Canon designed it to fail, so I disagree with your "built-in obsolescence" theory. The reality is that "something" (either the mother board or the firmware) fails prematurely and Canon is unwilling to admit that it is a manufacturing flaw. I really don't think they planned for their printers to fail. That being said, they also aren't stepping up to the plate and dealing with a known problem. Only a small percentage of customers will complain about this; most will just throw their printers away and buy new ones. I'm not one of those. I expected a much longer life cycle than the one I received.

[ReverseEMF]

Yes, I'm with VideoDude.  The "Designed Obsolence" supposition has no basis in fact.  It's a possibility [and I agree with VideoDude that it is remote], but that's all it is.  I would caution everyone not to lapse into "mob mentality" and start screaming foul over something that is not proven.  It's enough to focus on Canon's lack of appropreate response to this issue.

"5 incidents in one week" could happen for more reasons than designed obsolence.  An unintended sytemic flaw, for instance, could produce the same result.

[Printer_girl]

An unintended systemic flaw is a real possibility, but it is interesting that it too 4 years to manifest.

[ReverseEMF]

Are you sure it was 4 years in every case?  If so, that lends more credence to it.  But, it's still possible for a unintended flaw to have a consistent timing.  Y2K, for instance.  Or lithium-ion batteries [which deteriorate even when not being used].  Or, that first batch of LED street lights we all watched fail at around the same time.