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.

[dmerrill12]

Tried to print out my christmas cards on my MP560.  U052!  And now I can't do anything.  I admit I use the scanner more than the printer, but now I can't even use that.  I am very discouraged by the responce from Canon about this issue.

[wiredefx]

They are already junk. I no longer own anything canon. And not but 6 months ago, I was a firm believer in canon and they were my top choice. What I couldn't return, I sold, what wouldn't sell got trashed or used as target practice.

[wiredefx]

It is a firmware update that went wrong and is now unreversable.

[wiredefx]

Wow. Mods are busy today. Yep, don't let the truth out on what's wrong. You can delete posts from this forum, but not everywhere else.

[Jeanette]

 MG5240  Printer worked well at outset.  Has not had heavy duty use. Head clean and all steps taken.  Canon - please take the con out of canon. Have attempted all fixes to no avail.

[Jeanette]

I am now just another one in the long list of unhappy Canon customer  hit with the U502 error message on my PIXMA MG5240.  The printer has not had heavy duty usage and is well looked after.  All steps to repair followed.   A warning to anyone considering this product - it looks good, works well at the outset but will be rendered inoperable.  I expect this is by design and that as customers, we are victims of a massive con.  Would like to partake in class action lawsuit.

[alove5230]

After all the problems I have had with my Canon printer, I will never buy a Canon printer again. 

At work, we had an old Canon printer in storage that had stopped working. The boss said it "only" needed a new printhead. I said don't waste your money, just throw it away. The boss insisted, so I ordered a new printhead. Sure enough, the printer sitll didn't work. So we threw away the printer and the money we wasted on a brand new printhead that never printed anything.

I told the boss, Canon printers are so slow, it's hurting your business to use a Canon printer anyway. Unless you are running a graphics shop that needs the best possible print quality at any cost, you have no valid business reason to buy a Canon printer. And we never bought another Canon printer after that.

Now I am having new problems with using my same old Canon printer on a new desktop PC with Windows 8.1. The scanner dirver does not have half of the functionality the Windows 7 scanner driver had. The website can not even download a PDF file properly with the User Manual. When you click on the Download button, it downloads the website page instead of the PDF file.

It seems like things at Canon are getting worse. I will never buy a Canon printer again.

[12torkelsonj]

U052 Error persists on my Canon MG5320. I will not replace the printhead becase there are enough people who have failed to fix the same error by purcahsing a new printhead. I have gone through the resetting steps several times and it only successfully fixed the problem one time beyond that the U052 error has not gone away. Knowing that a new printer is $100 and I just bought Canon ink for $60 I cannot justifiy getting a new printhead for roughly $100. I think this situation puts customers in a new tough spot. I think a free repair is due and or equal replacement. What do we need to do to get the problem resolved. I need a printer now!

[imzardoz]

Yep.  Same here with an MP500 I have owned for a few years.  I primarily used the scanner and probably never printed more than a couple hundred pages with it.  Now I have a nice looking brick, since the scanner doesn't even work with this error.   None of the fixes here or anywhere online have worked.  Any suggestions on what kind of replacement to purchase? I don't print photos, so I just need an all-in-one that scans, prints nice and doesn't give weird "incorrect printhead" errors.

[DaveyD]

I have just discovered tha I have become yet another victim of the U052 error message. I thought that I was going mad as my MG5350 simply stopped mid print and after finally getting it to restatr I recieved the U052 message.

My research into my on screen manual did not reveal this message in their error message list. I thought this curious!

In the last 24 hours I have attempted every suggested fix method including powering off and disconceting and removing and re installing the cartridges and print head and removing and cleaning the ink tray pads as per a Utube video suggested on here but all to no avail.

I have owned many Cannon Printers over the years and there previously has only been one thing that annoyed me with any new printer purchase; having to get used to a new system to operate the new machine, which does annoy me!

That problem pales into insignificance to this U052 error disaster. Cannon; Never Again!!!!!!!