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.

[JohnWPB]

"My only point here is that positive action is better than simply moaning."

I took "positive action" before ever posting here.  After the terrible customer service from Canon, (if you can even call it that) I purchased a new Epson printer.  The follow up has been to never purchase another Canon product in the future, and to do my best to let others know before every purchasing anything from Canon.

You see, I am a self employed computer tech.  I do word of mouth computer repair / upgrades. I have seen this problem with 3 other customers, besides myself.  This is out of just a couple hundred people.  I now try to steer people away from Canon when making a printer decision.  I just tell them to Google U052 and let the search results do the rest.

[shaval123]

In almost all cases a new printhead will NOT fix this issue so spending additional money for a non-working "fix" to this issue is a waste of time and money since the problem is not the printhead to begin with. There is no fix that has been found once this error code comes up.

[BernardinOhio]

MG6320 here.  "Support Code 1403 The type of print head is incorrect.  Install the correct print head."  So it's not U052, but the effect is exactly the same.  I was printing perfectly and now I'm dead in the water.  Didn't change print head or cartridges Your suggestions to turn off, unplug, reseat, and turn it all on again are a big waste of time.  I've had maybe 4,5 Canon printers over the last 15 years.  Never had any other brand of printer.  Please don't make a mockery of product loyalty.

CANON:  ARE YOU LISTENING ???  Are you familiar with YouTube?  You have all our email addresses.  Fix it.

[thezillionthsue]

They have had plenty of opportunity to fix it, and they haven't.

Let's face it, they won't.

All we can do is publicise this as widely as possible via Facebook etc so that people know not to buy Canon products.

[BernardinOhio]

Last night I spoke for almost an hour with “Greg,” a supervisor in tech support. My MG6320 and its Support Code 1403, “Incorrect print head,” is not covered by any lawsuit. I really can't expect it to be because, almost certainly, the code was the result of damage resulting from my use of nonOEM ink.

Greg explained that a specific viscosity is critical to smooth operation of the printer over the long term. If the ink is too thin, it streaks. If it's too thick, the heat generated when it's forced through the nozzles will eventually fry the print head. So in my case, Code 1403 is most likely not part of a scheme by Canon to make the printer fail shortly after the warranty period is over. My MG6320 has churned out about 250 8 ½ x 11 (gorgeous) color photos, plus a lot of documents, since I bought it a little over two years ago. It's disappointing but not shocking that the ink I used doesn't match Canon's viscosity perfectly. Canon cannot fairly be blamed for that, or for the failure of the print head, especially in view of the fact that we're reminded at every turn that using nonOEM ink is risky.

Looking back, it's the text of the code that threw me off. “Wrong print head”? Ridiculous. It was the same print head that came with the printer. But I could hardly expect the message to say, “Your use of nonOEM ink has finally caught up with you. The ink is too thick. It caused friction that heated the print head to the point of frying.”

That whole explanation came out of my talk with Greg – which did not include any veiled scolding or bad attitude for having used nonOEM ink. He really restored my faith in Canon. Now my job is to find a better grade of cheap ink.

[drebs]

Thanks for your extensive research. you are the first person that makes sense from explaining on a technical level. As an engineer myself , I am still puzzled why canon did not say this themselves. nor they could have updated the program to change the print error code. Can you investigate futher on why this was not done by canon

[janet1]

While this sounds plausible, it does not explain why my Canon printer failed due to this "wrong printhead" error. I used only Canon ink -- and still had the problem last year. By now my Canon printer is in an electonics graveyard somewhere, and I'm using an HP instead. Alas! I really loved my Canon printer but gave up on Canon after that failure.

[Joel_P]

If that was the case then why does replacing the print head not fix the issue?

[petethepen]

It fixed the issue for me.  However, if Canon is manufacturing products which can only operate withtheir specific viscosity ink, I think they would be liable for prosecution under anti-competition laws.

[BernardinOhio]

Hello, drebs:

Thanks for your kind comments, but I really don't deserve them. I just made the call. Greg did the work. I, too, wondered why “the type of print head is incorrect” error message hasn't been replaced by something that more closely describes what's happening. I didn't ask Greg that specific question because I felt  the answer was implicit in his explanation.

The implicit answer is that the codes arre written from the perspective of addressing a user who is using the printer as advised by Canon: Use Canon inks. Other inks may, eventually, get you into trouble.

The effect of the overheating from ink that's too thick is not necessarily uniform across all the nozzles. Some will work, some won't. Canon doesn't want to wrongly accuse the user of using nonOEM ink, so they just say that it looks like there's some kind of print head in there, but we don't know which one for sure, or even whether it's the correct head but incapacitated.  All we know is for sure is that it's wrong for this printer.

Of course, that's just my personal interpretation of what Greg said. It floats my boat, so I'm setting sail with it.  Anyway, I feel a lot better now about the whole situation. .