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.

[RobertInFrance]

ann_betten: If you send a print job to the printer as soon as you switch it on, before it has a chance to do its head-cleaning routine, it will do this one job before failing again. With my printer, the failure eventually went away after a couple of months without me doing anything to it. But you could try wiggling the ribboon cable to the printhead, as in post number 1383.

[muraum]

One more for you.
My MX922 just became 2 years old and I can no longer use it due to error 1403 WRONG PRINTER HEAD.
I have unsuccessfully. gone trrough the ordeal of trying every recommendation to try to clear that error.
It is certainly a softwere issue as there is no reason for it to just give that error out of the blue.
As CANON offers no solution to this I hope there is indeed a law suit.

[Gijsbos]

i didn't read the whole thread.

I can only tell what worked for me for a MG7550.

I got the printhead error. Took out the cartridges and put them back in. Nothing changed.

I then moved the printhead/cartridges by hand to the center of the printer. I restarted the printer. It made terrible noises and I thought I had broken it. It kept making a rather deep grumbling noise and the motor kept running.

However, after restarting the printer and fiddling a bit, it now prints again as new.

Use this tip at your risk!

[Paulinejamieson]

What is going on with this "wrong printhead message".  Called Canon for help and all they told me to do was remove and replace the printhead and maybe that would solve the problem.  If not call the Canon upgrade program and they would give me a good price on a new printer.  Well isn't that nice?!  From what I am reading this is a problem with several printers that they manufacture.  Why has there been no recall on these printers?  They have known for a long time that there is a problem!  Another solution I was given today was to clean the printhead.  That didn't work either!  Is this another case of a big corporation knowing there is a potential problem and they are doing nothing about it?!  What now? I have the Pixma MG7520 and it would appear that I am not alone in my frustrations!

[PartTiclar]

Old Pixma MP500. Great printing, great features. Sudden error: wrong printhead installed. Cleaning did not help. Burnishing contacts did not help. Bought and installed a brand new printhead. Result: a different error message-  printhead not installed. Futzed with the white ribbon cable, nothing changed.

From reading the forum, it's obvious that Canon has not contributed a solution. Even if they did not know what's causing this (which seems -extremely- unlikely), it's hard to understand why they wouldn't chip in a few bucks to find out.

To me, this seems a likely example of typical corporate misbehavior. That kind of thing can generally be changed only if the company's reputation is directly affected by the issue.

[muraum]

I had the same issue with my MX922 and contacted CANON's support.
They were very understanding and offered me a free replacement head which arrived in a few days.
I replaced the head and nothing happened. The error still could not be cleared.
The printer is now sitting on the floor waiting to be dumped as electronic waste. I actually feel like hammering it 
I already purchased a new one, same model once I had an inventory of cartridges to be used, with a 4 yr extended warranty as I do not trust it will last that long.

[KAPPI73]

well what about it CANNON, PICTURE IT ON THIS STUPID 1405 PRINTER HEAD CODE, TELL US ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT NOW

[daddyzod]

won't go away on my mp600

[rwcmom1103]

Whelp,.....add me to the list of frustrated, disapointed and angry customers who have spent hours (and dollars!) attempting to resolve an issue that Canon clearly refuses to acknowlege.  My printer is barely 3 years old and minimally used.  I bought my printer from Canon because I naively believed it was solidly built and the company, cared about customer empathy and would stand behind it's products.

More than this obvious betrayal though is the disregard for the earth's resources as all of us dump these useless printers in the ewaste bins only to go out and purchase new printers (of course not from Canon).   

"At the heart of Canon's commitment to the world community is the belief that we are building a better world for future generations."   - Joe Adachi, Chairman and CEO, Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Really Joe ?  How are disposable printers helping the next generation?

[philbydevil]

So the strange solution that has worked for me several times on my MG6150 with this print head error is:

1. Turn on printer.

2. Open cover straight away so you can see the print head and catridges moving.

3. Let it move all the way to the left until just before it dissapears.

4. Close the cover.

5. Problem fixed.

I've probably fixed this error 3 or 4 times like this.

Good luck.