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.

[gifgaffer]

This procedure worked for me Step By Step Guide to Resolve “U052 This type of print head is incorrect.”

[mcaxley]

gifgaffer, happy the procedure worked for you. It did not for many, many other Canon printer owners.

[gifgaffer]

I am sorry thought it may help others.

[seniorelder]

If only... But the majority of us are stuck in the land of the terminally failed Canon printer with no responsible manufacturer in sight to help us... Glad it worked for you though!

[lnelson135]

Last night I received the dreaded message on my Mx700. This is awful. It was in the middle of an important print job. I am extremely surprised that Cannon have not addressed this issue. I have also cleaned the print head. I am going to try one more time and then purchase another brand(not Cannon).

[cchristiano2730]

Can anyone recommend a good replacement for the MX870.  Need a good 4 in 1 printer. 

[skicolorado]

My Canon PIXMA MX892 printhead just died, too. I was using genuine Canon ink cartridges. The printer failed without warning and the entire system was rendered completely useless. Since the printer was over a year old (barely), Canon would not help me after none of the posted “fixes” worked. They offered I could buy a new printhead for $90, including taxes and shipping. To add to their audacity, there are no guarantees a new print head would resolve the issue and part is not returnable. Bottom line is one more seemingly perfect printer headed for the scrap heap. This is really ridiculous because this is clearly a defect well known by Canon. A printhead must cost only one or two dollars to manufacture, at the most. A firmware fix (the more likely issue) should be effectively free. Instead, Canon ignores the issue and turns the almost new printer into junk. On top of that, I’m also stuck with my now worthless inventory of Canon 225/226 ink cartridges. What an unbelievable, lousy way to do business.

[seniorelder]

And so say all of us... Still no reply from Canon to my second email to so called support. I have just thought of a new slogan for them: If anyone can, Canon can't! Fed up and disillusioned in England!

[stuffed1printer]

Having moved on from my Canon MP610 which was great while it worked, I put it aside for a free HP printer. I held on to the Canon in the hope of a miracle cure but decided yesterday that it was not likely. However just to satisfy my curiousity I decided to dismember it to see what there was in the print head area. No finess in dismantling, just ripping off panels until I had the print head parts seperated. There were no electrical sensors or like in the ink pads but the print head carrier had a PC board with a lot of interesting components. I suspect that the "printhead error" code refers to the actual carrier and electronics that needs replacing, not the easy accessable printhead. Whatever Canon has designed into these printers is in the difficult to remove carrier and would be expensive to replace. So I kept the carrier etc and dumped the rest into the bin. I can post a photo of the dismembered carrier if someone can suggest a suitable host; ...Youtube?

[mcaxley]

you tube sounds good to me. let me know where you post it