Canon Pixma MX340 printer. How to clear Error 5200?

[PaulR]

I have a Canon Pixma MX340 multi-function printer. How do I clear Error 5200? The message said to turn the printer off and then on, and if that did not clear the error to consult the user's manual. On/off did not clear the error, and the online user's manual does not have Error 5200.

[robebcan]

THANK YOU cx2browns. Your method fixed mine too, on the first attempt. I guess this reset procedure is too "cerebral" to put in the owner's guide ?????

I threw out my previous Canon printer for the same message, if I remember correctly. I couldn't find an answer from anyone, and I think it was the dreaded Error 5200 also.

[Jar12]

Thanks, cx2browns

I had used this fix earlier as well and your msg helped to remember it. It re-started the printer without error, but now:

1. The cartridges are horribly misaligned and will not get properly aligned, even after several attempts. Have changed to brand new cartridges, but still the printed pattern is not OK, and text / tables are misaligned when printed.

2. During alignment, I get Error 5100 and printing of alignment pattern stops.

3. Also, an old problem has re-surfaced: the printer randomly prints a fax transmission report when the printer is on and idle.

Can anyone help please?

UPDATED INFO

Good news, guys. Managed to resolve the 5100 error 🙂 . Saw from another forum that this was related to homing of the cartridges. Just needed cleaning of the transparant guide tape long which the cartridge moves - it had ink on it . The ink probably got onto it when I was trying to clean the sponge earlier. 

Now, the cartridges could be aligned and all is fine. None of the error messages have reappeared so far.

Once again, thanks Cx2browns - your initial solution did work for Error 5200. And now I have learnt to fix 5100 as well. Hope this helps somebody.

[Nikolai]

I followed your steps and it worked up to a point.  I got the printer to go through the print cycle but the paper was blank when it came out.  I don't think I am out of ink.  Any ideas?

[Ms_Mel]

I believe my printer does the same thing ("print" a blank sheet of paper) after going through the process. However, you should be able to print after you have gone through the process. Have you been able to print anything? 

[Nikolai]

No, it keeps printing a blank sheet of paper. Ug!

[KDS4444]

Hey, this is all great!  But what NONE of it does is tell me HOW this "error" came up in the first place or HOW to prevent it from happening again or WHAT the printer is doing to itself when I tell it to ignore the error.  Providing solutions in the form of complex keystroke/ button combinations and power-off/ power on routines is all well and good, but if it is like fixing a nuclear leak by putting duct tape over the hole, then it is doing more harm than good.  I get the impression from other web sites that this error, 5200, has to do with ink levels.  Great.  I know that Canon purports to have ink level "sensors" built into its Pixma printers, but I have also learned that all these sensors are is an algorythm that estimates the likely amount of ink based on how much use a cartridge has had, and that if you refill a cartridge with fresh ink (as I have done) the algorythm cannot take this into account and so the printer eventually tells you that there is no ink left when there is a full reservoir of it. Worse, from what I can tell, overriding an error like the 5200 error MAY even tell the printer that hey, so, there's no black left, probably, but go ahead and use up the COLOR ink to make up for it!  So even though you may have a black ink cartridge full of black ink, the printer may start sucking out the color ink anyway because it THINKS there is no black ink left...  Until finally there is no COLOR ink left, which is much more difficult and expensive to replace/ refill.

So what are the consequences of overriding a 5200 error??  We still do not know.  I know my black ink cartridge is full of fresh ink because I added the ink to the cartridge myself, but I do not know the actual status of my color ink cartridge... and I really, really don't want to just override the error and then end up with no color ink in a few days.

Bottom line: it isn't a "solution" if it just makes an error "go away."  A solution has to address the cause of the problem, which this thread does not do.

[porky305]

you are right in theory, but it cleard the error, and  it  never happened again.

In my recollection it happend right after a paper jam and then I  unplugged it.

you would think Cannon would chime in and answer  your question;what caused it?

[austrapazzi]

thank you cx2browns! It works now! thank you so much!

[KDS4444]

And another blindman walks straight down the cliff...

[austrapazzi]

better to be a blindman with a working printer than someone else with time to lose ....