MG7520 Error B203

katana
Apprentice

Called Canon Support and they say it's unrepairable but past 1 year so unreplaceable too.  Tried everything including dismantling the printhead assembly to manually clean.  Barely used the printer, 1 or 2 prints a month.  

 

Anyone have recommendation on non-Canon I can buy to replace for around the same price range?

65 REPLIES 65

Glacknor
Apprentice

So, Having the ol' B203 on my MG7520 tonight!

The off-open-on-close thing did nothing for me.

 

Here's how I fixed it (hopefully for good) on Windows 10 Pro-

1. Go to Setting-Devices-Printers

2. There should only be ONE for the printer in question... somehow there were 3 on mine!

3. Clear all queues, even if empty, clear them -

      click on your printer(s), Open Queue, click Printer, then Cancel All Documents

4. Remove any printer that has something added to the name, mine had a "WS" and "(2)" at the ends.

      click on the printer, then Remove (you can also just remove them all and re-add yours)

5. Click Manage on the remaining printer and either print a test page, or go the printers setting page and print, well,

     anything.. a nozzle check pattern is a good idea!

 

If you have only one printer in Devices, try clearing it's queue, removing it and re-adding it. Then do you test page.

 

After I did all that I went back to Photoshop, had to re-select the printer from the options, and it worked! Printed without error codes!

 

However, the color cartridges needed cleaning. I have "Deep Cleaned" twice now, getting better.

This is basic printer maintenance stuff though, especially when you don't use it enough.

Worth a mention, while troubleshooting, I noticed my cyan cart was totally empty, but the printer said it was full. Also, I got some free, but open geniuine Canon cartridges off CL, and have been using aftermarket carts too. This all could have contributed to the issue, at least the filthy print heads. Aftermarket usually are not a problem, but that Cyan mentioned above was reading wrong was aftermarket and it went out of the box, so...

 

Just now finished printing, and it came out great. I ended up replacing a couple cartridges and deep cleaning a couple times, with an alignment too. It seemed to take longer than usual to start printing, but I've noticed it doing that since "upgrading to Windows 10", not sure why that is.

 

So, it seems the trouble codes are gone and the problem was fixed.

Likely the multiple entries in Windows causing the B203, and the rarely used,

    likely dried carts causing the crappy print quality affter fixing error code.

Steven_C
Apprentice

Error B203 is a software issue and there is a fix. Open the front cover AFTER switching the printer on and wait for the cartridges to move from right to left, then switch the printer off. This will initiate a self-check. Breathe a sigh of relief, as I did after 4 or 5 minutes, the all-clear. Thank you to whoever worked it out. Canon too.

(Pixma MG7550)

So, my "fix" only lasted a day or two. All other attempts, including various off/open/on/close sequences were all temporary fixes. When the code came up while trying to print taxes, I'd had enough of the BS. Went to Best Buy and got an Epson. There's an amount off (based on what you're buying) when you get an Epson and trade in an old printer, working or not, and any company. Not sure if that's a limited deal or not.

MN6902 - I got an Epson ET-4760, it uses ink bottles rather than cartridges (Canon does have a similar model), they claim this method uses WAY less ink, I haven't printed enough to make an assessment yet, but it does make sense. Prints good and the software is good. It's an all-in-one. There are cheaper versions, this is the highest priced one. You won't get better print quality than the Canon, period, Canon is just better in terms of color and ink. It's too bad they can't get their s**t together in the CS realm. This ET-4760 is pretty good though, and great for average day-to-day use. The few photos I've printed on glossy came out great too, probably as good as Canon for the content. Only issue I have (so far, still kinda new) is the wi-fi is unreliable, so I connected through USB.

 

BTW, new scanners suck! ALL of them. They use LEDS, they scan perfectly flat items amazingly well, but the tiniest micro-millimeter off the glass and it's blurry! It's the new tech, all companies. This has been the case for a few years now, the MG series is the same crappy LEDs. Glad my old scanner still works!

Not surprised.  Same issue as many of us on this forum experiencing this issue. I have two words that describe this,  “Disposable Printer”.  Especially at this price point.  Plan on replacing it every 2-3 years.  

 

 I only wish that since Canon is manufacturing and selling Disposable Printers, they would initiate some type of recycling program so that we don’t fill up our landfills with these things.  My local BB store won’t take them if I don’t by a new one from them. Since Canon offers an easy replacement program with a slight discount on a new model shipped directly to you, the only catch is, you still have a broken unit to dispose of. 

Roger2902
Contributor

 have bought Canon printers for a number of years, mainly to have the ability to print on Printable DVDs as a means of archiving.

 

An earlier Canon printer just stopped with a Print Head Error Message. I tried to clean the head and wasted a lot of time on it. Eventually I came across the USA Canon Customer Forum and found there were hundreds like me, however the americans took out a CLASS ACTION and WON. They were awarded damages of either a refund or replacement. We in the UK should be able to do the same because Canon, like Apple updates that slow their phones down, seems to have a series of apparently "in-built" unfixable errors. This was not the first Canon to suffer a similar fate, but I persisted to be able to continue archiving.

 

My current MG7550 printer has now died with B203 fault. It had already died with a print head fault that produced text characters with double vertical strokes which could not be aligned again. Strange because if I chose to print black text only it functioned OK indicating the print method was different for black only using the separate cartridge. Interestingly it printed images and DVDs perfectly. So I kept it for limited usage, while buying an office type Brother printer for everyday usage.

 

So, with yet another fault I will sent Canon to the prinnter farm in the sky and NEVER buy another again.

I strongly recommend others do the same. Dated 12/04/2020

Don't waste time trying to fix them and certainly don't send for repair. Check this forum to see just how many failed attempts there are.

 

"turn off machine, Open the printer like you will be inserting ink cartridges, turn on printer, when the cartridge/printhead unit starts to move, close the printer. When I did it it did a self check for 3 to 4 minutes and when it was done it was ready to print."

 

This advice totally worked for me. I had no idea what "did a self check for 3 to 4 minutes" meant, I just left the printer open for that long. It seems to be working fine now. Hopefully the fix will last.

 

 

frenzel
Apprentice
It worked for me for about 6 months. Then it didn’t any more. Now I have a new printer

Good for you. No more Canon printers for me. I keep getting this stupid error and fix it and then it comes back and I have to keep fixing it. It's gotten to be a pain to print and I don't print now unless I really need to.

Thanks for the reply, diddlydude. The fix only lasting for a short while seems to be a recurring comment, so I'll start shopping now for a different brand of printer.

MartinTazreiter
Apprentice

For me, a firmware update did help, which can be chosen directly on the printer under settings. It just needs a wifi connection. The error came back once since the firmware update, but after restarting I was able to print again.

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