I got a B200 error as well. I had been scanning all morning, where the scanner was scanning fairly quickly. I was not printing on the unit, and I have not printed on the unit for weeks. After scanning to PC PDF disk file for about 100 pages (i.e., no printer involved), it then started scanning each page much more slowly. This seemed very odd so I decided to powercycle the unit (turn it OFF then ON) in hopes that it would reset its state and that scanning speed would resume to normal. When I powered it ON, I received the B200 error code. Once again, I was not even printing, and have not printed on the long in a long while.
I have tried various suggestions online but had zero luck. B200 keeps appearing and the unit is completely inoperable. I noticed each printing cartridge was empty (by looking at the clear side part). I was surprised by this since I thought some were partially full… I’m not sure, but maybe the ink can evaporate over time if not used.
In any event, I replaced each cartridge with a new one, but the B200 error remained. I then removed the printing head, and placed it back into the unit, but the B200 error persisted. I was going to order a new printer head, but it’s like $50 without shipping (~$100 w/shipping from one vendor) which is a huge chunk of money I can apply to a new printer. Regardless, the error message is generic, so I'm not 100% sure what the real cause is, so buying a new printer head would be based on a guess on my part, possibly an incorrect costly guess.
While I had been very favorable about Canon’s MX860 based on my usage while the unit was working, this behavior in handling an error condition seems like it can be improved so that it is more accommodating to the consumer for the following two reasons…
First, the B200 error is unclear, and does not surface any detail about the specific low-level reasons for the unit’s internal software taking the path of displaying the error and then making the unit completely inoperable thereafter. Imagine if your care displayed such an error code and disabled your vehicle because of an old filter. Perhaps this analogy is bad, but how I can know given the error code is ambiguous.
Second, the B200 error leads to the unit becoming completely inoperable, where it seems (I infer) that parts of the unit could still be left functioning. I'm forced to infer due to the first reason mentioned above, the generic error code offers me no info to understand whether making the unit completely inoperable is reasonable. I infer as I do here because there is much online info about B200 relating to the printing aspect of the unit going bad, not scanning to file, or faxing over the phone.
In the end I have a bricked MX860... completely inoperable.
