Pixma MX490 Keeps Cycling

[elstx61]

Canon Pixma MX490 powers on and goes through initialization, then powers back off.  Keeps repeating the process as long as it's plugged in.  Buttons are non-responsive.

[ladyinred]

I was wondering if this problem is localized?  Nation-wide?  World-wide?  is it only users of certain internet providers that have the problem?  I am in Georgia and have Comcast as my internet provider. 

[NE95]

I also have Comcast but I am located in Connecticut.

[RickCNC]

I'm in Georgia and T-Mobile is my internet provider. Came home from work yesterday and the power at my house had gone off briefly, oven clock blinking, so I turned on my PC tower, booted up, and was reading some news and my MX-492 starts cycling on and off like everyone else has described. I thought someone had hacked my home wi-fi network and was trying to print something. Quick internet search brought me to the reddit thread and then to the 2 threads in this community.

[Anonymous]

I also have Comcast, located in Florida

[wildhorse27]

I am in Wyoming and use Union Wireless.

[ZetaPirate]

Medicom in Missouri, US here.

[Cactusrose]

I'm in Canada with a MX492

[Anonymous]

Started having same issue with my MX490 yesterday around 3pm: Printer won't stop cycling on and off even after unplugging and replugging.

This morning, I tried the workaround of turning off my modem & router before replugging the printer back on. It worked.

I have yet to try one person's suggestion to reconfigure DNS setting, but just seems frustrating that we even have to do this. My printer was working just fine and then all of a sudden it's not because it's connected to the wifi??? 😐

[Tonylmiller]

I am in Alabama on Google Fiber.  I do not think they changed anything on everyone's printer.  I think they changed something on their server, so that when the printer pings the server, something goes wrong.  So they should be able to easily fix this.  If the printer cannot ping the server (if it does not have internet), the printer works fine.

[CanonSellsJunk]

MX490 Here. Have had it for years with no issues. Now endless cycling. Disconnected Internet. Powered up, no repeated cycling. Still can't print though. Seems to be stuck in copy mode. Tried different cables and USB ports to no avail. Removed it from my WiFi network, reconnected my modem/router, and am hesitant to hook it back up. Called customer support. Scheduled call back since wait time was 40min to 1 hour. They finally called back 1:15 later. Got transferred twice immediately. Finally got an actual representative on the phone, extremely friendly and helpful. Was on phone with rep for about 40 minutes. Long story short: I don't care to have the WiFi network hooked to printer, a USB cable works fine for me. She agreed this is the most foolproof option to use, may be slightly less convenient but much more reliable. So disconnect your internet. Reboot printer (It will turn on fine with router/modem unplugged). Go to LAN settings and remove it from your WiFi network. Turn printer off. Reconnect router/modem. Unplug printer from computer. Go to Canon site,(https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/details/printers/support-inkjet-printer/mx...) find your printer model, go down to Drivers and Downloads. Choose Option Software: MX490 series MP Drivers Ver. 1.02 (Windows). Select it and download it. Go through installation process. When it asks for how you want to connect to computer you can choose LAN or USB Cable. I chose cable. Finished process. Restart computer. Plug in printer. Printed 2 test pages from Notepad and Printer Itself, working good. I am curious if reinstalling the driver and choosing LAN would help solve this issue but I was already 2 hours into fighting with this and figured I'd go with the guaranteed route.

TLDR: Internet off. Remove printer from WiFi Network. Unplug printer. Install Driver Software. Choose USB Connection. Reboot computer after install finishes. Plug in printer and use.

Good luck, hope this helps, I know it is not ideal or perfect but it saved me from buying a new printer. Also, I saw on Canon site somewhere they say they charge $19.99 for over the phone technical support if you've had the product over 1 year, but the representative never mentioned it so I did not ask about it.