MF743Cdw stuck on Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and will not print

[david07666]

My MF743Cdw suddenly stopped printing.  The message at the bottom of the display says:

"Performing auto clean fixing assembly" and it just keeps saying this - it doesn't go away and it doesn't complete.

When I send something to the printer it shows up in the status queue on the remote UI as "Waiting" but never prints

The printer is a few months old and has printed almost 3,000 pages already.

I did put non-canon cartridges in it a few weeks ago but it's print printing just fine since then and the "Canon Genuine Mode" is Off.

I couldn't even shut it down by pressing the power button - I had to unplug it.  But when I plugged it back in I was in the same situation.

Any thoughts?

[shadowsports]

Try reseating the toners.  Ensure everything in the toner carrier is properly aligned, seated, etc.  

The process can take time and, cannot complete if print jobs are pending.  

Hard to say if its your 3rd party toners.  They might be the problem.  It doesn't matter that "they have been working".  This is a cumulative issue that can result from a accumulation of toner on the fixing assembly.   

Here is everything I could find:

Cleaning the Fixing Assembly - Canon - imageCLASS MF746Cdw / MF745Cdw / MF743Cdw / MF741Cdw / MF644C...

<Maintenance> - Canon - imageCLASS MF746Cdw / MF745Cdw / MF743Cdw / MF741Cdw / MF644Cdw / MF642Cdw /...

[david07666]

Hi Rick,

I tried reseating all four cartriges but that did not work.  I do have my original Canon cartriges that came with the printer and all but Yellow still have toner in them.  I'll try replacing with those and see what happens.

David

[david07666]

Well, the problem has corrected itself and I don't know why, though I have an idea.  I tried reseating the cartriges and that did not help.  I never did get to putting my old, original Canon cartriges in.

However, in addition to getting the message about trying to auto clean the fixing assembly, I did also notice that there was that related messager about making sure I had the correct paper loaded.  Of couse I had it loaded - but I realized that I might have actually overloaded it.  So on my last try to fix it, I both reseated the cartriges again - but this time while the machine was on (when I did it before the machine was off when I reseated them) and I took out a bunch of paper.  And it worked!  So I don't know which of my two actions fixed it, nor even if either of them really fixed it.  

I also did a successful deep clean of the fixing assembly, the one that prints out the really dark chevron instead of the light chevron.

I did turn off auto-clean, by the way.,

If I get any more info I'll post it here

[Hector]

Hello david07666,

Third party toner cartridges can cause problems with print quality and performing maintenance functions. If you are having problems cleaning the fixing assembly when you have third party toner loaded, you can try removing the toner and turning the printer off and on. Once the printer is back on you can reload the toner. I would suggest leaving the leaving the auto clean option off until you have a genuine Canon toner cartridge. You can start the cleaning of the fixing assembly whenever you notice any toner smudges on the paper. Third party toner cartridges can also cause issues with print quality and are unable to perform print quality adjustments.

Did this answer your question? Please click the Accept as Solution button so that others may find the answer as well.

[david07666 · Accepted solution]

Hi Hector,

Thanks for your input.  FYI, I ended up turning the auto clean back on.

In the end I don't think it was a problem with the toners, I think it was that issue where I'd overloaded the paper cartridge and the printer was spuriously telling me there was a problem with the paper that I'd loaded (see my previous post in this thread, the one where I said it auto-corrected).

I will do everything possible to avoid Canon cartriges, a full set of which costs ~$700 for the high yield, versus ~$100 for 3rd party.  I understand that Canon and all printer manufactureres work on the razor blade theory of marketing (give away the razor, make your money on the blades) but Canon (and everyone else, HP, Brother, etc.) really charges an awful LOT for cartriges.  So far these cartriges are working fine so unless my problem recurs or I start having another problem, I'm sticking with this plan

[david07666]

I have some other info to add.  It happened to me again but it had nothing to do with the paper, as I thought in my last post.  I don't know what caused it - but here's what I did to fix it this time.

1. I tried to do a b&w copy from the machine's UI and it hung
2. Then Cancelled the copy
3. When I cancelled it completed the auto clean!
4.  It was OK from that point.

I did turn off the option to Autoclean the Fixing Assembly as one of you suggested earlier.  I'm convinced, now.

[HarveyL]

Thank you. After turning off Auto Clean Fixing Assemby I was able to print a test page. Harvey

[anoriega]

Thank you! this worked for me on a MF741C dw

[sven_the_huge]

David,

Thank you for posting this. I tried everything you had tried prior to seeing this post.  This worked immediately.  It is screaming of a SW bug in the system.  However, now I am good and able to use the printer completely.

Scott