Canon printer error codes and their resolution. Canon B200 printer error: possible causes and solutions Canon printer displays error B200

All Canon printer models MP540, MG5340, Pixma, IP4840, MP550 and MG5140 have a print head. It is she who sometimes fails. In some cases, the cause may be a malfunction of the power supply due to a burnt-out control board.

When a Canon printer displays error B200 (photo), a corresponding message is displayed on the monitor explaining that the connection to the device has been lost and that the owner of the device needs to contact a service center.

What will we talk about:

Reasons for printer failure

Among the main prerequisites leading to error B200, it is worth highlighting two main ones:

• Malfunction of the power supply when the main board burns out;
• Short circuit inside the write head.

Thus, the device most often breaks down due to a sudden voltage drop. A power supply failure can be visually determined by swollen capacitors. If external signs are invisible to the eye, you need to measure the standard voltage at the control board connector. The serviceability of the power supply is checked by connecting it to a third-party working device.

In rare cases, the presence of a breakdown indicates a manufacturing defect. Canon treats consumers conscientiously, so you should immediately contact service center to eliminate the identified error.

You can solve the issue by purchasing and installing a new spare part, but the cost of a write head is comparable to purchasing a whole printer with a small difference in price. Therefore, many users prefer to resolve the issue on their own through simple manipulations.

Solving the problem with the writing head

Error B200 Canon printer indicates that the device cannot see the print head. To eliminate such an error, you will need to determine the root cause.

The writing head can fail for several reasons:

• Poor contact between the head board and the carriage into which the cartridges are inserted. In order for the device to work properly, the consumer should remove the head and thoroughly clean it with a quality eraser. Some owners of printing devices, when removing residual ink and accumulated dirt, use a soft rag soaked in an alcohol solution. At the end of the procedure, you need to wipe the head dry with a dry cloth. After putting the element in place, you need to reset the ink sensor, restart the printer and connect it to the computer again.
• Short circuit in the head. In this case, you need to disconnect the part of the chip in which the failure occurred. This is easy to do even at home. It is enough to simply figure out which parts of the circuit do not allow the printer to work normally. In order to restore the ability to print, you will need electrical tape, scissors and care.

Write head device

In working condition, the controller used in Canon printers MP540, MG5340, Pixma, IP4840, MP550 and MG5140 copes with its task thanks to contacts on the chip, each of which is responsible for printing certain colors installed cartridges. The diagram (photo) shows the correspondence of the contacts marked with numbers to a specific color. So, if one or more contacts fail, the entire system diagnoses a general failure and displays the following message: printer error B200.

Based on the above diagram, the user should cover with electrical tape the pair of contacts that prevent the device from functioning normally. An inexperienced consumer does not have the tools necessary for correct diagnosis. Therefore, you will have to act at random. Thus, you should glue one of the four contact groups on the microcircuit in turn, inserting the part into place. The moment the problem areas are isolated, the Canon MG5340 printer will stop giving error B200 and will begin to function fully. It is very undesirable to use adhesive tape instead of electrical tape, since such manipulation will entail the need for more expensive repairs.

Although this simple and cheap method will return the printer to working order, it is worth remembering that damaged contacts are responsible for the color connection between the cartridge and the working device. Therefore, after sealing a selected group of contacts, many users observe the loss of a specific color or group of colors.

It usually turns off at four contact groups, conventionally divided by numerical value:

• Black colors. The most unpleasant area, since damage to it eliminates the possibility of black and white printing;
• Blue and pink colors;
• Blue, pink and gray colors;
• All color cartridges (common wire).

To return the device to excellent quality, you can insert a cartridge of a different color. For example, replace the pink one with a black ink cartridge.

All of the above manipulations do not guarantee long-term repairs and do not eliminate the problem entirely. Sooner or later, the Canon may completely break down, and you will have to provide expensive repairs or purchase a new device.

Prevention

In order to eliminate the B200 printer error on Canon MP540, IP4840, MG5140, Pixma and others, you should purchase a source uninterruptible power supply. This solution will allow you to adjust the voltage in the network, reducing the risk of damage to individual contacts.

You should also constantly monitor the overheating of the printing machine, the presence of ink in the cartridges, and do not refill the latter with cheap, low-quality ink. The Canon MP540 and MG5340 models have an ink level monitoring function. It is not recommended to disable it.

You can additionally install a continuous ink supply system on your computer, which will allow you to monitor the ink fill level. In addition, constant use of the printer is undesirable. A gentle attitude towards the machine will not only eliminate the possibility of issuing the B200 error, but also significantly extend its service life.

To replace the head, opened the lid and turned on. nutrition.
Instead of immediately writing B200, the printer began to show signs of loading (buzzing, turning the pump, etc.) and after a while it wrote “Close the lid.”
I closed the lid and the working screen appeared as usual.
I had it cleaned and tested the nozzles - the result was perfect.

It worked for about a week and the next time I turned it on it wrote B200 again. The trick with the lid didn't work anymore. Although when open lid it also loaded and asked to close the lid. After closing, the working screen appeared and after 2-3 seconds. B200. There are no solutions to this problem on the Russian Internet (except for sealing the contacts with electrical tape). I decided to look in English.

I found a very interesting topic on the American Canon forum:
http://community.usa...r-b200/td-p/217
There people with various dances and tambourines eliminate the B200 error. Many people write that one method or another helped. This is what helped me personally this time:
1. Turn off power and leave plugged in.
2. Open lid and slide ink tray to the far left.
3. Press power button 5 times.
4. Close the lid and let the machine reboot.

How I understood and did it:
1 - After B200 I turned off the MFP



Before this, the tasks on my computer included cleaning the head and printing a nozzle check page (left over from previous experiments). After closing the lid and loading the MFP, head cleaning began and a test page printed. After that, the printer started working and began printing.
Turned it on/off several times - the flight was normal.
Nozzle check scan:

And that is not all!
I took out the old head, which also once stopped working on the B200, and did the same manipulation. And, lo and behold! She also earned it. After two years, of course, it has dried out and does not print, but it can be detected, it can see the ink tanks, and it shows the ink level. I'll try to soak it.

Try, experiment, write to whom what actions from the American forum helped and on what models!

The result, of course, is not great, but the very fact that there is no more error, the head is working and printing, is important. I'll try to soak it some more. In a pinch, it will do as a spare for a rainy day.

But the most important question is different.
For several years now, they have been writing everywhere that the B200 is scary, it means that the nozzles and taps on the head are burnt out. That the head is 100% replaceable, better yet together with some kind of board. But in fact it turns out that after resetting this error, the head prints as before.

Scanning and copying other originals is no problem.

SCORPIC, I have all my equipment through a good UPS.
It turns out that the B200 is not 100% a hardware problem in the head. As I understand it, under a certain set of circumstances (low voltage, overheating, temporary incomprehensible glitch, and who knows what else) an error is programmed into the head. And from that moment on, other printers also begin to recognize it as non-working (I tried to move it to my second MFP). Those. the printer no longer tests the head for functionality, but simply reads the error code from it and says that it is not working.
After performing the manipulations that are described at the beginning of the topic, this error code is erased from your head. When turned on, the printer carries out all the necessary checks, does not detect problems or damage and allows this head to continue working.

Personally, this is exactly how I see this situation.

| Message Sent 27 December 2016 - 07:14 SCORPIC

Sunny dog ​​said:

After performing the manipulations that are described at the beginning of the topic, this error code is erased from your head. When turned on, the printer carries out all the necessary checks, does not detect problems or damage and allows this head to continue working.

It would be brilliant if this were really true.

Sunny dog ​​said:

The second one, which lay there for two years, had stripes, of course.

The blockage is obvious. The head must be carefully dug out and restored. This blockage is causing overheating.
| Message Sent December 27, 2016 - 18:30 Sunny Dog

Futureworld, You jump from one topic to another and collect them in one pile. If you carefully read my messages in both topics, you probably noticed that I have two similar MFPs - MP630 and MP640. In the thread where we were talking about buying a head from China, the conversation was about the MP640. He is staying with his wife's parents. Now it has a head from China, the link to which I gave you in the same topic. Prints without any problems. I did not post scans of tests of the new head from China as it was unnecessary neither here nor in that topic. Unfortunately, they threw away the old head, so it won’t be possible to experiment with it in the same way.

In this topic we are talking only about the MP630, which has been working at my home since 2009. I took the last scans and photos only to show that the scanner in tests sees non-existent rainbow stains, which do not exist if the same sheets are taken with a camera.
For this printer I now have two heads:

1 - worked for the last 2 years, the other day I showed B200, I “reset” it and now I’m working with it further (the very first scan in this topic, as well as a scan from the service mode (right) in my last message. In the photo it’s the same left). I didn't do any leveling.

2 - stood BEFORE this, showed B200 and lay around with dried ink for 2 years. I also cleared the error, soaked it for several hours and tried to print. The result is in my second message. The same test in the previous message is the left scan and in the photo on the right. And about which

SCORPIC said:

Considering that the head lay like a corpse for 2 years, the result is superb!

SCORPIC said:

I don't claim that this is 100% true. Just a possible explanation why the error disappears after such manipulations. It's not just me. Americans also unsubscribe, which helps.
It can also be assumed that these actions do not reset the error itself, but force the printer to test the head. And if no problems are found, then it writes something like error0 or TestOK into it

In general, someone else needs to experiment and report the results.

| Message Posted 27 December 2016 - 19:25 Futureworld

Sunny dog
Thanks for the clarifications. I would be very grateful if you print and take a photo of the nozzle test from the 640 that has a new head from China (topic: MP640 blue color disappears on the new head). Did you wash it of preservatives before installing it?
On this topic, I can say that it seems to me that the nozzle tests on both heads for the 630 are not ideal, but the first one is better. Which seems to suggest that even if we managed to deceive the printer now, then soon any head may fail, because it has some problems. Only time will tell here.
Also, it seems like they always recommend doing alignment after manipulating the head.

| Message Posted 09 January 2017 - 19:33 SCORPIC

Sunny dog, error B200 was resolved using your method on 5 client devices that overheated their heads. On Canon PIXMA PRO-100 problem is also fixed. So the topic needs to be pinned as Solved. Learn little ones! Topicstarter is a big plus!
Get rid of the b200, give Canon to the masses!

offtop

ps/ I think the yellow blacks from Canon read this forum, so they can soon eliminate this bug.

| Message Posted 09 January 2017 - 21:17 SCORPIC

Aaaa said:

And they said that they were breaking through the transistors on the board...

Again, it is not clear how these manipulations eliminate this bug. Most likely the error sensors are reset or all are reset. Alternatively, the head of one of the GHG sensors falls off. Pun Again, a crutch - i.e. eliminating not the cause of the disease, but only the symptom.
Oddly enough, I encountered a similar thing on Kuosera lasers, when the toner concentration sensor of the development unit fell off when mixing non-original toners and, when the development unit was working, it wrote - Replace the development unit.
| Message Posted January 25, 2017 - 09:52 Dimych82

I got B203 on my MG5640. Moreover, at first I somehow dripped my head, stood for a day and the error disappeared. Worked for a while.
Then it came out again, cleaning and washing didn’t help. Well, I put it on the shelf for a month or two. Then I accidentally came across this topic from ixbt.

But this helped:
1 - After B200 I turned off the MFP
2 - Opened the lid, moved the carriage as far to the left as possible
Pressed the on button 3 - 5 times. (without waiting for complete switching on/off)
4 - After the last press, closed the lid.

Only point 4 did not help. It worked like this: the carriage went to the right and immediately moved slightly to the left for cleaning, at that moment I closed it and the error did not come out.

I printed 16 A4 pages of children's cards. Approximately 30-40% page coverage.
And the devil pulled me to fill it with ink; according to the sensors, in some places it was already close to zero and some asked to be replaced.
In general, the black disappeared completely from the photo. If you apply it to the head, it goes away easily.
I took a starter cartridge, left it lying around for about 2 years, and dripped some ink onto a sponge. It doesn't print either. An exclamation mark appeared on his sensor.
I took my head apart. And the dist blew with a syringe. water into the channel onto the black nozzles. It came out of the nozzles crookedly somewhere mostly in the center. After 3 syringes of 10 ml each, the shower became normal. Put it back together. But still the black one does not want to print.

| Message Sent 03 February 2017 - 04:56 Sunny Dog

Futureworld, whether the error will return or not depends on the reasons for its initial appearance and the actual state of the head. If she is half dead, then of course she will come back. Using my own example, I can say this:
The head that has been lying there for two years with dry ink (which I wrote about at the very beginning) prints and so far does not produce any more B200. But the other head seems to have depressurized and ink is getting into it somewhere. If you wash it and dry it on the battery for a day, it prints perfectly. But it sits in the printer for a couple of days and the B200 is back. Moreover, resetting the error is enough for one turn on. When I try to print something it appears again. After digging and drying it works again. I sent 150 pages with pictures - it prints perfectly. But after 2-3 days again B200. In general, for now I once again dripped it and dried it. I think it is quite possible to use it for printing large one-time volumes.

| Message Sent March 24, 2017 - 10:16 igwist

I got this error several times on my PIXMA MX924. The first time I ignored (postponed for later) the indication that the ink in the yellow cartridge was low. After that, as a result of turning it off and on after some time, the printer itself restored its functionality, printed several pages and again went into error. At the same time, the print quality was excellent. Up to this point I have only used originals. I read a bunch of tips on resetting error B200, the advice with moving the carriage to the left all the way and pressing the ON button five times helped. After that, I reset the error a couple of times by pressing the ON button five times in the off state without retracting the head. Those. an error occurred, the printer was turned off with the ON button, rested in this state for 20 minutes, then the ON button was pressed 5 times at half-second intervals, the printer turned on, buzzed longer than usual and went into operating mode. When the original ink ran out, I decided to refill original cartridges Canon ink GI-490, and the black photo was taken from OCP (CANON does not have them). The technology for refilling originals with removing the balls is well described on the website, I will not repeat it. The only thing I did was cut off the original chips and glued on the Chinese ones with auto reset. These chips turned out to be thicker; the cartridges fit into the carriage tightly and with a slight distortion. Perhaps because of this, the black pigment began to leak a little (traces of ink are clearly visible on the foam tape over which the head moves). And somehow, when printing, the printer went into state B200 again. I removed the cartridges and the head - it was all filled with black ink. I wiped the head with a napkin soaked in OCP RSL service fluid, blew out the contacts and cable with a blower and put it in place. I refilled old original cartridges with original chips by injection into the adsorber without depressurization. Each cartridge took about 6-8 ml. I put the cartridges in place, reset the ink level control, cleaned it, printed a test - everything works. And there are no traces of ink on the foam rubber (I first removed it, washed it and put it back). The printer worked honestly for a week, but my inquisitive mind does not give my hands a rest :-) Yesterday I decided to put back the refilled original cartridges with re-glued chips to control the ink levels. To do this, I removed the cartridges, the head (it was clean), removed the gaskets on the ink intakes, installed additional silicone gaskets (they were supposed to level out the slight misalignment of the cartridges by changing the thickness of the chips and corresponded in thickness to the chips), installed the original gaskets on top, and put the cartridges in place , did a couple of cleanings, achieving the perfect test, automatic alignment of the heads, printed a photo. The test and photos on photo paper turned out great. On a regular photo in standard quality, stripes are noticeable. This morning I ran a nozzle test - everything was fine. But I again noticed traces of black ink on the foam rubber. I will observe the behavior of the printer, if the problem recurs, I will replace the pigment cartridge. What is important here is the fact that error B200 occurred due to problems with ink supply and the ability to reset it and allow the printer to operate normally.

There was also error B200, after such manipulations my canon ip7240 went into ready mode, but after sending it for printing it turned off and does not turn on at all.

When one or another equipment breaks down, many wonder which service center to choose. Now the list of companies that do repairs is quite large and does not stop growing. Therefore, the choice is quite large.

In this article I will try to give some tips on what you should (or shouldn’t) pay attention to when sending your equipment in for repair. After all, the amount of money, time and nerves you spend directly depends on the right choice.

1. You should not pay attention to the respectability of the premises for receiving equipment, the number of staff and other little things. You have to pay rent for the extra square meters, and the reception girls have to be paid a salary. So the prices for services need to be raised somewhat. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are few. I do not encourage you to give your favorite laptop or printer to a semi-basement room to an incomprehensible person who is a foreman, a receptionist, and the director of a company. But a small company, in which one, but intelligent person works at the reception, should not be dismissed outright.

2. Check whether you pay for diagnostics if the technician was unable to repair the device or if you refused repairs. The requirement to pay for diagnostics in case of failure is quite normal; the technician spent his time working with your equipment. For example, I only do not charge diagnostic fees if I cannot repair the device or the repair costs more than half the price of a new one.

3. Check whether you pay for spare parts ordered by the technician if the item could not be repaired. If yes, run away from this service. You should not pay for the technician’s mistakes just because he did not correctly identify the breakdown and ordered the wrong spare part.

4. It would be a good idea to inquire about the maximum repair time. Also make sure that they contact you and give you the full cost before the repairs begin. Otherwise, you risk receiving a bill, for example, 80% of the price of a new device. And, since the repairs are completed, it will be very difficult to prove anything.

5. Read the repair receipt carefully. If you have agreed on some conditions, but others are indicated on the receipt, your verbal agreements have no force. Also pay attention to the description of the defect, appearance and device configuration. If something indicated is incorrect, this will enable the service center to return the device in a different configuration than in which you returned it, with mechanical damage or with another defect. For example, you delivered a laptop with the defect “No sound”, but the receipt states “Does not work”. The service center may give you your laptop, which no longer turns on.

6. It wouldn’t hurt to ask for a list of spare parts and their costs before starting repairs and compare them with prices on the internet. In this case, a markup of up to 40 percent is allowed. Many parts come without a warranty or may be damaged during installation. You also need to take into account the cost of delivery. Therefore, the SC should leave some reserve in terms of cost. But if the prices differ by 2-3 times, it’s worth considering.

You can also look at reviews on the Internet about a specific service or find out what service centers are in your region. For example, enter “Printer repair in Minsk” into the search. Just don’t forget, there will definitely be negativity. It is necessary to evaluate not the presence of negativity, but its quantity.

In any case, make the right choice and good luck to you!

Greetings, dear visitors. Quite often I am asked how to extend the life of a Canon cartridge or print head.

Let me make a reservation right away, first of all, we are talking about ink cartridges for Canon printers. Such as CL-511, PG-510, CL-446, PG-445, CL-441, PG-440 and others. That is, we are talking about ordinary inkjet printers and MFPs that have two cartridges. For example MP280, MP230, MG2440, E404, MG3540 and others. But this also applies to Canon printers that use a print head and ink tanks.

Let's figure out how printing occurs with these printers. I warn you right away that I will present the principle of printing in a very simplified manner.

The cartridge has an absorber - a sponge that contains ink. From this sponge they are fed into the nozzles (nozzles). Nozzles are tubes of very small diameter. Each tube contains one or more thermoelements. During printing, the thermal elements heat up, the ink boils (an air bubble is formed) and “shoots” onto the paper. I repeat, I described it very simply.

What happens if there is no ink in the nozzles? The thermoelements will still heat up. And the ink in the nozzles is also used as a coolant. Overheating will occur - the tubes (nozzles) will become deformed and/or some of the thermoelements will fail.

After which the cartridge will print poorly in some colors, or will not print at all.

I think the answer to the question “How to extend the life of a cartridge?” obvious - you need to make sure that there is always ink in it.

What about those who refill cartridges? After all, after the first refill, it no longer shows the ink level. There is a simple rule. If you need to print something, but you are not sure that you have enough ink - . It will not be worse. And perhaps this will save him.

If you expect that thanks to this advice, your cartridge will work forever, then you are mistaken. It will definitely burn. Why? Yes, because, according to the manufacturer, it is disposable (the statement does not apply to print heads using ink tanks). The main task of the manufacturer is to ensure that it is guaranteed to print the ink poured in from the factory, and then fail as quickly as possible. Yes, the manufacturer wants to do business with consumables, he also wants to eat :)

But I hope this article will help your cartridge last longer :)

Difficulty level: Easy

1 step

Power unit. An error may occur due to a faulty power supply. If so, then consider yourself very lucky. To check, you need to measure the voltage at the output of the printer power supply with a tester. It should be 24V and 32V. It would also be a good idea to disassemble the power supply and inspect the unit’s board for swollen capacitors, burnt tracks, etc. If there is no voltage or it is lower/higher than normal, then the power supply requires replacement. But if the voltage is OK, then the power supply has nothing to do with it.

Step 2

Printhead. Remove the cartridges from the printer, then remove the print head. Turn on the printer, if the error disappears, then the problem is in the PG and it needs to be replaced (expensive thing, price from 50$). Replacing a PG sometimes costs more than a new printer.

Step 3

Formatter. The formatter is the printer's control board. You can check it like this: remove the cartridges and PG and turn on the printer. If there is no movement or sounds, the error will remain, which means the formatter is 98% faulty. It is very difficult to find such boards for sale, and if you do find them, the price will be inadequate. There are two options left: throw the printer in the trash, or search for a used “donor” of the same model with a 100% working control board. Of course, if the printer is under warranty, then you should not have any problems. But, as a rule, such a malfunction occurs after several years of use. Source website

• Refill the printer with high-quality ink to avoid such problems.

Any printer or multifunction device Canon may stop working and display error code b200 on the PC screen. It has been noticed that, as a rule, this happens with devices that have not cartridges, but a print head. What to do? The manufacturer recommends turning off the printer and contacting a service center. Let's try to figure out what's going on.

power unit

It is rare, but it happens that due to a voltage drop it fails. If you see swollen capacitors, that means this is it. And if there are no visual signs, then measure the standard voltage of the power supply unit at the control board connector. If the power supply is working properly, then at the moment you press the ON button of the printer (without the print head), in a period of time of about half a second the indicator corresponds to the norm (usually 24 and 32 V). You can also connect the power supply to another working Canon device to check. Just don’t take risks, and don’t do the opposite, that is, don’t put a power supply from another into a non-working printer, because it can also burn out if the printer breaks down along with it:

• print head (PG);
• control board.

Control board

If the power supply is not broken, you need to remove the PG. If error message b200 still does not appear again, then the situation is bad - the control board has failed. However, most often the controller burns out along with the PG, and replacing only this part is unlikely to solve the problem. In addition, the cost of the PG and control board together is comparable to the price of a new printer and, most likely, you will still have to buy a printer.

Printhead

But, after removing the PG, the error may disappear, and a message that appears informs about the absence of a head in the device and requires that it be installed. Therefore, the control board is working properly, but it is impossible to give a 100% guarantee. There are times when a new print head burns out along with the controller. However, the chance that the b200 code concerned only the PG, and the control board is working, still remains.

How to get the scanner to work

Correspondence of PG contacts to cartridges

If the Canon controller is in working condition, it polls the head sensors and if at least one of them fails, it diagnoses the entire system as non-working, reporting an error. The figure shows which PG contacts are responsible for printing certain cartridges. For example, the pair in the green frame corresponds to Cyan and Magenta ink nozzles, small drops of 1 and 2 pl. Based on the picture, you need to cover all contacts outlined in rectangles, including dotted ones, with insulating tape (do not use tape).

Now the controller does not receive signals about the malfunction of any heaters and sensors and accepts the print head as good, and the warning about b200 disappears. This means that it is the PG that has failed, but everything is in order with the control board. However, Canon printing equipment repair specialists claim that if the printer had an error with code b200, the controller was damaged. Even if it hasn’t failed yet, it will happen in the near future. So what is the benefit of all this manipulation of electrical tape? If you have a Canon multifunctional device, for example MP550, you can use a scanner, because a PG is not needed for this.

Printing with individual cartridges

Can only print with black cartridges

Continuing to study the problem, remove one piece of electrical tape and each time install the head into the printer. If the error code B200 does not appear, we continue to unstick it. When an error occurs, we return the last piece of electrical tape to its place. Thus, faulty nozzles will remain sealed, and some cartridges will print:

• only black;
• only colored ones;
• black, colored drops 1 and 2 pl;
• black, colored drops 5 pl.

Sometimes after a few days or hours the printer stops showing the error message and starts working normally. This happens because the detached and shorted conductors did not burn out the previous time, as is usually the case. The protection system was activated and the power supply to the SG was turned off. The Canon device may work for several months, or when turned on again, the dangling conductors will close again. In any case, error B200 will repeat.

Prevention of errors

Canon MP550 with CISS

It happens that the power supply unit, PG or controller burns out as a result of voltage surges. It is recommended to use an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) capable of adjusting the voltage and frequency of the output network. However, in the vast majority of cases, error code B200 appears in the message as a result of overheating and the final failure of Canon equipment that occurs afterwards.