How to troubleshoot a Canon Pixma MX892 that suddenly stopped printing?

ok, I think I've got the print head cleaned out. How long do I need to wait for it to dry? 24 hours? Is the drying period just to ensure the electrical contacts don't short or does the inside need drying too?

24 hours may be sufficient depending on the temperature and relative humidity.

seseeley said:

Is the drying period just to ensure the electrical contacts don't short

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Yes. the electronics and PCB board should be dry. Water in the nozzle channels is OK and will be displaced by ink during the ink purge resulting from the "new" print head / "new" ink cartridges installed.

Well I finally got a chance to try out the old print head I flushed and cleaned.

Opened the top cover and let the carriage move to the middle, unplugged the printer so the carriage wouldn't move, removed the ink cartridges, swapped the print head out, replaced the ink cartridges and plugged the printer into AC.

After initialization I got error code U052 "The type of print head is incorrect. Install the correct print head."

I pulled the print head and carefully compared the two. They are exactly the same except for what I'm guessing is a PCB rev. I've circled this in red on the attached photo. The head that stopped working is a 'A2' and the old head I cleaned and flushed is a 'H1'.

There must be a way to reset the printer. What if I buy a new head and the printer reject it for incorrect head? Not sure what to do next?

The error message U052 is often caused by a defective print head instead of the print head being a wrong type. The correct print head for the MX892 is QY6-0080 and the type number is engraved on one of the black sides of the print head.

Yes, the old print head I flushed and cleaned was QY6-0080. It must be dead. The newer print head that quit working started working again when I swapped it back in just to see if the printer recognized it. But this morning it quit working again. I wish I had a clear sign if the problem is this print head or the printer.

seseeley said:

I wish I had a clear sign if the problem is this print head or the printer.

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It’s the print head, unfortunately...

Followed what I thought was a silly procedure found at the URL below and the printer & head started working again. What does this procedure really do? Anything? Seems too simple. We'll see how long this lasts.
http://www.fixya.com/support/t24319461-canon_mx892_error_code_u052
Attached is a scan of a nozzle check pattern after the printer started working again. Is the scan good enough? If not I'll scan a work with a better scanner.

Thanks for all the help, Steve

In a few cases a print head that was indicated defective has started working again. Normally this is temporary, lasting only a few days before the print head fails again.

In other rare cases the problem was caused by a bad electrical contact between the contact springs in the print head carriage and the contact pads on the print head. Removing and reinserting the print head then wiped the contact surfaces clean and the print head worked again.

Hopefully the problems were caused by bad contacts so the procedure described worked and the print head will continue working.

PeterBJ said:

the procedure described worked and the print head will continue working.

Click to expand...

My money is on the Flying Pigs..

seseeley said:

printer & head started working again

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Great! Fingers crossed.

Your nozzle scan looks good except for one missing nozzle in the Pigment ink grid. You probably won't notice anything much and the nozzle may return to work if it is just a clog. Keep printing to keep your print head healthy.

You can upload JPG's instead of PDF's. JPG's are immediately visible in the post without need for any other software. Also, crop your nozzle checks so that only the printed portion on the paper is saved.