Canon IPF 2100 EC31-2F1C Error

[DavidHammers]

Hey there,
I'm new here so please excuse if a placed the thread wrongly..
So i just bought a used Canon IPF 2100 for my business and when trying to start it up, it always keeps showing me the EC31-2F1C Error..
Saw that somebody else here had the same problem, but didn't get to a solultion yet .. and its an older thread..

Anyways, when starting up its always giving me the same hardware error.. after some research i found out that it may have to do with the printer head/purge unit (correct me if i'm wrong!) and that it cannot move to the desired position. It came without the thing that you have to place in when moving ... so thats already removed...
Somebody else suggested carefully cleaning all sensors or so? But where exactly should i be cleaning? Im really new to this hole thing and down have any experience..

Would be awesome if somebody can give me a rundown on all steps that i can try in order to fix it! Canon Service is so expensive and I'd love to try it without it first

Thanks and kind regards!

 

[Josiah2020]

Hey where you able to rectify this error my canon 4100s has this same error did you get the issue rectify?

 

[Roundishflat]

Hey there,
I'm new here so please excuse if a placed the thread wrongly..
So i just bought a used Canon IPF 2100 for my business and when trying to start it up, it always keeps showing me the EC31-2F1C Error..
Saw that somebody else here had the same problem, but didn't get to a solultion yet .. and its an older thread..

Anyways, when starting up its always giving me the same hardware error.. after some research i found out that it may have to do with the printer head/purge unit (correct me if i'm wrong!) and that it cannot move to the desired position. It came without the thing that you have to place in when moving ... so thats already removed...
Somebody else suggested carefully cleaning all sensors or so? But where exactly should i be cleaning? Im really new to this hole thing and down have any experience..

Would be awesome if somebody can give me a rundown on all steps that i can try in order to fix it! Canon Service is so expensive and I'd love to try it without it first

Thanks and kind regards!

 

[Roundishflat]

Me too. Exact same position. I've caused so.w damage from trying to move it (had a tight corner to navigate). Some say it purge unit or printhead, and others the sensor or carriage. I'm going to work on it tomorrow. How did you get on in the end?

 

[Picture Salon]

Had this error as well, and figured out a fix. know this is an old thread, just figured someone may come across it. All of this is after I replaced the purge unit, the timing strip, and was still locked out of service mode due to the error.

After fighting with this error for way too long, and even having a tech come out who couldn’t solve it, I finally got my PRO-6100 working again. Posting the full fix here so others don’t go through the same headache.

I removed the encoder sensor from the carriage and swapped it with one from a working 6100.
The printer immediately booted and worked which told me the issue was related to encoder reading.

I thoroughly cleaned the old encoder sensor (the one I removed), put it back in place, and the printer came back up again. So the sensor itself wasn’t dead. Ran a CR Check, and it passed the first time, did a few other things, then another CR Check just to play it safe, and it displayed the same error again.

This was the big clue, I inspected the sensor, and paid close attention to the position of the timing strip. The timing strip was drifting as the carriage approached the far-right end (near the purge unit). At that end of travel, the strip was barely rubbing / contacting the back side of the encoder sensor.

That slight contact was enough to distort encoder pulses for a split second, and the firmware interpreted it as a purge/lock cam error, which triggers EC31-2F1C instantly.

The metal upright/bracket that positions the timing strip was very slightly out of alignment (not sure how / when that happened). I bent the bracket maybe half a degree to re-center the strip in the middle of the encoder window.
Once the strip sat perfectly centered, no rubbing, no drifting, all tests passed:
CR Check
CR Unlock / Lock
Purge test
Service mode functions
Full ink fill (at one point i tried a new print head)

I ran multiple tests afterward, and everything remained stable.
The printer is back up and running, and doing its thing. Although it agitated the ink for over 30 minutes both last night and again this morning, but it is working perfectly now.