How to Fix a Stuck Printhead on a Canon

Printhead problems are not serious, but they are a common occurrence with inkjet printers, including those made by Canon. If the image quality on prints from your Canon printer has decreased, you can fix this by cleaning and then realigning your printheads. On inkjet printers, printheads are the part of the printer that actually applies the image to the paper. As such, they will become clogged, misaligned and sometimes even stuck over time so this is a standard maintenance procedure on Canon inkjet printers.

Instructions

1. Turn on your Canon inkjet printer and press the “Maintenance” button until the letter “H” appears in the display. You may have to press the button several times for the “H” to show up.

2. Press the “Color” or “Black” button on your Canon printer to begin the printhead cleaning process. The printer will begin making noise and will continue to for a couple minutes.

3. Press the “Maintenance” button until the letter “u” (in lowercase) appears in the display. Make sure a standard piece of paper is inserted in the paper tray.

4. Press the “Color” or “Black” button on your Canon printer to begin the print head realigning process. The printer will now print out a sheet indicating the current alignment of the printheads.

5. Open the scanning tray and align the printed piece of paper with the edge of the scanning bed, as indicated on the piece of paper. Press the “Color” or “Black” button again to finish the printhead realigning process. If a printhead was stuck in your Canon printer, it should now be fixed. You can discard the piece of paper in the scanning bed after the printer returns to standby mode.

References

• Canon MP270/MP250 series User Manual; Canon; 2011