Almost all printers today use the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK) color combination to generate the printouts, and the Canon printer is not an exception.
However, if your Canon printer runs out of any of these ink, the printhead overheats and cease to function properly. In order to protect the printhead from further damage, the printer stops printing and throws printer error 5200. In addition, you will find the power light and alarm light flashing on the printer.
Besides, you may also face the 5200 error when the ink path of the printer is interrupted due to a blocked printhead or improper installation of the cartridge.
Refill the Ink
You should never let the ink on your printer go too low if you want to avoid errors while printing.
If you have visible ink tanks or ink cartridges that are easily accessible, you may visuallycheck the ink levels. Otherwise, you need to use the maintenance tools from Canon.
If you are running low on ink, refill the ink tank or change the cartridge accordingly.
Please note that things can get a bit complex if your printer has sufficient ink but still throws a 5200 error. Move to the fixes below to solve this error in such cases.
Reinstall the Cartridge
The 5200 error can also represent a cartridge installation error. If you recently installed a cartridge and faced the error, there is a high chance that you have not installed the cartridge correctly.
Probably, you forgot to remove the thin plastic protective film on the cartridge before installation. It prevents the cartridge detection system from detecting the cartridge.
Check it and remove the film if it has not been removed already.
Besides, if you did not install the Canon genuine cartridge or installed an old, used, or counterfeit cartridge, theprinter refuses to printand throws the error. So always use new and genuine Canon ink cartridges.
Tryinstalling a new cartridgeif the cartridge has enough ink, but the printer is showing the 5200 error. Installing a new cartridge will also help if you damage the ink cartridge during installation or have a defective cartridge.
Reset the Printer
You can also reset your Canon printer to fix any glitches in the printer logic board that are causing the 5200 error.
Clean the Printhead
Another probable cause for a 5200 error is a blocked printhead. The printhead can get blocked either due to ink residues or foreign materials like paper dust.
When anything prevents the printhead from spraying the ink, you encounter the 5200 error on your Canon printer.
You can run the automatic head cleaning process from the maintenance tool integrated into the Canon printer driver.
If you are still facing the error after automatic head cleaning, open the cartridge access door of the printer and remove anything that is blocking the printhead from moving. Then proceed with themanual head cleaning process.
Seek Professional Help
If anything discussed in the post did not help you solve the 5200 error, there is probably a defective printhead on your printer or faults in the cartridge detection system.
If you’re comfortable working with the internal part of the printer, you may purchase a replacement printhead and install it on your printer.
Otherwise, I recommend you take professional assistance or contact the service center.
