Canon Error Code 6000: Meaning, Causes & Fix
Canon's service-manual name is 'Line feed error [6000]' — the paper feed mechanism has faulted. Canon's consumer articles describe the same event as a printer error usually caused by jammed paper or a foreign object stuck in the paper feed path.
Support code 6000 sits at the seam between Canon's two documentation depths, and reading both is what makes it make sense. In Canon's service literature (the PIXMA iP5200 Service Manual's error list) its name is technical: 'Line feed error [6000]' — the line feed, or LF, mechanism is what advances paper through the printer one line at a time, in step with the carriage's passes. In Canon's consumer articles for current models (TS4320, G3270, G2260, TS3520) the same code is introduced simply as 'a printer error has occurred', and the procedure that follows is entirely about the feed path: check for jammed paper in the rear tray and inside the printer, remove any foreign material or debris, then turn the printer off, unplug it, plug it back in and turn it on; if the error is not resolved, the printer requires servicing. The older manuals add one more check in the same spirit: make sure there is no object in front of the machine and that the paper output tray can open. So Canon's consumer depth and service depth describe one event from two sides — mechanically, something has stopped the paper feed from moving paper as commanded; physically, in the overwhelming majority of cases, that something is a jam or an object in the path, and the printer cannot tell the difference between 'feed blocked by a paper clip' and 'feed mechanism failed' until the path has been proven clear. That is why 6000's procedure is an inspection, not a setting: the diagnosis is complete only when the whole feed path has been seen to be empty, at which point a surviving 6000 finally means the mechanism itself.
What causes the 6000 code on a Canon printer?
Jammed paper in the feed path
Canon's first consumer check for 6000, and the feed system's most common enemy: a sheet that buckled on entry from the rear tray, a page that tore during a previous jam and left its lower half wrapped around a roller, or a multi-feed that wedged two sheets into a path built for one. The feed rollers keep driving against the blockage until the printer's sensing gives up and reports the line feed fault. The jam that matters is often not visible from the tray — it sits inside, past the rollers — which is why Canon's procedure says to check in the rear tray AND inside the printer, not just where paper is loaded.
A foreign object or debris in the feed path
Canon's second named check, in its own words across the model articles: foreign material stuck inside the printer. The feed path ingests whatever falls into the rear tray slot — paper clips, staples, coins, hair grips, torn label backing, accumulations of paper dust and shredded fibres from cheap stock. Small objects lodge against rollers or in the gear train's reach and stall the feed exactly as a jam does. This cause explains the 6000 on a printer with no paper anywhere near it: the path is blocked by something that is not paper, and only a visual sweep of the whole path finds it.
An obstruction at the front: output tray or an object in front of the machine
From Canon's older manual wording for this code family: remove any object in front of the machine and make sure the paper output tray is open before powering back on. Paper that cannot exit cleanly backs up into the feed mechanism — a closed output tray, a tray blocked by books or a wall-side stack of printed pages, turns an exit problem into a feed fault within a page or two. It is the fastest check in the whole 6000 procedure and the one most often skipped, because the obstruction sits outside the printer where nobody thinks to look for a printer error's cause.
A failed feed (line feed) mechanism
The service-depth reading, and the end of Canon's consumer procedure: if the path is proven clear and 6000 persists, the line feed mechanism itself — its motor, gear train, rollers or sensors — has faulted, and Canon's articles close with 'the printer requires servicing'. The signature is a 6000 that arrives with an empty, inspected path, or one accompanied by grinding or clicking from the feed area as the rollers attempt to turn against a failed drive. Nothing in Canon's consumer documentation authorises opening the mechanism further; the inspection that clears the path is also the boundary of owner work on this code.
Checks to run before you replace anything
- Turn the printer off before inspecting, per Canon's procedure — the feed check that follows involves hands in the paper path, and the power cycle is the end of the job, not the start.
- Check the rear tray and the feed entry first: remove all loaded paper, look down the slot with a torch for a buckled sheet, a torn fragment or anything that is not paper.
- Open the printer's cover/scanning unit and inspect inside along the paper's whole route — Canon's articles name both locations (rear tray and inside) because a jam at the platen area stalls the same feed system.
- Check the front: is the paper output tray fully open, and is anything — an object, a stack of output, furniture — in front of the machine blocking exit? Clear it; Canon's older manual wording makes this a named check for this family.
- Remove found paper slowly and evenly with both hands, in the direction of travel; then re-inspect for the torn corner or fragment that causes instant returns.
- Close everything up, then run Canon's power sequence exactly: off, unplug the power cord, plug it back in, turn on. Watch and listen to the start-up feed test — a clean initialisation with no 6000 is the pass; note any grinding or clicking and where it comes from.
- Print one test page on fresh, flat, correct-size plain paper. A 6000 that only appears with a particular paper stock (thick, curled, damp) has told you its cause — the path is fine and the paper was the obstruction.
How to fix canon error code 6000?
- Remove all jammed paper from the rear tray and inside the printer, slowly and completely — Canon's first fix step on every model article for this code.
- Remove any foreign material or debris found in the feed path, and check the rear tray slot for the source (the desk items that fall in live above the printer).
- Clear the front of the machine and open the paper output tray fully, so exiting pages cannot back up into the feed.
- Power cycle in Canon's sequence — off, unplug, replug, on — to let the printer re-run its feed initialisation on the cleared path.
- Re-test with plain paper in good condition, loaded correctly in the rear tray; if the job prints cleanly end to end, the 6000 was the obstruction you removed.
- If 6000 persists with the path proven clear — or arrives with grinding/clicking from the feed area — Canon's articles give the endpoint verbatim in substance: the printer requires servicing. Do not keep cycling paper through a stalled feed; it converts a mechanism fault into torn paper packed around the rollers.
Canon error code 6000 reset
6000 clears the way Canon's procedure ends: clear the feed path, then turn the printer off, unplug it, plug it back in and turn it on, and let the initialisation prove the feed moves. There is no menu reset or button sequence for it in Canon's documentation, because the code is a live mechanical report — it is present while the feed cannot move paper and absent once it can. A 6000 that survives a genuinely clear path and a full power cycle has completed the consumer diagnosis exactly as Canon wrote it, and its next step (servicing) is part of the same articles, not a different opinion.
Canon documents one general power reset for its printers, in the form given in Canon USA's B203 article and repeated across its support-code procedures: turn the printer off, unplug the power cord, wait at least two minutes, plug the cord back in, and turn the printer on. The LED-display manuals give the same motion in shorter form for undocumented errors (turn off, unplug, plug back in, turn on; if the error remains, contact the service centre). This reset clears transient internal states only — Canon's guidance is explicit for code families like B200-B207 that a code which reappears after the reset has given its verdict (there, likely print head hardware failure and service). Two standing cautions attach to the unplug step on Canon machines: on fax models (the MX line), unplugging deletes faxes stored in the printer's memory, so retrieve them first; and for imageRUNNER copiers, user power cycling is not an error clear at all — iR errors are cleared in service mode (COPIER > FUNCTION > CLEAR > ERR) by a technician after the fault is repaired, and repeated clearing of protection codes like E001 without repair defeats a safety function.
Why does the 6000 code keep coming back?
The returning 6000 is almost always the unfinished first clear: a paper fragment left wrapped low around a roller feeds fine for a page or two, then shifts and stalls the path again; debris shaken loose during the first inspection resettles into the gear side of the path; or the true cause was the paper stock — curled or damp sheets that buckle only under the feed rollers' pressure on some pages. The return that matters is the one with a spotless path and good paper: that is the line feed mechanism wearing or failing, and its returns shorten as the drive degrades. Log which pattern you have before the second call to service; it changes what they open first.
How to stop 6000 coming back
- Jammed paper in the feed path: Canon's first consumer check for 6000, and the feed system's most common enemy: a sheet that buckled on entry from the rear tray, a page that tore during a previous jam and left its lower half wrapped around a roller, or a multi-feed that wedged two sheets into a path built for one. The feed rollers keep driving against the blockage until the printer's sensing gives up and reports the line feed fault. The jam that matters is often not visible from the tray — it sits inside, past the rollers — which is why Canon's procedure says to check in the rear tray AND inside the printer, not just where paper is loaded.
- A foreign object or debris in the feed path: Canon's second named check, in its own words across the model articles: foreign material stuck inside the printer. The feed path ingests whatever falls into the rear tray slot — paper clips, staples, coins, hair grips, torn label backing, accumulations of paper dust and shredded fibres from cheap stock. Small objects lodge against rollers or in the gear train's reach and stall the feed exactly as a jam does. This cause explains the 6000 on a printer with no paper anywhere near it: the path is blocked by something that is not paper, and only a visual sweep of the whole path finds it.
- An obstruction at the front: output tray or an object in front of the machine: From Canon's older manual wording for this code family: remove any object in front of the machine and make sure the paper output tray is open before powering back on. Paper that cannot exit cleanly backs up into the feed mechanism — a closed output tray, a tray blocked by books or a wall-side stack of printed pages, turns an exit problem into a feed fault within a page or two. It is the fastest check in the whole 6000 procedure and the one most often skipped, because the obstruction sits outside the printer where nobody thinks to look for a printer error's cause.
Retrieving stored fault codes on Canon printers
How a Canon code reaches you depends on the platform's display, and the display tells you which code language you are in. LCD PIXMA and MAXIFY models show the full support code (four digits, or alphanumeric like 5B00, B200, C000) on the printer's screen and in the computer's status monitor, together with a plain-language message on many models. LED-display PIXMA models cannot show four characters, so they render the same faults as alternating E or P letters with digits (E, 0, 4) and flash the Alarm lamp in counted patterns — Canon's manuals publish the translation tables (support code 1688 is E16 and 16 flashes on the families that use flash counts; P02 is support code 5100). imageRUNNER copiers show E codes with a subcode (for example E805-0001) on the control panel, with full detail held in service mode and error logs; the send function on imageRUNNER and imageCLASS machines reports its own #-prefixed codes (#751, #802...) on the Status Monitor/Cancel screen's job details and printed in the Results column of the Communication Management Report. First diagnostic act on any Canon: read the code in the language the machine is speaking, then use that language's table — never another platform's.
Other Canon printer error codes
| Code | Meaning | First fix |
|---|---|---|
| 5B00 | The waste ink absorber is full. The printer's internal waste-ink counter has reached its limit and Canon stops the printer until the absorber is serviced — 5B00 (with its siblings 5B01 and 5B12-5B15) is the full state that the 1700/1701 'almost full' warnings precede. | There is no owner fix in Canon's documentation, and that is the fix section's honest headline: 5B00 is resolved by absorber service — a service centre replaces the waste ink absorber pads and resets the waste-ink counter as one job. |
| 5C02 | PIXMA support code: Canon's consumer documentation says only 'a printer error has occurred' for 5C02 — Canon publishes no more specific consumer meaning for this code | Turn the printer off, unplug the power cord, plug it back in and turn it on, exactly as Canon's manual page directs; if 5C02 is still displayed, contact the Canon service centre |
| 1000 | PIXMA support code: there is no paper in the rear tray | Load paper in the rear tray and press the Black/Color button (or OK/Resume) to continue printing |
| 1300 | PIXMA support code: paper is jammed in the paper output slot | Pull the jammed paper out slowly with both hands, check inside the machine for torn pieces, then press the resume button; if the paper tears and stays inside, Canon directs you to the service centre |
| 1401 | PIXMA support code: the print head is not installed (on FINE-cartridge models: the FINE cartridge is not installed). Canon USA's MX922 article words the 1401/1403/1405 group as the print head not being installed or possibly being damaged | Install the correct print head or FINE cartridge properly; if the code stays with a correctly installed head, Canon routes you to the service centre |
| 1403 | PIXMA support code: the FINE cartridge cannot be recognized — the appropriate FINE cartridge is not installed. Canon groups 1403 with 1401 and 1405 on MX922-class machines (print head not installed or may be damaged) | Install the appropriate FINE cartridge for the model; if a correct, known-good cartridge still gives 1403, Canon directs you to the service centre |
| 1472 | PIXMA G-series (MegaTank) support code: the print head cannot be recognized — it may not be installed properly or may not be compatible with the machine | Remove and reinstall the print heads in their correct left/right positions following Canon's procedure for your G model; if 1472 persists, replace the print head — and if it still persists, contact Canon service |
| 1660 | PIXMA support code (models with separate ink tanks): the ink tank is not installed | Install the ink tank for the colour the printer indicates, push it until it seats, and close the cover |
| 1682 | PIXMA support code (LED models show E15): the FINE cartridge cannot be recognized — Canon's manual table equates it with U150, an ink cartridge hardware error; the cartridge may be damaged | Reinstall the FINE cartridge; if 1682 returns, replace the cartridge — Canon's documented remedy for this code is replacement, not cleaning |
| 1684 | PIXMA support code (LED models show E14): the ink cartridge (ink tank) cannot be recognized | Install the appropriate ink tank for the model, seated fully; press Stop to cancel a job you do not need, per Canon's page |
| 1686 | PIXMA support code (LED models show E13): the ink may have run out — the remaining ink level cannot be correctly detected | Replace the cartridge, or hold the Stop button for at least 5 seconds to continue printing with the remaining-ink detection function disabled — Canon notes the level will then show as unknown |
| 1687 | PIXMA support code (LED models show E04): the FINE cartridge is not installed properly | Open the cover, take the FINE cartridge out and reinstall it until it locks in place, then close the cover and resume |
| 1688 | PIXMA support code (LED models show E16): the ink has run out | Replace the ink tank or cartridge and close the panel. To keep printing temporarily, hold Stop for at least 5 seconds to release the remaining-ink detection — Canon warns that printing under ink-out conditions may damage the machine and that it accepts no liability for damage caused that way |
| 1700 | PIXMA support code: the waste ink absorber is almost full (the warning stage before 5B00) | Press OK (or the Black/Color button) to continue printing for now, and arrange service — once the absorber is completely full the printer stops with 5B00 and only service or replacement resolves it |
See the full list on the Canon Printer error codes hub.
Codes 6000 gets confused with
5100 — Printer error: the print head holder (carriage) cannot move or cannot be tracked correctly. Canon's service name is 'carriage error'; its consumer procedure checks packing material, jammed paper and obstructions first, and on MX922-class machines adds cleaning the timing (encoder) strip. LED-display models show the same fault as P02. The carriage is the moving assembly that carries the print head (or FINE cartridges) back and forth across the page, and 5100 is the printer reporting that this motion has failed or can no longer be measured.
C000 — Printer error (MX922-class): Canon USA's dedicated MX922 article documents exactly three causes — packing material (the orange tape) not fully removed, an ink tank not seated properly, or an obstruction in the paper feed path. On some other models Canon groups C000 as a generic printer error handled by power cycle, then service. C000 needs to be rescued from its own internet reputation before it can be fixed, because the popular account of it is not Canon's.
B200 — A printer error has occurred — Canon's manuals define B200 only that far and route it directly to 'turn the printer off, unplug the power cord, then contact the service center'. Canon USA's guidance for the B200-B207 family and Canon's own support staff identify the print head hardware as the likely failure behind it. B200 is the most feared code in the PIXMA line, and the first honest thing to say about it is what Canon itself says — which is deliberately little.
5200 — Print head temperature rise error — Canon's service-manual name for 5200. The print head has overheated; Canon's consumer guidance ties the code to low remaining ink or a defective cartridge, and on G-series/MAXIFY models to ink not reaching the head. Support code 5200 is the PIXMA print head's thermal protection trip, and Canon documents it at two depths that agree with each other.
Frequently asked questions
What does Canon error code 6000 mean?
Canon's service-manual name for it is 'line feed error': the paper feed mechanism has faulted. Canon's consumer articles for the code describe the usual physical story — jammed paper or a foreign object stuck in the paper feed path — and give the procedure: clear the rear tray and the inside of the printer, remove any debris, then power off, unplug, replug and turn on. If it persists on a clear path, Canon says the printer requires servicing.
How do I fix Canon error code 6000?
In Canon's order: turn the printer off; check the rear tray and inside the printer for jammed paper and remove it slowly and completely; remove any foreign material or debris from the feed path; make sure nothing blocks the front and the output tray is open; then unplug, replug and turn on, and test with fresh plain paper. A 6000 that survives a proven-clear path is, per Canon's own articles, a servicing job on the feed mechanism.
How do I reset Canon error code 6000?
There is no reset command — Canon's documented finish is the power sequence after the path is cleared: off, unplug the cord, plug it back in, turn the printer on. The initialisation re-tests the feed; if it moves paper, the code is gone because the fault is gone. Resetting (power cycling) without clearing the path first only re-runs the same stall, so the order in Canon's procedure — clear, then cycle — is the whole point.
Is 6000 a paper jam code?
Effectively, in most cases — with a precision worth keeping. 6000 is the line feed (paper feed) error, and Canon's consumer procedure for it is a jam-and-obstruction procedure: jammed paper and foreign material in the feed path are its named causes. But it is broader than the dedicated jam codes (1300 is 'paper jammed in the output slot', for example): 6000 is what the printer reports when the feed mechanism itself cannot move paper, which is why a 6000 with no jam anywhere is meaningful — it is the mechanism, not the paper, and Canon routes that case to servicing.
My Canon TS3520 (or G3270) shows 6000 but there is no paper jam — what else can it be?
Work the rest of Canon's own checklist before concluding anything: foreign material or debris inside (check with a torch along the whole path, including the rear slot), something in front of the machine or a closed/blocked output tray backing pages up, or a torn fragment left from an earlier jam. Canon's G3270 and TS3520 articles list the same sequence and the same endpoint — if all of it is clear and 6000 persists after the unplug/replug cycle, the feed mechanism needs servicing.
How to fix canon error code 6000?
Start here: Remove all jammed paper from the rear tray and inside the printer, slowly and completely — Canon's first fix step on every model article for this code. Remove any foreign material or debris found in the feed path, and check the rear tray slot for the source (the desk items that fall in live above the printer).
Related guides
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