Canon Error Code C000: Meaning, Causes & Fix
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. Search results describe C000 as a purge unit or ink absorber error — but Canon USA's dedicated article for the machine this code is most associated with, the PIXMA MX922 (ART140259), documents three causes and only three: the packing material was not fully removed when the printer was set up; an ink tank is not seated properly; or there is an obstruction in the paper feed path. Its fix list matches: remove the packing material completely, reseat (or replace) the ink tank, clear the paper feed obstruction, then turn the printer off, unplug it, plug it back in and turn it on — and if the error persists, contact Canon for servicing. Canon's PRO-300 documentation puts C000 in a generic group (with 8200, 8300 and B400) handled the same way: power cycle, and service if it returns. Nowhere in the Canon documents checked for this page is the purge unit or the waste ink absorber named for C000 — Canon's absorber codes are 1700/1701 (warning) and 5B00 (full), and its purge-adjacent documented failures live in other codes entirely. That distinction is not pedantry; it is money. An owner who believes C000 means 'absorber' books an absorber service or starts shopping for a replacement printer, while Canon's actual checklist is five minutes of looking for orange tape, clicking a tank home and clearing a paper path. Work Canon's three causes in Canon's order and C000 is one of the cheapest codes in the PIXMA catalogue — and if all three are provably clear and the code survives the power cycle, Canon's own endpoint (servicing, because an internal fault remains) takes over with the cheap causes already eliminated.
What causes the C000 code on a Canon printer?
Packing material not fully removed
Canon USA's first-listed cause for C000 on the MX922, verbatim in substance: the packing material (the orange tape and protective pieces) was not completely removed. Printers accumulate this cause at predictable moments — a hurried first setup, a house move where tape was reapplied and only partly removed, a return from storage. A remaining piece typically interferes with a moving assembly or a sensor the start-up sequence checks, and the printer reports the general error rather than naming the tape. It is the only cause on this page that costs nothing and explains everything, which is why Canon lists it first and why the inspection must be thorough: ends of travel, under the carriage path, around the ink tank area.
An ink tank not seated properly
Canon's second cause: an ink tank that was installed without clicking fully into its slot, or that has crept up since. The MX922's tanks announce correct seating with a click and an lit lamp; a tank sitting a millimetre high can pass casual inspection while failing the printer's start-up checks, surfacing as the unexplained C000 — characteristically right after a tank change, which is the timing that convicts it. Canon's documented handling is to press each tank firmly into place (and replace a tank that will not seat or whose latch is damaged). Note the difference from the code's folklore: the ink system C000 cares about is whether a tank is physically home, not the purge unit underneath it.
An obstruction in the paper feed path
Canon's third cause: something in the paper feed path — jammed paper, a torn fragment from an earlier jam, or a foreign object that fell in through the rear tray. The feed path is checked at start-up and during every job, and an obstruction there is fully capable of producing a general printer error on this platform rather than a dedicated jam code. The inspection discipline is the same as for the feed-family codes: tray slot, inside path, exit — with a torch, slowly, looking for the small thing (a corner of paper, a label, a clip) rather than the obvious one, because the obvious jam usually got its own code or got cleared already.
An internal fault remaining after the three causes are cleared
Canon's documented endpoint rather than a fourth listed cause: the MX922 article closes by routing a persistent C000 to servicing, and the PRO-300 grouping treats C000 as a generic printer error on the same terms. Once packing, tank seating and the feed path are all proven, the residue is an internal failure the consumer documentation does not itemise — and this entry follows Canon in not itemising it either. Owners who find forum posts assigning that residue to a specific unit (purge, absorber, a board) should know those assignments are not in Canon's article for this code; the service centre's diagnosis, not the internet's, is what Canon prescribes next.
Checks to run before you replace anything
- Note the code's exact form and your model: C000 on an MX922 has Canon's three-cause article behind it; on a PRO-300-class machine Canon groups it as a generic printer error. Either way the checks below are the documented starting point.
- Turn the printer off. Open the top and inspect for packing material with a torch: orange tape and protective pieces at the ends of the carriage travel, around the print head area and anywhere the set-up guide showed tape. Remove every piece — completeness is the check, per Canon's 'not fully removed' wording.
- Press each ink tank firmly into its slot until it clicks, checking the tank lamps where fitted. If the code arrived right after a tank change, remove and refit that tank first; a tank that rocks or will not click is the suspect Canon names.
- Inspect the paper feed path end to end: rear tray slot, inside the machine along the paper route, and the output area. Remove jammed paper slowly and completely, and retrieve any foreign object.
- Close the covers and run Canon's power sequence from the article: turn off, unplug the power cord, plug it back in, turn on. Let start-up complete and note whether C000 returns before any job is sent (start-up return) or only when printing starts (path return under load).
- Before unplugging an MX922: it stores received faxes in memory — Canon's MX documentation warns that unplugging deletes stored faxes, so print or forward them first if any are held.
How to fix canon error code c000?
- Remove all remaining packing material and orange tape from inside the printer — Canon's first fix, and the complete one when it's the cause.
- Reseat every ink tank: out, inspect the latch and contacts area for anything preventing seating, back in until it clicks. Replace a tank whose latch is damaged and cannot seat, per Canon's article.
- Clear the paper feed path of jammed paper, fragments and foreign objects, slowly and in the direction of travel.
- Power cycle exactly as Canon prescribes: off, unplug, replug, on — then send one plain test page to prove the fix under load, not just at start-up.
- If C000 persists with all three documented causes provably cleared, Canon's article ends at servicing; book it and hand over the checklist you completed, which is precisely the elimination the technician would start with.
- If a tank reseat cured it, note which tank it was: a weakening latch will produce C000 again, and knowing which tank crept turns next time's whole inspection into a single tank replacement.
How to reset / clear the C000 code
C000's reset is the closing step of Canon's MX922 procedure, not a separate ritual: fix the cause (packing removed, tanks seated, path cleared), then turn the printer off, unplug the power cord, plug it back in and turn it on. The start-up sequence re-checks what it checks, and a cleared cause means a cleared code. Canon publishes no button combination or menu reset for C000 — and on fax models, remember Canon's warning before the unplug step: faxes stored in memory are deleted when the cord comes out, so the reset's order (retrieve faxes, then unplug) matters.
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 C000 code keep coming back?
C000 returns when its Canon-documented causes return: a tank that seats with a click but creeps under the vibration of printing because its latch is worn (the fix is the tank, not more pressing); a packing fragment missed in a corner of the machine that shifts into a sensor's view; a feed path that keeps collecting fragments because an earlier jam tore paper that was never fully retrieved. Each return should be worked through Canon's same three checks rather than treated as a new mystery — and a C000 that returns with all three freshly proven is the documented hand-off to service, where the internal fault Canon doesn't itemise gets diagnosed with the machine open.
How to stop C000 coming back
- Packing material not fully removed: Canon USA's first-listed cause for C000 on the MX922, verbatim in substance: the packing material (the orange tape and protective pieces) was not completely removed. Printers accumulate this cause at predictable moments — a hurried first setup, a house move where tape was reapplied and only partly removed, a return from storage. A remaining piece typically interferes with a moving assembly or a sensor the start-up sequence checks, and the printer reports the general error rather than naming the tape. It is the only cause on this page that costs nothing and explains everything, which is why Canon lists it first and why the inspection must be thorough: ends of travel, under the carriage path, around the ink tank area.
- An ink tank not seated properly: Canon's second cause: an ink tank that was installed without clicking fully into its slot, or that has crept up since. The MX922's tanks announce correct seating with a click and an lit lamp; a tank sitting a millimetre high can pass casual inspection while failing the printer's start-up checks, surfacing as the unexplained C000 — characteristically right after a tank change, which is the timing that convicts it. Canon's documented handling is to press each tank firmly into place (and replace a tank that will not seat or whose latch is damaged). Note the difference from the code's folklore: the ink system C000 cares about is whether a tank is physically home, not the purge unit underneath it.
- An obstruction in the paper feed path: Canon's third cause: something in the paper feed path — jammed paper, a torn fragment from an earlier jam, or a foreign object that fell in through the rear tray. The feed path is checked at start-up and during every job, and an obstruction there is fully capable of producing a general printer error on this platform rather than a dedicated jam code. The inspection discipline is the same as for the feed-family codes: tray slot, inside path, exit — with a torch, slowly, looking for the small thing (a corner of paper, a label, a clip) rather than the obvious one, because the obvious jam usually got its own code or got cleared already.
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 C000 gets confused with
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.
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. Every PIXMA inkjet throws away ink on purpose.
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.
6000 — 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.
Frequently asked questions
What does Canon error code C000 mean?
On the MX922 — the model Canon's dedicated C000 article covers — it is a printer error with three documented causes: packing material (orange tape) not fully removed, an ink tank not seated properly, or an obstruction in the paper feed path. Canon's fix is to clear those three, then power off, unplug, replug and turn on; a persistent C000 goes to servicing. On PRO-300-class machines Canon groups C000 as a generic printer error with the same handling.
How do I fix Canon error code C000?
Work Canon's MX922 checklist in order: (1) remove every piece of packing material and orange tape from inside the printer; (2) reseat each ink tank until it clicks (replace a tank that cannot seat); (3) clear the paper feed path of jammed paper, fragments and foreign objects; (4) turn off, unplug, plug back in, turn on, and test. If C000 is still there after all three causes are provably eliminated, Canon's article routes you to servicing.
How do I reset Canon error code C000?
The only reset Canon documents for C000 is the power sequence that closes its fix procedure: after clearing the cause, turn the printer off, unplug the power cord, plug it back in and turn it on. There is no button combination or menu reset for this code in Canon's documentation. On an MX922, print or forward any faxes stored in memory before unplugging — Canon warns that unplugging deletes them.
Is C000 a purge unit or ink absorber error?
Not in Canon's documentation. That description is widespread online, but Canon USA's MX922 article for C000 lists packing material, ink tank seating and paper-path obstruction — and Canon's absorber system has its own codes (1700/1701 'almost full', 5B00 'full'), which C000 is not among. If a source tells you C000 means an absorber or purge replacement, it is not quoting Canon; work Canon's three checks first, because they are free and they are the documented causes.
My MX922 shows C000 right after I changed an ink tank — why?
That timing matches Canon's second documented cause exactly: an ink tank not seated properly. Turn the printer off, open it up, and press the new tank firmly until it clicks into its slot (check its lamp lights, on this model). While you are in there, run the other two Canon checks for completeness — no packing material left, feed path clear — then power on. A tank that will not click home or keeps triggering C000 has a latch problem and should be replaced, per Canon's article.
What is canon error code 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.
How to fix canon error code c000?
Start here: Remove all remaining packing material and orange tape from inside the printer — Canon's first fix, and the complete one when it's the cause. Reseat every ink tank: out, inspect the latch and contacts area for anything preventing seating, back in until it clicks. Replace a tank whose latch is damaged and cannot seat, per Canon's article.
Related guides
Facts on this page were checked against manufacturer documentation: support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · support.usa.canon.com · ph.canon · in.canon · hk.canon · www.canon.com.au · ij.manual.canon · oip.manual.canon · oip.manual.canon