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Error code 6A80 on Canon printers


Here are some solutions to solve error code 6A80 on Canon printers: MP520, MP540, MP620, MP550, MP560, MP600, MP610, MP630, MP800, MP810, MP830, MP970, MP980, MG5100, MP640, MP990, MG5200, MG5300, MG6100, MG6200, MG8100, MG8200


Solution 1:
  • Switch the printer OFF
  • Press buttons 1 + 2 + 3 and 4 (simultaneously using four fingers)
  • Keep pressing this four buttons for 10 seconds
  • Release the On/Off button (number 4) (Keeping pressing the others)
  • After a few seconds (when the printer go ON), release buttons 1, 2, 3





Solution 2 (Thanks to Dick):
  • I discovered that the head was blocked from moving all the way to the right by a white nylon lever and discovered that there was a thin, small pad that had come loose and was blocking the mechanism to activate the head motion. 
  • One pad was about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch and a second was a narrow 3/32 x 1/2 inch pad both about 1/16 thick. 
  • I removed these pads and the printer returned to normal. 

Solution 3 (thanks to anonym):
  • Cleaning two small sponges on the right in the printer with paper tissue. (The head sits over them when not in work). 
  • And pushed them a bit down

Solution 4 (Thanks to Printer Mayhem):
  • If the printhead is stuck on the right side.
  • Cut a flat stiff piece of plastic from a fruit container, about inch wide by four inches long.
  • Slid it under the print head and moved it forward and then to the back a few times. 
  • Restart the printer.

Solution 5 (Thanks to Krilf):
  • Switch on the printer
  • Open the cover
  • Move ahead and back a 2cm x 2cm white item: black rubber item before that white item needs to press down with something like a pencil and this white thing can move.
  • Press the black item down as many times the inks let you do this (do not press to hard)

Comments

Unknown said…
This worked for me. Thanks!
donz said…
I tried this and ended up in the fax mode. When I turned the printer off and back on I received the same error code 6A80. Am I doing something wrong?
Unknown said…
Did not work for me either. This appears to be a common problem recently with canon's.
Unknown said…
THanks GReetz from the Netherlands

Regards Samuel
Unknown said…
Grazie, funziona perfettamente!!!
Laura said…
I also have the error 6a80 on my canon. however, i cannot make my ink cartridges go to the left side. they are stuck on the right side. if i cant move my cartridges to the left, how do i fix this problem? holding down those 4 buttons put it in fax mode :/
Pat said…
Followed the instructions, turned printer off then on and it worked. Thank you for your help.
Unknown said…
Hello, do you think that there would be any other option for solving? I tried the four-touch, without success. Nothing discoverable causing jamming....
LEH said…
Hi prefectford:

Try his:
1 - Do a reset of the printer
2 - Clean gently the printhead;

Good luck !
Unknown said…
to LEH: What do you mean by reset of printer? How the printer can be reseted? I did not found any restart button:(...
I already cleaned the head.....
Peter Rapier said…
I ave an MX860 and the number 4 button is not the on button. What worked was turning it off and then just holding the 1234 keys down until the LCD came up showing the ink tank levels. This took maybe 20 seconds and the print head carriage sounded like it was recalibrating itself, moving back and forth in long and short paths.
Unknown said…
To Peter Rapier:
thanks but it still does not work.
My printer is MP520. The button 4 is the on/off button. what was your button No 4?
onlineme said…
On the MP640, the on/off, two buttons below hinges, and stop button - i.e. four buttons across the top. Working fine again.
Bette said…
This worked for me - thank you
krilf said…
there is a about 2cm x 2cm white item which needs to move ahead and back while printer is switched on and cover is open. black rubber item before that whtie item needs to press down with pencil or smth and this white thing can move - ink cans moves on these two thing and moves back to left. press this black item down as many times the inks let you do this. not good to press too hard. i got my printer back to life again.
krilf said…
did not work for me (mp 540)
i got my printer back to life:
open cover -> turn P on -> inktanks moves to left. there is a white 2x2 cm item (nr1) at the right and about same size black rubber item (nr2) before nr1. press nr2 down with pencil or smth. error appears on screen. turn P off. turn on and press nr2 as many times as inks let you do that (moves on these area). try different times and different pressure on nr2.
Anonymous said…
Holy crap, krilf's solution worked! I tried everything else, and was really skeptical of his solution because I thought it sounded a little ridiculous (no offense), but wow, it was the only thing that worked! Thank you so much!
manabatz said…
Krif solution worked for me!!! Dry or sticky ink causes the pads on the right to stick. therefore causing the error. I cleaned it up with cutips (white framed piece on the right, they move when ink carts move out the way.) mp620
Printer Mayhem said…
Error 6A80 - I had a locked print head that was stuck on the right side - I was about to toss the entire printer. I cut a flat stiff piece of plastic from a fruit container - about inch wide by four inches long. I slid it under the print head and moved it forward and then to the back a few times. I powered it up and everything works!

Everybody try this first since it is so simple
Printer Mayhem said…
Error 6a80 I had a locked print head that was stuck on the right side - I was about to toss the entire printer. Following your advice, I cut a stiff piece of plastic from a fruit container - about inch wide by four inches long. I slid it under the print head and moved it forward and then to the back a few times. I powered it up and everything works!

Everybody try this first since it is so simple
Michelle Gibson said…
I moved a white nylon lever towards me and then back, and I am not getting an error anymore. I've lost communication with my computer, but that should be fixable, too. Thank you!
Goldhain said…
Hey

I've got a Pixma 540...
got this Error Code.

Tried the 4-Fingertouch method,
but nothing happend.

So I Just swithed it off openend the Printer and pushed the Printing head to the Right side...
It goes very easy so I Think that's nothing Broken or something.

I Switched it on again and *Tada!*
No more error!

Good luck
Unknown said…
The error is because the sponge in the right place is fill with ink. You must clear the ink with alcool and a tissue. But do not press to hard because the sponge can block.
This is the solution to the error
Anonymous said…
This error happened to me after one of the ink cartridge leaked at the printer head right end (storage) area. I wanted to roughly clean the spillage by absorbing the ink with a cotton cloth. I must have pressed the square sponge holder and upon release the holder must have moved higher of its operating position preventing the head to move to its right storing location. After reading your suggestions I wanted to clean the sponges. When I pressed the sponge square holder it went down about 3/16 inch, I heard a clic and it stayed at this position, allowing the head to move to the right. This solved my problem! Thank you all for your inputs.
Anonymous said…
I found a modification of the last idea that also worked: just take the right ink pad out. I'm not using the MP560 for printing anyway, but at least now the device while start up completely so I can use the scanner. I looked all over... this site had the answer
Anonymous said…
This helped for me either!!!

Error 6a80 I had a locked print head that was stuck on the right side - I was about to toss the entire printer. Following your advice, I cut a stiff piece of plastic from a fruit container - about inch wide by four inches long. I slid it under the print head and moved it forward and then to the back a few times. I powered it up and everything works!
Jensens said…
KRILF IS GENIUS! THANK YOU!! WORKED PERFECTLY!
Rishi said…
So what I did was just jiggle the printer cartridge holder around a bit because it seemed like it was having trouble going all the way to the left (my left, facing the printer). I turned it off then on again and it starteed printing normally!
Anonymous said…
Thanks to Dick - I discovered, that a little pad was jammed. It was angled. When I pressed on it, there was a click. And this thing with pads horizontally leveled. But error still persisted. Then I pressed 2 buttons simultaneously for 10 seconds (as was told at the first solution). And my printer starts to print again.
Thank you both for the solutions.
I have Canon iP3600 FYI.
Anonymous said…
MP630 Thanks! There was a little piece of paper stuck under the head (on the right). I just moved the head manually a bit to the left and took them out. Then I reset the printer using your method 1,2,3,4 simultaneously. Cheers!
Anonymous said…
MP630 Thanks to Dick, same situation, a paper stuck on the right, under the head. Cheers!
RJ said…
MP630 Error 6A80 Removed print head and wiped it with a tissue then using Krilf's method found the pads on the far right of where the print head slides to (both mine were black with ink from years of use)gently push down to reset. Turn printer off/on and bingo this fixed the problem.
zain siboyah said…
Canon Ip3680 Error 6a80.. after investigate.. the trouble : a paper tucked under head printer. after remove the paper & clean the paper that tucked under head, the printer start printing again.. smooth.. thank 4 all. alhamdulillah the trouble is gone. it's so eazy bro..!!
Nurkholis said…
What about PIXMA IP3680?
It just has 2 buttons

(button power and Resume button)
Anonymous said…
Printer Mayhem saved our printer! Thank you!! (Ours was locked to the right- thank you, thank you, thank you!!!)
Nanna's Pantry said…
I tried everything above but my cartridges were still getting stuck on right side of printer, my right facing printer. After looking through the hole on the right with a flashlight, I found that the sponge was blocking an offwhite piece with a spring attached to it, and that's where my Ink cartriges were getting stuck.
I pushed the sponge down and the spring back and manually moved the offwhite piece with the spring attached to it back towards the back of the printer. There was a click. Now the piece I moved back also had clear attachment to it with ink on it. I cleaned it off. Now I could see two sponges instead of one. I turned my printer on again and it had no error and was in working condition again.
Jean said…
Lisa Howell, which hole did you look in and what printer do you have?
Swafco said…
Error code 6A80 on Canon printers
Mine is a MX700 and I did what Printer Mayhem suggested with a piece of plastic from a clear fruit container. Went back and forth under the print heads and closed the top. re-powered the printer and it worked. Went into head cleaning mode which I had requested earlier attempting to correct the issue.
Thanks ...... Swafco
Anonymous said…
I was faxing from my computer through the my Canon MX700. The fax ended abruptly and the machine showed the 6a80 error. I did the 4 finger salute. It came back in the fax set up menu, but would never get out of it. My printer head was on the left side. I moved the print head manually, took it out twice, and cleaned everything that I could get to. No change. No white levers or loose pads, as others mentioned.
Anonymous said…
Just goes to show, don't be frightened to have a go at fixing it yourself! My print cartridge was stuck on the right hand side too, I was inspired by these posts to just move it by hand to the left, discovered a lot of sticky black ink, wiped it off with tissue and qtips and now printer is working again! thanks guys!
Anonymous said…
Hi,

I have Canon PIXMA MP 540, all what was needed was to clean the inner side of the printer. A lot of sticky ink below the head and what I think solved the problem was cleaning two small sponges with paper tissue. The are located on the right side when you look at the printer (with open lid)from the front. The head sits over them when not in work. I also unintentionally pushed them a bit down, so may be this helped as well.
Dee said…
The advice from Printer Mayhem worked perfectly! I have a Pixma MX700, the printer head was stuck on the R side & after trying the technique everything worked perfectly. Thank You!
Ace said…
I got the error message on an MX870. Four button technique did not work. Printer head was stuck on right as others describe. I lifted the inner edge/left edge of the head and moved it to the left. Found a lot of thick black ink lie anonymous described on 10/9/14. Used some old freon spray to remove it all. On the right of the unit wear the head sits in between prints there is a spring loaded piece that moves front to back. This was also jammed with ink - sounds similar to what Lisa Howell said earlier. Cleaned it too. Reset with four buttons and its all good now. Thanks all!
Unknown said…
Hello All, Greetings from Germany and thanx for all 6A80 Fault Fixing entries (inkjet blocked on the right side).
I saw later in the opened Printer during power off/on each time the try of the ink box to come back.
# I tried with 1-4 button combination > FAIL
# next with plastic stripe under the ink cartridges > MAYBE helped a bit
# as I didn't saw any blocking pieces, I moved the complete ink box not too carefully in all directions and than it realsed the blocking position by its own.
I found a small black piece of plastic,. I can't say, if I damaged it, or it was the Problem?!
Afterwards I could print a colour test picture without problems.
Good luck to the next. ;)
Lori said…
Lisa Howell, your solution worked!!!!
J.Lassalle said…
Hi Uwe Pietsch,

Thanks for sharing your experience !
Yvonne said…
I can't manually move the cartridge to the left. I have the mx870. I tried the plastic card method - nothing. I used a credit card. Is that too thick?
Unknown said…
HiYvonne, yes plastic card is too thick to my understanding. Try a piece package from a hom store package (maybe you bougjt a tool or similar- and cut to the right size.Hope this helps. Not in my case MP540, I used hard power and it still works till now. ;)
Heather said…
Kriff's solution worked for me too. Thanks Kriff!
Red Rock said…
I have an MX860. Printer carriage seems to move around fine. I tried the 4 finger method and no luck. I also pushed down the square sponge thing several times and that didn't work. Still stumped as of now.
Anonymous said…
I had error code 6A80 on a Canon MX700. Print head was stuck on the left side for me. I was able to pull it back to the middle, then I removed the ink tanks so I could lift out the print head. The underside was dirty so I cleaned it with several damp paper towels. I dried it, reinstalled the print head and the ink tanks, turned the power back on and now it's working.
Unknown said…
Turn printer off slide print head by hand all the way to the left put on a glove remove any obstructions on the right hand side of the printer I personally found a piece of paper that was jammed and torn

For more information send me an email GWJJRdroid@gmail.com
Anonymous said…
I read through some comments and though I was ready to go out and buy a new Cannon (mine is at least 6 years old and worked great until I got the 6A80 error message the other day), I decided to grab some Q-tips and some alcohol and open it up. I simply (and gently) cleaned ink off every surface I could see, made sure things looked like they moved smoothly, closed the cover and crossed my fingers. When I turned it back on, Voila! it works again. I love Cannon! : )
Jeffrey said…
Printer MP620, Yes my problem was the little pads on the right side. Pushed down and did correct the problem, albeit temporarily. Seem like a lot of sticky black ink there. Would like to really clean but there is little room to maneuver. Is there a known way to remove the lid and plastic enclosure to do a first class cleaning?
Anonymous said…
I tried solution 1 and it worked, holding down the 4 buttons. I also cleaned the inside with computer screen cleaning solution, so I am not sure if it were the combination of the two, or just one of those. But thank you for the info, you saved me a trip to the computer repair shop.
Anonymous said…
Krif's tip about pushing down the little pad on the right with a pencil or something worked. I was about to give up and buy a new printer. Great! Thanks
MKerr said…
Krilf's tip worked for me too, on an MX860. My print head was not moving automatically at all but I could move it manually. I moved it to the left and pushed the small black pad on the right several times while the printer was on and then off. Then, just to try it, I pressed Buttons 1,2,3,and 4 for around 10 seconds. I let go of the "on" button but kept pressing the others while the printer was on. I let go of the buttons after a few more seconds and the 6A80 alert did not come back. Everything appears back to normal although I haven't tried to print yet. Thanks, Krilf!
Unknown said…
Anyone have this problem with 3DPandoras??
Don Guizzetti said…
Okay kiddos, here's the scoop. The first rule of the "Maintenance of Everything" is to start with a thorough cleaning. It works. In fact EVERYTHING works better when it's clean. Our Canon MX5250 has survived five years, one in France and four years in super hot and very dusty Burkina Faso. I have gotten the 6A80 and 6A81 errors multiple times. I grab a bunch of cotton swabs, some facial tissues, and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. I start on the metal rail along which the print head glides, especially when it looks loaded with gunk. Then I remove the screw in the arm on the left side that holds the top open. I carefully prop to top up and grab the alcohol. I use saturated swabs and tissues with a small pair of hemostats and thoroughly clean the small, moving trays on the right side. There is also a piece of horizontal white plastic like a fat toothpick that looks like it should easily rotate when lightly touched. I drop some alcohol on that and spray a little in the trays and the pieces of clear flexible plastic towards the back. Then I wipe everything down again with either the tissues nor the swabs. Takes me about 30 to 40 minutes from start to finish.
Unknown said…
Solution 3 worked for my. Thnx

Sjaak van Herpen
Netherlands

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