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How to solve error 5011 on Canon Printers

MAJ 02/01/15

Error 5011 is a scanner error. It occurs on these models: MP480, MP490, MX340, MX320, MX350, MP540, MP620, MP550, MP560, MP600, MP610, MP630, MP800, MP810, MP830, MP970, MP980, MG2100, MG3100, MG4100, MG5100


Solution 1:
  • Unplug power supply
  • Wait 5 minutes
  • Plug back in.
Solution 1a (thanks to anonymous):
  • Turn the printer off
  • Open cover as if you want to change an ink cartridge.
  • Turn power on and close cover while initializing  
Solution 1b:
  • Power off the printer
  • Press and hold power+cancel simultaneously
  • Hold on the power button and release cancel 
  • Press cancel button 4 times,
  • Release both.

Solution 2:
  • Check for no pieces of paper, no littles objetcs inside the printer.

Solution 3:
  • Carefully clean the encoder strip. 
  • It's located behind the carriage that runs all the way from right to left

Solution 4:
  • Replace the scanner unit

Comments

Anonymous said…
That does not work!
Anonymous said…
I saw where a link where it says you need to clean the encoder strip

Unknown said…
replace scanner unit. i've tried before and it works.
Anonymous said…
How can I replace the scanner unit?

thx
J.Lassalle said…
Hi,

What'is your printer ?
Anonymous said…
Where z the scanner unit located n hw can it be replaced.
Unknown said…
I try an MG5350, and it worked for me (changing scanner)
Thanks for everyone!
Anonymous said…
Scanner fault, my guess is the lamp doesn't turn on quick enough so the scanner doesn't initialize properly, it has to read some white and black stuff inside the glass on the left side and misses some of those.

Try thiis (workaround on mg5350, not permanent fix but seems to at least buy you some time).
The procedure is similar to entering the service mode, but 4 clicks on cancel button instead of 5:

With the printer off, press and hold power+cancel simultaneously,
Release cancel but keep power button pressed,
Press cancel button 4 times,
Release both.

I don't know what this does exactly, but it seems to reset something and make a fresh start, the printer will take longer to resume the power on sequence.
Please take the time to share the info, posting this somewhere else to help someone, if you find it works.

Good luck :)
Anonymous said…
Well, in addition to the above written by me, the printer does power on and allow some menu functions, like printhead test/maintenance etc., but it does not allow printing.
This however could be helpful to troubleshoot the origin of the problem and rule the printing mechanism out of this and test if the head is ok.
The scanner doesn't initialize in this mode, so there is no real big progress by doing this besides confirming all the rest is ok.
Powering off and then on again after entering this mode doesn't work and it seems the printer is dead. It's not. Unplug, wait a minute or two, power on and it is back as it was before (but the 5011 error is still there).
I guess that at least in the mg5350 case there is a delay in the power-up sequence of the scanner lamp wich fails to feed light to the sensor in due time.
This, or the scanner glass or mechanism misaligning itself over time (skews a little bit to either side, tilts, etc.), or the home position of the scanner mechanism that gets incorrect.
If you are willing to do so on your own risk, it might be worth trying to put something between the mechanism and the scanner's plastic "home position" stop, or changing that stop position further "backwards" (to the left side, I don't know exactly which way allows more time for the lamp to come on, assuming it is lamp related, wich I think it is).
Sliding the scanner glass a little bit to either side and restesting (don't know if it comes out easily - be careful with the black and white strip wich is visible on the inside of the glass if you try this, that strip is important) might also work on tweaking the startup process.
In my case, I did have a fully working printer one or two times during normal resets, suggesting something is slightly misaligned or beginning to fail (lamp delay).
If you have nothing to lose and want to try it without further costs, in my opinion these are worth trying. The glass can probably be skewed and tested while it is still in the frame, usually it comes off along with the frame by sliding it all to one side after removing the screws. Pay attention if you try this because there will eventually be a spring under one end of the scanner sensor, it does come loose as well as the scanner sensor sub-assembly and there are probably no diagrams available regarding the spring position.
I will try these tweaks as soon as I get some spare time and if I find any of these to be helpful and consistent I will post again.
J.Lassalle said…
Hi,

Thank you for posting your comments! I hope they will be helpful for people trying to solve error 5011 !
Anonymous said…
Hi,

Unfortunately it didn't solve the error, only seems to boot the printer in a mode wich enables some basic printing tests to be made to evaluate if further investment is to be considered.
I took the time today and disassembled the whole scanner mechanism.
Found some cold solder joints on the motor encoder photo detector (detects scanner motor relative position, near the plastic transparent disc with fine black stripes in the motor base), resoldered them and no improvements. This should trigger an error 5012 instead, if there are problems in this area, I tested this by disconnecting the flat cable.
Tried to slide the upper scanner glass along with the plastic frame to the left, in many positions, the same.
Tweaked scanner stop position a little to the right, still nothing.
Took the scanner glass off the frame and tried every position I could think of, slightly to the left or right...
Checked flat cables, all were ok.
I also point to the scanner unit as already pointed out and tested by other users, in the detector component itself as a probable cause in particular, I will try to disassemble it, it is the thin glass looking component right next to the 'lamp', altough it was clearly not built to be opened I suspect there might be a conductive ribbon in there somewhere, because the printed circuit board moves slightly while the detector part does not, but this will probably be a destructive procedure :s
Another thing that might be worth searching is if there eventually is a way to power the printer on without scanner, I guess not but as these printers have several service menu available options that are not normally visible, there might be a way of doing that.
I did have it started up normally on one occasion when I was playing around with a power on+ok button combination but I was unable to do that again, maybe the scanner operated normally by accident and it was only coincidence.
Best luck to all, if I find something worthy of sharing I will post again.
Anonymous said…
Thank you Anonymous for your suggestions and thoughts. I ran through the same issues and, like you, did not find any solution.

As far as I can understand, there is something wrong with the scanner but I can't figure out what exactly it is.

It would be nice if at least the printer could work whilst the scanner doesn't.
None of these work. But this one does, and it seems to be the only one that does:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xusv9D1uf-k
Anonymous said…
turn printer off open cover as if you were to change ink cartridge. turn power on and close cover while initializing and it should work.
Anonymous said…
With the printer off, press and hold power+cancel simultaneously,
Release cancel but keep power button pressed,
Press cancel button 4 times,
Release both.

WORK FOR ME!!! ON MX455. TKS
Noorwegen 2022 said…
Anonymous said...
With the printer off, press and hold power+cancel simultaneously,
Release cancel but keep power button pressed,
Press cancel button 4 times,
Release both.

WORK FOR ME!!! ON MX455. TKS

May 9, 2015 at 8:14 AM

I've tried, and it worked!!! hallelujah.
I also discovered that the power unit behind the printer, when you take it out, and shake a little and put it back in, that also solved the problem. Not forever, so i think the power unit is the problem for error 5011. Maybe it's possible to put in a new unit!!!
Niels from Holland said…
Anonymous said...
With the printer off, press and hold power+cancel simultaneously,
Release cancel but keep power button pressed,
Press cancel button 4 times,
Release both.

WORK FOR ME!!! ON MX455. TKS

May 9, 2015 at 8:14 AM

I've tried, and it worked!!! hallelujah.
I also discovered that the power unit behind the printer, when you take it out, and shake a little and put it back in, that also solved the problem. Not forever, so i think the power unit is the problem for error 5011. Maybe it's possible to put in a new unit!!!

May 25, 2015 at 4:27 AM


I've tried the proces above to and it Does the job.
Excellent many thanks!!!
Andrea said…
So Strange, but that worked for me too. Thanks so much.
Carla Ceolato said…
Anonymous said...
With the printer off, press and hold power+cancel simultaneously,
Release cancel but keep power button pressed,
Press cancel button 4 times,
Release both.
It worked also for my MG5550 printer! :-)
Anonymous said…
I have the same error: 5011.
After de cancel button trick my wifi is gone.
And the problem 5011 is starting again. :-(
What to do next?
Anonymous said…
With the printer off, press and hold power+cancel simultaneously,
Release cancel but keep power button pressed,
Press cancel button 4 times,
Release both.

Worked on my MG6650
Anonymous said…
I tried,

With the printer off, press and hold power+cancel simultaneously,
Release cancel but keep power button pressed,
Press cancel button 4 times,
Release both.

and although the carriage now runs freely, I still get a P2 error mesage.

Such is life!
Anonymous said…
I also tried this one:

Unplug the printer for five minutes.
With the printer off, press and hold power+cancel simultaneously,
Release cancel but keep power button pressed,
Press cancel button 4 times,
Release both.

Now my MG6450 works fine! Thank you!
Anonymous said…
1b worked like a charm, I was skeptical when I read it. Works on MG5320
Nasenmann said…
Solution 1b worked for me, thanks a bunch!
Anonymous said…
I have same problem. The 4 cancel presses clears the initial fault but puts the printer into an "unknown printer version" as far as USB is concerned and tries get the PC to find drivers for software that obviously do not exist, so that's why it will not print from a PC, neither will WiFi work. At least that is the case with a MG6400.
I notice that the scanner light, on start up seems much dimmer than a new working MG5650, so it may be the problem, age dims the light !
Anonymous said…
Following the above message that I posted, I have now resolved the issue. It is indeed a scanner failure code. I bought for a few quid a faulty MG5500 knowing the scan head was OK, this has the same scanner head as the 6450, I put the MG5500 scan head on the MG6450 and hey presto, everything works fine.
coxy said…
solution 1b worked for me!! many thanks...
Anonymous said…
Solution 1b worked for me as well, thank goodness, happened straight after firmware update.
Unknown said…
solution 1b worked
Anonymous said…
Solution 1b solved the error on MG2400 :) tks a lot
Anonymous said…
buna ziua, pe mine ma cheama CIUHU MATEI RADU, si astazi va voi vorbi despre cum sa indreptati, reparati eroarea error CHECK INK 1688 COL, ori BLK, la imprimantele canon pixma mx.535, si la cartusele cl.541, pg.540, normale sau XL, pasul 1 porniti imprimanta din ON-OF, va apare eroarea error, pasul 2 apasati stop/reset adica acel triunghi rosu incercuit de un cerc rosu, apasati stop/reset 5 secunde, va dispare eroarea error, apoi puteti imprima tot ce doriti, pana la urmatoarea eroare error de acest gen, repetati aceasi procedura scrisa mai sus.multumesc!la revedere!
Zbigniew Pietrzak said…
Hi,

I have a mg5550 printer and stopped working after about 2 months. Could not send it back. The problem is that it will not turn on at all. I had one with error 5011 but the other now will not power on. I changed the power supply and still the same. Could it be something to do with printer head or cartridge carriage?

Thank you.
J.Lassalle said…
Hi Zbigniew,

If the new power supply has not solves the problem,then the main board is probably defective.
Julie Belle said…
Solution 1b worked like magic for me. My last resort was this - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xusv9D1uf-k
Anonymous said…
Solution 1b worked. But, after switching OFF now it will not turn ON. Do you have a solution for this problem? Thanks.
J.Lassalle said…
Hi,

Unplug the power cable and wait 5 minutes. Then, plug back in.
Pinn said…
Solution 1b works for me. Thanks.
Anonymous said…
If the above guide and reset instruction doesn't work, the scanner unit lamp is damaged and it need to be replaced.

The problem can be verify by counting the power light(green) or alarm light(orange) which will blink alternatively for 22 times each.

This is confirm by Canon's service person.
Unknown said…
pixma g2000 error 5011 how to slove
Anonymous said…
Thanks for solution 1B! The orange alarm light was off. Could not print as well but than I did switch off the power for 5 minutes, opened and closed the cartridge cover, turned power on and the problem was solved and I could print again. Super!
jherriane said…
why all of the solution those not work???
Anonymous said…
solution 1b worked perfecctly
Anonymous said…
I tried everything known to man was about to go buy a new printer 1b worked I have the Cannon MG5720 Pixma
Gerry said…
MY MG2522 was giving me the 5011 error code. I have had 4 of these printers (only cost $18.00 each from BuyDig)and normally I use after market cartridges. Even though I had been using them in this particular printer, after I changed the color cartridge to another aftermarket one, I got the 5011 code. I tried all the suggestions to no avail. Then I put in a Canon OEM and the printer worked perfectly.
Anonymous said…
MX492 getting 5011 error on every boot. No obstructions in paper path or the carriage, but 5011 persisted. Solution 1b worked.
João Ribas said…

hi, i'm a technician in brazil .. and i had the same problem in a 2400 mg

I changed the plate and nothing.
so I decided to get the scanner led from a g3100 and it worked normal.

then the error and the scanner led.

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