Troubleshoot Canon Printer Cartridge Error (1682 1684 E04 E05 E14 E15) (1686 1688 E13 E16 U162 U163 )

After a refill, we will insert the cartridge into the printer.  There are two possibilities:

1. The hazard light is on; a cartridge's LED light is blinking.  The computer will display "Error Code 1682," "Error Code 1684," "Check Ink 1682," or 'Check Ink 1684' error message, E04, E05, E14, E15, 1682, and 1684.  Also, these codes will be accompanied by a text message: “The FINE cartridge cannot be recognized” or “The ink cartridge cannot be recognized.”

This error message means the printer is having trouble recognizing one or more of the cartridges.  The cartridge contacts the printer with a brass ribbon in the back.  If this ribbon is wet or stained with ink, it won't have good contact with the printer.  The solution is simple: take the problem cartridge, indicated by the flashing LED, out and clean it with a paper towel.  Also, wipe the printer's brass pin on the printer.

If we repeat this step a  few times but the printer still complains about the cartridge not being recognized, then the electronics inside the cartridge have failed.  These cartridges were built for one-time use, so it is not a total surprise if they fail.  We have customers whose cartridges failed on the first refill, although the situation is rare.  There is no way we can fix a cartridge that fails the electronic test, so we have to throw away the cartridge and get another replacement.  Luckily, many people sell their empty cartridges on eBay.  If we search phrases such as   "PG245 empty," they will generate many results.  Some sellers use the word "virgin" to describe a cartridge that's never been refilled.  We can get virgin cartridges for the next refill with a fraction of the cost.

2. The hazard light is off.  One or both of the cartridges lights are steady yellow.  The steady yellow light means the printer thinks the cartridge is low on ink.  Canon doesn't have a mechanism to detect how much ink is in a cartridge, so it uses the page count to calculate an estimated ink level.  Therefore, although we have refilled the cartridge, the printer will still think the ink level is low.

Most people will immediately think, "How can I reset the page count on the chip?"  To reset it, we will need special tools and materials, which will skyrocket our costs.  There are remanufactured cartridges with "full ink level."  These cartridges were made by cloning a brand new cartridge's chip information to a new ribbon and then gluing this ribbon on top of the old Canon cartridge.  Fortunately, Canon allows a printer to keep working after the ink is depleted by turning off the ink gauge.  After turning off the ink gauge, we will monitor the print quality and add ink as needed.

Therefore, we can keep printing in situation #2.  The ink gauge is "low," but we will keep printing until the ink gauge shows that the ink is depleted.

2.2  The printer is working, but the output is blank, missing color, or displaying stripes.  This problem is caused by clogging.  We have an article here for solving the clogging issue: [Link]

2.3  The printer is working fine.  We keep printing.  After a few hundred pages, a window pops up with "Error 1686" or "Error 1688." The error message window says “The ink may have run out” (Check Ink 1686) or “The ink has run out” (Check Ink 1688). The printer stops in the middle of printing.  The error code can be E13, E16, U162, U163, 1686, and 1688.

It is the time to reset the chip, or as we like to say, "to turn off the ink gauge." Keep the error window open.  Do not click "Cancel Printing."  Now we will find the STOP button (with a triangle sign) and press it down for five seconds.  We will hear a click, and the printer will be back to work.  We will see the error window disappear from the computer, and the ink gauge will not show a warning sign on top of the cartridge anymore.  Also, the ink gauge doesn't show any ink levels.  The cartridge's LED light will start blinking yellow.  Next, the ink gauge will be turned off.  We can keep using the cartridge and refill it when a color is missing from the print.

3. The hazard light is off.  One or both of the cartridge lights are blinking.  The blinking light means the ink gauge is turned off.  We can try to print a page.  It will show "Error 1686" if this is the first time we use this cartridge.  We can refer to #2.3 above to solve the problem.  We will be printing with a blinking light from now on.  If we don't like to see the blinking light, we can cover it with a piece of tape.

4.  The hazard light is off.  Cartridge lights are either steady or blinking.  When we send a document to the printer, nothing happens.  If there is something wrong with the ink system, we will receive an error message or hazard light.  Lacking this indication means the problem is not in the ink system.  If we are using a printer with a wireless router, we need  to turn the printer off and then turn it back on .  We can work on troubleshooting the computer-printer connection problem rather than the ink system.

5. The hazard light is off.  The printer prints diagnostic pages but cannot print regular documents.  This problem is reported by two customers.  There is a printer spooler stalling in the computer's operating system.  Therefore, a diagnostic page can go to the printer but not the regular document.  Restarting the computer will solve this problem.