How to eradicate the 5110 error message on Canon printers

We’ve already come across another error message that looks a lot like this one, for which we created the following post: This former error message means something has blocked your ink cartridge carriage, and keeps it from moving from side to side.You’ll be able to find the solution for the latter on the blog post we linked to above.

Now, this is a completely different error message. While it’s still an obstruction, this time it’s the print head cleaners that are blocked by something.

When we talk about the print head cleaners:

We’re talking about the small piece that goes from the back of the printer to clean them. Please take a look at the following picture to locate them.

printhead and connectors

This is what we call the print head cleaner, which is located on the bottom of the ink cartridge. it may have another technical name, so please excuse us if this is the case.

This obstruction can be caused by pieces of paper, improper ink cartridge installation or foreign objects in your printer, causing the 5100 error code to show up on your canon printer.

How to identify the problem:

The print head cleaners/helpers are not going all the way up to fulfill their duty.

Possible solutions for this problem:

First, get the upper lid on your printer open; this will grant you access to the ink cartridges. Once you’ve done this, we suggest you look around for any obstacles or residues that can get in the way of the print head cleaners. If there aren’t any, please look for any pieces of paper that may be stuck in the printer.

Remember you must turn your printer off and disconnect the power cable before doing any of this. You can now remove the ink cartridges from the printer and place them back inside. If the problem persists, we recommend you take your printer to a professional.