Canon MP150
In my humble opinion, the Canon MP150 is the best printer available. If I were to enumerate the reasons, I would list them as:
1) The Canon MP150 is easy to refill
2) Its cartridges are easily available (At least in Mauritius, 2008)
3) No hassles, it prints flawlessly (unlike HP,Epson)
4) The printer can be reset via a series of button presses. (unlike HP,Epson. Some Epson users were so frustrated that an Epson reset utility had to be created. However, it supports only some select models. I am deeply sorry they do not own a Canon MP150) See below for more details how to reset the MP150.
5) The Canon CL-41 cartridge for the MP150 is just an ink tank. Unlike most Epson and HP (and some Lexmark) cartridges which have and embedded chip, the Canon ink tank is easy to refill. A chip on a cartridge is normally used by the manufacturer to ensure that the customer uses only genuine ink. Also, when an attempt to refill the cartridge is detected, the printer posts a message on the screen informing the user that his/her warranty is void. These tactics are usually for commercial ends to ensure that the company continues to earn money from accessories and replacement cartridges.
6) Its just..a Canon.
Since now, I have noticed only one downside from the Canon MP150. It will refuse to print in grayscale when the colour cartridge has been removed, even though you choose Print Black only from the Canon Preferences/Maintenance Tab. I have searched for any possible hack to force the apparatus to print in black, but in vain.
How to reset the Canon MP150 after a refill (Step 10 concerns refill; instructions below the steps):
Method1 (Safe Factory Method):
1) Disconnect the printer’s power outlet
2) Press and hold the power button while connecting the power outlet back.
3) While still holding down the power button, press the reset button twice.(red circle with a triangle)
4) Release the power button
The printer takes about 10 seconds to show the number 0.
5) Press + to change the value from 0 to 1.
6) When this value is 1, press colour button; this will light up two leds.
One is for plain paper and the other for photo paper. At this point is feed the printer with paper.
7) Press the power button, the color button then the Reset button in order. The Canon will print some stripped lines and some numbers and letters ( all black if colored ink is empty).
When you print this sheet the value in the display returns to zero.
8 ) Open the printer cover cover (not the scanner cover) and remove the cartridges. With the printer still open, disconnect the power outlet.
9) Close the lid, re-connect the printer to the power outlet and turn on the printer.
10) Refill cartridges and place them back in their nice little abode in the printer.
Method2 (Use at you own risk – Hardware Manipulation):
This method works in Factory Mode. I have not personally tested it because I do not wish to void my warranty by reverse engineering my printer hardware. Nevertheless, if you have a stock of printers in the back of your garage and wish to experiment, give it a try. See below for instructions how to set the MP150 to Factory Mode.
Upgrade to the latest MP150 Driver (version1.10) and download MPTool here (Driver+Tool). This little software supports Pixma models MP150, MP160, MP170, MP180, MP450, MP460. MP150, MP160, MP170, MP180, MP450, MP460.
MPTool Reset
Features:
* Expanded information on the level of ink in the cartridge and containers for the waste of ink.
* Reading, recording and reset the printer EEPROM.
* Reset counters level for black and coloured ink cartridges.
* Clear the counters occupancy “core” and “supplementary” containers for the waste of ink.
Ink Level – shows the level of occupancy ink:
BK – black cartridge.
CY – colored ink cartridge Cyan.
MG – colored Magenta ink cartridge.
YL – Yellow colored ink cartridge.
WM – “core” container for the waste of ink.
WP – “additional” container for the waste of ink.
Port Name – displays the name of the printer port on the system.More info: here
Setting the MP150 to Factory Mode:
1) Turn off the printer on the network.
2) Click and hold power button.
3) Add a printer to the network.
4) Press cancel / resume printing.
5) Drop button. (If the system reports the discovery of “new device”, install the printer driver; after the installation is complete name the new printer as “Canon MPXXX Factory Mode”).
How to refill? Check this picture:
- How to refill the Canon MP150
For best results, wait 8 hours so that the ink settles to the ink head.
I hope this helps to make this world printer friendly. If this articles has made you less frustrated today, post a comment.
Update:
Corrected Method 1, Step 7. Thanks to Jun dela Cruz (Philippines) for the update.
Any questions?
Thank you very much! Awesome tutorial. How do I check the new ink status?
After you have reset your Canon MP150, open Control Panel, Printers and Faxes and right-click on your Canon Printer (mine is called Canon MP150 Series Printer). Then choose Printing Preferences and navigate to the Maintenance Tab.
Near the bottom of the Maintenance window, you will see the ‘View Printer Status…’ button.
There you go mate! Hope that helps.
Hi there – thanks for going and writing these details out. Been trying to stop the C yellow light flashing for a while now, after I refilled the colour ink cartridge.
I kind of got stuck after you said “7) Press the power button once or twice (it does not matter) and the printer will print a some stuff.” But, nothing printed at all. I tried a couple of times to no avail.
Anyway, I just reset the printer all together and started from the top. Only this time, I decided to just see if it would print before I started up the whole procedure again. And, you know what…it printed. The one yellow LED light is still flashing, but who cares. As long as it is printing at last, that’s what’s important.
If anyone else read this…try simply resetting by following the first 5 steps outlined above, and then doing a maintenance colour print or black ink print:
1 Load A4- or Letter-sized plain paper in the Auto Sheet Feeder.
2 Press [Maintenance] repeatedly until appears. (maintenance button is the one with a little pic of tools above it)
3 Press [Black] or [Color] button (depending on which tank you are testing).
The machine prints a nozzle check pattern.
This is simply to ensure that the printer is printer from the tank.
Then, you are set to print.
The yellow LED light will continue to flash until you replace it with an entirely canon cartridge.
Thanks again – this was VERY helpful, and I really appreciate people who put useful information like this on the web.
Hallo, I’ve got a problem after reseting cartridges in this way. Now the led diods and printer status are OK. But if I print only a blank white paper is the outcome. It seems that the cartridge is blocked (I don’t know how). No error is shown during printing. Any help? Thanks!
Hello, if you manage to see the ink level at its maximum (see comment #2 to know how to check the ink level), then you have successfully managed to reset your Canon MP150. Congratulations!
Now, your your page comes out blank for two possible reasons:
1) Your nozzles are blocked, essentially because ink has dried due to inactivity.
2) If you use your printer frequently and you have just refilled, you need to wait for around 8 hours for the ink to settle and reach the nozzle.
In fact, the sponge inside the Canon cartridge is not very porous. As an analogy, assume it to be a solid rock and rain water takes a lot of time to sieve through it. However, you can speed up the process if you inject the ink with force, which is what i do.
However, I use a very fine syringe (therefore I do not have to bore the cartridge); the needle enters the small hole without problems. You can get such a syringe at the local pharmacy. Their capacities usually range from 0.5-1 ml.
You will have to fill the syringe and pump the ink around 15 times (a good PG-40 refill is around 15ml). This is hard work, but it pays since you will be happy again to use your good old Canon. Sorry Epson guys, you cannot do that
If after waiting for 8 hours, the printer still prints blank, place the cartridge on a tissue paper soaked in warm water for 1 hour.
You should be okay. If worst case, it does not work, use Ether (Its called Thinner in some countries – a solvent readily available at the hardware store)
Worst dramatic case? wait overnight.
But in any case, do not rub the nozzle.
I hope this reply helped.
Post a feedback.
Thankyou!
Thank you so much! I have an MP145 and your Safe Factory Method worked perfect. One additional bit of info is that I had to open the Canon IJ Printer Utility.app located at:
/Library/Printers/Canon/BJPrinter/Utilities/BJPrinterUtility.app
Select your printer in the dialogue then click maitenance.
In the next dialogue choose Ink Cartridge Settings from the Pop-up menu.
Then make sure both Black and Color cartridges are selected in the Ink Cartridge pop-up menu, click apply and you should be good to go!
thank you, thank you, and again thank you… In the first, I realy thought that is imposible to reset mp150 cause the seller told me so…. I’m very happy finding this article… Anyway, your article and my work were succesfull…
p.s. all the best from Croatia
hi ive just put a new black cartridge in my printer, i dont have a colour cartridge and dont need my printer to print any colour things, i cant seem to get my printer to work with just the black cartridge in there, it just keeps saying error!! does it need a colour one in there to work? any help would be greatly appreciated
Is this reset work for MP145?
Dear Sha,
You may try the safe factory reset for your MP145, maybe it could work – You will not damage your printer through these steps. Unfortunately, I am just a simple customer, who discovered something great about resetting and blogged about it in an endeavor to make the world better and more peaceful.
I hope my steps worked for your MP145.
Best regards,
Shailen Sobhee.
To Shailen Sobhee:
Method 1 (Safe Factory Method) worked perfectly for me on my MP160. Thank you so much for publicizing this fix.
In the past, I have refilled cartridges successfully on the MP160, but after four or five refills, the printer refuses to recognize that they contain any more ink. So I have just bought new catridges.
In the past, I have used another procedure to reset the ink waste tanks, but that didn’t work this time. Method 1 worked exactly as described, and my old refilled cartridges are printing perfectly once again.
Thanks again. It is highly disappointing that printer manufacturers do everything possible to prevent users from refilling in order to force us to buy their outrageously price ink catridges.
I appreciate you sharing your considerable technical knowledge about Canon printers and cartridges. Hooray for individual expertise that helps keeps the big printer manufacturers from screwing their customers.
:
Hi there – thanks for going and writing these details out. Been trying to stop the C yellow light flashing for a while now, after I refilled the colour ink cartridge.
Hi Sha,
I would like to correct step # 7as Press power button , color button then Reset button in order. Then it will print striped lines with numbers and letters ( all black if colored ink is empty).
I would like to thank you for making my refilled cartridge work smoothly without the annoying blinking LED and resetting the ink tank status to full.
All the best,
Jun (Philippines)
Hey Shailen
THANKS so much for rhis!!
Followed your instruction and was able to reset the cartrige so it shows it’s ‘full’ now.
Thanks !!
Hello webmaster
I would like to share with you a link to your site
write me here preonrelt@mail.ru
having trouble resetting cartridges after refilling them with ink. They are for the Canon MP-150 cartridge (PG-40 & CL-41) and Canon MP-830 Cartridge (CLI-8C, CLI-8M, CLI-8Y, CLI-8K & PGBK-5) I refilled all the cartridges and they still show low. There seems to be a way to reset the chips to tell the printers that the cartridges are new. I would appreciate any and all information on these printers. I had a lexmark x-83 and never had a problem with refilling the cartridges and it was good until the the printer died. I now have two canons and would like to know how to reset the cartridges.
Thank you,
Dennis Balestra
@Dennis:
My post is related to the Canon MP150. Please note that the MP150 cartridges do not have chips. Therefore you should follow the safe factory method and you should be okay. Kindly let me know if you have difficulties following the steps.
nesesito la instalacion de impresora canon mp 150 series printer gracias agradesco la ayuda
This post is really very helpful. Thanks