An unwelcome Canon Pixma error message regarding printers is enough to make you want either to scratch your head or to launch one of your limbs against a nearby wall.

A few of our customers have asked us recently about the error message that their Canon Pixma printers are showing. The E04 and E05 error messages.

What’s Up?

These Canon Pixma error messages indicate that your Pixma printer is having trouble recognizing some or all of the cartridges within it.

It could be due to several things. You might have a cartridge that isn’t inserted correctly into your printer, or there may be excess ink or dirt on the cartridges, which can prevent the printer from reading it properly.

You might also get error messages if you try to use a remanufactured cart. But don’t worry, compatible cartridges can still be used in Canon Pixma Printers. To make your printer recognize you, you might need to just give it a little push.

What to do

You can successfully fix error messages by following these steps:

1. Get your cartridge(s), out of the printer
2. Turn off your printer (but not at a wall).
3. You can wipe the cartridge’s front with a kitchen roll. This is the primary thing that allows your printer read cartridges.
4. Return your printer
5. Put the cartridge(s), making sure it is/they are correctly inserted, back into your printer. (Check your manual for details).

We often refer to enterprise security like firewalls and virtual private networks (VPN), encryption, and authentication. When we think about protecting our data, we often think about securing critical servers or databases. Rarely do printers come to mind. Globally, security is a billion dollars. How much has your organization spent on printer security over the past 12 months? You would answer zero if you were in the vast majority.

Since their widespread adoption during the 1970s and 1980s, printers have come a long way. Back then, each printer could only process one print job at once and was connected individually to a system. Today’s printers are multifunctional and have little to no resemblance with their distant past. The 21st-century printers perform many tasks such as scanning, photocopying, faxing, and even emailing documents. Users, as well as system, network, security administrators, don’t know what goes on inside a printer or what functions they actually have. Many users think back to the printers 30 years ago, which were unintelligent and only capable of printing documents. This is far from reality.

Printers aren’t just about the giants found in large corporations. We also include low-end multifunctional printers common in everyday households. It is very rare for a printer to do more than print. The majority of printers offer fax and scanning, but these require more memory. The ability to buffer data on the device is required for scanning and scanning large documents in preparation for printing. canon printer error A buffer is basically a memory area that allows temporary data to be stored. The buffer stores a digital version for printing, scanning and faxing. This buffer may be small pieces of Random Access Memory or hard disk drive, depending on what device you have. The buffer is not the only storage area in enterprise printers. For semi-permanent and permanent information, there is a larger, non-volatile storage area. A few printers let you scan a document and save it as a PDF. You can connect to your printer using a web page or network drive to download your document.

What’s the point of all this? The theft or leakage of confidential and sensitive corporate information. While large companies may have implemented data retention and destruction plans, these policies rarely include or mention printers. For data destruction policies, companies often look at hard copies or CD’s of documents, DVD’s, CD’s, and workstation hard drives. Although hard drives are clearly identified as sources of sensitive information by companies, they seldom consider the hard drives in their printers

. It is also common to overlook printers when security policies, procedures, and guidelines are being developed and implemented. Printer security and the implications of not safeguarding corporate printers are often overlooked. It is all the more alarming when you consider the many types of documents that can pass through printers within a corporate environment. The type of documents that are sent can vary depending on the industry and the department. They could include sensitive financial records, customer information, or detailed network diagrams.

It is necessary to understand the corporate environment and security controls in place. Also, the flow of information between users and printers.