[robertj]

I'm having a problem with my printer, the Canon Pixma MP500. The printer doesn't recognize one of the ink cartridges. The cartridge isn't empty, and it's the one that came with the printer, and it's been working—but, alas, no longer.

That in itself isn't a problem—I don't have any printing I need to do this second. What I would like to do, however, is scan a document. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to get rid of the error message, so I can't switch the printer to scan mode or do anything else. None of the buttons work. Taking the cartridge out doesn't make the message go away, nor does there seem to be a way to make the cartridge work—but what I'd like is to have the opportunity to not fix this ink problem right now, and instead just do my scanning.

Is there a way to bypass this and other error messages? It's a wretched thing if there isn't.

Many thanks in advance.

[Back up 15 and punt]

I would suggest that you call the Canon support line (1-800-828-4040). You will find that they are willing to go the extra mile. Hope this helps.

[robertj]

I'll post this here in case anyone is interested: unfortunately, on the MP500 (and presumably other Canon All-in-one printer/scanner/copier models), any error message will disable the entire printer. There is no workaround for this issue (or at least, none that Canon support could convey to me).

It's a sorry user interface design, then, but the support folks, at least, were very, very nice and helpful.

It's too bad that not having an ink cartridge installed will prevent you from scanning a document to your computer. That's a design flaw. Oh well.

Thanks for the pointer, back-up-15...