Will printing without ink monitoring damage my printer?

Potentially. If a cartridge runs completely dry, the printhead can be damaged from dry firing. Replace cartridges promptly when quality drops.

What is a chip resetter?

A small device that resets the memory chip on a cartridge, making the printer think it is a new full cartridge. Needed for refilled cartridges.

Canon Printer Error E13 — Ink Level Cannot Be Detected

Warningcanon

Overview

Canon error E13 means the printer cannot detect ink levels in one or more cartridges, which occurs after using non-genuine cartridges or resetting ink counters.

Key Details

E13 appears when Canon's ink level monitoring cannot read the cartridge status
Different from E04 (not recognized): E13 means the cartridge is recognized but ink level cannot be determined
Occurs commonly with refilled cartridges where the ink level chip was not reset
Canon allows bypassing this warning to continue printing without ink level monitoring
Printing with unknown ink levels risks running completely dry, which can damage the printhead

Common Causes

Refilled cartridge without ink level chip reset
Third-party cartridge with incompatible ink level reporting
Cartridge chip memory full or corrupted
Ink level reset after genuine cartridge was partially used
Printer firmware update changing ink level communication protocol

Steps

1Press and hold the printer's Stop/Reset button for 5+ seconds to bypass the warning and continue printing
2If using refilled cartridges: get a chip resetter compatible with your Canon cartridge model
3Replace with genuine Canon cartridges for accurate ink level monitoring
4Check Canon's ink level bypass procedure specific to your printer model
5Monitor print quality manually — stop printing if you see fading or streaking