What This Error Means
The feeder is the hinged tray on top of the machine — the one you drop a stack of pages into when you want to copy or scan several sheets without lifting the lid each time. Canon calls the pages you put in there "originals."
Code #001 means one of those originals didn't make it through. The machine's sensors expected the page to reach a certain point by a certain moment, it didn't, so the machine stopped and flagged the job in the log or on the report. Nothing is broken and nothing is damaged — there's a sheet of paper somewhere it shouldn't be, and the machine won't move until you take it out.
What Causes It
- A page physically jammed in the feeder — this is Canon's own stated cause for #001, and it's what happens the vast majority of the time. Staples, paper clips, creased corners, sticky notes and torn edges are the usual culprits.
- Mixed paper sizes in one stack — feeding, say, A4 and Legal pages together without turning on the machine's "Different Size Originals" setting. The machine measures the first page and then panics when the next one is a different length. Canon's newer manuals list only the jam for #001, but mixed sizes are a long-reported trigger on imageRUNNER machines, so it's worth ruling out.
- Double-sided scanning with a mismatched stack — same problem as above, made worse because each sheet passes through the rollers twice.
- Dirty or worn feeder rollers — the rubber wheels that grab each page lose their grip over time, or get slick with paper dust. They then pull two sheets at once, or none at all.
How to Fix It
Fix 1: Clear the feeder and restart the job
- Lift the feeder cover — the flap on the very top of the machine, usually with a small latch or a recessed grip at the front.
- Look for the stuck sheet. Check under the flap, in the slot where pages come out, and on the glass underneath the feeder.
- Pull the page out slowly, with both hands, in the direction it was already travelling. Don't yank it backwards and don't reach in with tweezers or scissors — a torn scrap left inside the rollers turns a two-minute fix into a service call.
- Check the page count. If you fed in ten sheets and only seven came out, there's still paper inside. Keep looking.
- Close the cover firmly until it clicks, then run the job again.
You'll know it worked when the error clears from the display on its own and the feeder pulls the first page through with a single smooth whirr.
Fix 2: Reload the stack properly
Most repeat jams are the stack's fault, not the machine's.
- Take the whole stack out and square it off on a flat surface.
- Remove every staple, paper clip, sticky note and binder clip. Set aside any page that's torn, badly creased, curled, damp, or has tape or glue on it — copy those one at a time from the glass instead.
- Fan the edges with your thumb to separate sheets that are clinging together.
- Slide the paper guides in until they just touch the sides of the stack. Snug, not squeezing.
- Don't overfill it. Every feeder has a marked capacity line inside the tray — stay under it, and split a big job into two or three batches if you need to.
Fix 3: Sort by size, or turn on Different Size Originals
If your stack genuinely does contain more than one paper size, you have two options.
The simple one: sort the pages by size and run them as separate jobs.
The other: switch on the mixed-size setting before you start. On image CLASS and i-SENSYS machines it's usually under the copy or scan screen's settings, listed as Different Size Originals or Mixed Size Originals. The exact menu path varies quite a bit between models — if you can't find it, your printed manual or Canon's online manual for your specific model number will have it.
Fix 4: Clean the feeder rollers
Worth ten minutes if #001 keeps coming back on stacks that look perfectly fine.
- Turn the machine off and unplug it from the wall.
- Open the feeder cover and find the grey or black rubber rollers inside.
- Wipe them with a lint-free cloth dampened with plain water — wrung out, not dripping. Turn each roller a little with your finger as you go so you clean the whole surface. No alcohol, no cleaning spray, nothing abrasive.
- Wipe the narrow strip of glass beside the main scanner glass too. That's where the feeder reads each page.
- Let everything dry for a few minutes, plug the machine back in, and try again.
If None of That Works
Contact Canon support or your service dealer if:
- The jam happens every single time, even with one clean sheet in the feeder
- Pages come out crumpled, skewed, or two at a time no matter how you load them
- You can hear paper in there but genuinely can't see or reach it — stop, and let a technician open the machine rather than forcing it
- The error keeps appearing after the feeder is definitely empty, which points to a sensor rather than a jam
Repeated jams on an otherwise healthy machine usually mean the separation roller or feeder pad is worn out. Those are consumable parts with a set page life, and replacing them is a routine, inexpensive job for a technician — but on most models it's not a user-serviceable part, and prising the feeder apart yourself can void your warranty.
Have this ready when you call: your model number and serial number (both on a label at the back or under the front cover), the exact code (#001, and any longer code shown alongside it, such as E301-0001), roughly how many pages the machine has printed, and whether it's still in warranty.
