You’ve probably experienced a canon printer error state before, but maybe not in the way you think. Check out these common printer error states and how to avoid them. Printer states are based on three different levels of confidence: critical, warning, or error. Critical printer errors can lead to computer failure or system corruption; an error that is a warning means it could be something more serious than that; and finally, there is the dreaded “error state”, which indicates a severe issue with your printer.