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The restaurant lost power — restore it safely and get your POS back online

Summary. When power is lost to some or all of your equipment, safety comes first — then getting your POS server, terminals, and network back online in the right order.

Applies to. All Ingage-supported POS platforms (Sail POS, Focus POS) — POS terminals need to stay in constant communication with the POS server for all operations, so a powered-off server (or a powered-off network device between a terminal and the server) stops the whole system from functioning normally, regardless of platform.

Before you start

  • Know what's affected: the whole building, one circuit, or just a device that got unplugged/knocked loose.
  • Most POS terminals — not just the server — are plugged into a UPS (battery backup) to protect against surges and brownouts/blackouts. A UPS has two kinds of outlets: battery-protected outlets (keep the device running briefly on battery, then need the UPS itself powered back on) and surge-only outlets (no battery, but power flows again automatically once upstream power is restored).

What's happening

Equipment has lost electrical power — from a full building outage, a tripped breaker, or a UPS running out of battery.

Can you keep serving? (safety first)

  • Stop and call an electrician (don't keep troubleshooting) if: you smell burning, see sparks, there's water involved, or a breaker trips again as soon as you reset it. Never keep flipping a breaker that won't hold.
  • If it's a full building/block outage: there's no workaround — everything depends on utility power coming back. Skip to "When you must call" for what to do while you wait.
  • If a UPS is beeping: it's running on battery and will shut down the device(s) plugged into it soon. Outages longer than a few minutes commonly drain a UPS's battery entirely — get real power restored quickly, or expect that device to go down.

Get your systems back online

  1. If a breaker tripped and there's no sign of an electrical problem, reset it once. If it won't hold, stop — that's an electrician call, not a POS issue.
  2. Once real power is confirmed restored to the area, check any device that isn't powering back up on its own. If it was on a battery-protected UPS outlet, the UPS itself needs its power button pressed to turn back on — power won't flow to those outlets until you do. (Surge-only outlets power back up automatically once upstream power is restored — no button needed.)
  3. Check whether the POS server has powered itself back on. Newer installs are often configured to auto-power-on when electricity returns, so give it a few minutes. Older installs are frequently not configured this way and need the power button pressed manually. If you're not sure which kind you have, wait a few minutes first — if it hasn't come up on its own, go ahead and power it on manually.
  4. On a terminal, click Retry (or restart the terminal) to reconnect to the POS server.
  5. If only your network gear (modem/router/switches) lost power while the rest of your equipment is fine, see A network/internet outage — check power and reboot your network devices instead — that article covers rebooting those specifically.

Verify it worked

  • Terminals reconnect and show no connection errors.
  • Send a test ticket to the kitchen to confirm printers/KVS are receiving orders.
  • Card processing works on a test transaction.

When you must call

  • Any sign of an electrical hazard (burning smell, sparks, water, a breaker that won't hold) — stop immediately and call an electrician first.
  • Power is back but a device still won't come online even after checking its UPS.
  • It's a widespread outage — let us know once utility power is restored if things don't reconnect on their own.

Restore

  • N/A — restoring power and powering devices back on is the fix.
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