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Sail POS: A card reader isn't working — troubleshoot it and take payments on another terminal

Summary. When a single card reader (swipe/MSR or a PAX EMV device) stops working, keep taking payments from another terminal while you troubleshoot the reader itself.

Applies to. Sail POS — all current versions.

Before you start

  • Know which terminal/device is affected, and whether it's the swipe reader built into the terminal (MSR) or a separate PAX EMV device (tap/insert/chip, usually a PAX A35)
  • Know whether another terminal is available to take card payments in the meantime

What's happening

A single card reader isn't reading cards — either the swipe reader (MSR) built into a terminal, or a separate PAX EMV device used for chip/tap.

Can you keep serving? (triage)

  • Payments failing on multiple or all terminals, but orders/items are still ringing up fine? That's usually an internet connectivity issue, not a card reader problem — check A network/internet outage — check power and reboot your network devices first. Fixing the connection often fixes the payment failures too, since a single bad reader almost never affects more than one terminal at a time.
  • Is there at least one other terminal that can take card payments? Yes — continue below, not an emergency.
  • All terminals/card readers are down, or the processor itself is down (affecting every terminal, not just one device) — skip to "When you must call." The processor case is covered separately in "How to Switch a Terminal to the Backup Processor."

Keep-serving steps

  1. Use a different terminal to take card payments while you troubleshoot the affected reader.

Troubleshoot the reader — by device type

Swipe reader (MSR) built into the terminal

  1. Open Notepad (or any text field) on the terminal and have a card swiped through the reader — if it's working, a string of characters will appear. Nothing appearing means the reader itself likely isn't reading.
  2. Reseat the MSR reader's cable connection, then restart the terminal.
  3. Run a couple of test card transactions to confirm it's reading correctly.
  4. Still not working after reseating and restarting? Call support.

PAX EMV device (tap/insert/chip, usually a PAX A35)

  1. Power cycle the device: press and hold both the red "X" button and the green circle button together for a few seconds until the screen shows "restart," then tap the screen and confirm yes.
  2. Once it restarts, confirm the payment app is running — it should auto-launch, but you can also open the BroadPOS app from the device's home screen to bring it up manually.
  3. Run a test transaction to confirm it's working.
  4. Still not working after a power cycle? Call support.

Verify it worked

  • A test credit card transaction completes successfully on the affected device/terminal.

When you must call

  • Reseating/restarting (MSR) or power cycling (PAX) doesn't resolve it
  • All terminals/card readers are down (emergency)
  • The processor itself appears to be down for every terminal — see How to Switch a Terminal to the Backup Processor instead

Restore

  • Once the reader is repaired/replaced, resume normal use — no further action needed.
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