thread Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader in Payments Troubleshooting

Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

Handhelld — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 07:49:36 GMT

I recently recieved a 1st gen square reader secondhand from someone else, and while trying to connect I only get 4 flashing RED lights. When I press the button, I get 4 Green lights for a moment before it goes back to flashing red.
When i press and hold for 20 seconds, it stops and then goes right back to flashing 4 reds. Im not sure what to do to connect it to my device, as nothing shows up in the "Pair your reader" section of the app.

1st Generation Square reader , ios17.4.1, iphone 12. and I freshly downloaded the Square POS app today

Re: Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

JK_Fiber_Art — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 12:20:14 GMT

Hi Handhelld,

Although the Community is not the same as Tech or Customer Support, there is one additional thing you can try.

Force shutdown your reader (hard reset):

* Plug in the reader for at least 20 minutes to be sure it’s charged.
* While the reader is charging, use a bobby pin, pen cap, or paper clip to firmly
press and hold the button on the reader for 20 seconds.
* After 20 seconds, release the button and wait 10 seconds.
* Press the button again to turn the reader on and observe any lights on the reader.

Re: Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

Handhelld — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 16:09:26 GMT

As I said in the post, i have done this.

After 20 seconds when i release the button, two seconds later the red lights start blinking again and I am back at step one. The orange lights do NOT come on so signify pairing mode.

Re: Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

Candlestore — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:54:33 GMT

@Handhelld ;

The one main thing I have forgotten in the past was to Unpair the device with the tablet or the phone. You may think it was not paired or is currently paired with a 'test' device close by. Like if you paired it with your cell and now are trying to pair it with a tablet.

Here are help things from Square how to trouble shoot it:

5673-square-contactless-and-chip-card-reader-troubleshooting

Not sure if this was tried but this is how I fixed mine when I could not repair my device to a different device.

Re: Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

jschacht — Wed, 08 May 2024 23:28:42 GMT

Did you solve this? I have one that is currently doing the same thing.

Re: Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

jschacht — Wed, 08 May 2024 23:38:58 GMT

correction, I have two doing this, both were left to have their batteries run out, both are charging, the first one displays two green lights when the button is pressed at this point. the other one I just plugged in

Re: Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

Handhelld — Thu, 09 May 2024 14:37:30 GMT

I ended up just returning it to the person i bought it from and purchasing a new one because even the support team were rather useless when i emailed them, I was never able to get an actual fix

Re: Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

auldyeller — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 01:22:25 GMT

Have you resolved this issue? We had one reader do this, got it replaced and the replacement just started doing exactly the same thing! And now our other location also has this issue with the reader. So frustrating! I don’t want to just keep replacing them. All three readers are less than 1 month old!

Re: Four flashing Red lights 1st gen square reader

jschacht — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 22:56:47 GMT

Unfortunately no, it seems they are just paperweights at this point. I did purchase one of the new generation card readers and the connection is a lot more dependable so if you have to buy a new one I advise getting the new model.