My Square contactless and chip card reader won't charge or turn on. Any ideas?

[mnorton1230]

Last week my contactless and chip reader reader was working just fine. Today  I try to use it with my first customer. Not only will it not turn on, it won't even charge. Any ideas?

[Rounded]

You're not alone.  Mine is doing the same thing.  I just contacted support, hopefully they will help with the issue. 

[Spenser · Accepted solution]

 @mnorton1230 @Rounded - So sorry to hear about the trouble with the readers! I'm happy to offer some tips that can hopefully get you back in business! 

To get started, I'm going to have you try a couple troubleshooting steps: 

1. Plug in the reader and let it charge for at least 20 minutes.  This will insure that the reader battery is fully charged up (and not the culprit). 

2. While the reader is still plugged in and charging, press and hold the power/reset button for at least 20 seconds to fully reboot the reader. FYI, this button is located on the back of the reader by the USB cable slot. 

3. If LED lights turns on, you're all set. 👍🏻

4.  If lights don't turn on, go ahead and try to repeat the steps one more time. 

If that sill doesn't fix the issue, you can go ahead and process a warranty exchange for the reader.  We will ship out a new one right away! When you send back the old one, our hardware team will be able to take a closer and figure out exactly what happened. 

[mnorton1230]

That didn't help, unfortunately.  I tried it a couple times just to be sure.  What should be the next step?

[SierraJewelers]

My square contactless + chip reader won't charge from a USB cable. I can get it to charge for 2-3 seconds of I wiggle the cable, but it then stops charging. I'd also like to point out a design flaw in this reader and that is that it won't allow a micro usb cord to seat properly due to the micro usb port not being deep enough.

[SAI]

Same here

[scajomar]

Me too. Maybe this is the beginning of a flood of failures of the contactless reader.

[Rocky0thomas]

Happening to mine too. They better figure this out!

[Bruce]

Me, too. I contacted Square (via email) and they said I can file a warranty claim. Huh, it was working fine for a few months and just stopped. I questioned them if there is a fix/patch for this issue but have not received a response, yet.

[Farmhouse]

Square - you need to come clean on what is causing these intermittent and frequent failures. We merchants trusted you and you seem to be dodging the issue.

[Sean]

@Farmhouse - Appreciate the feedback. I can assure you that our engineering team has been, and continues to be intensely focused on resolving issues like this. 

[Nanica54]

A hard reset according to directions after the June 14 software update did the trick.  The chip reader is no longer blinking red or disconnecting.  Thanks!

[silverhawk]

So because ot this i have to type in the numbers ,,, which cost ME more, cant imageine thi is intentional.... 😕

[katieand]

Hi @silverhawk - can you share with us a little more about what troubleshooting tips you've taken already? That will help us find a way to get your reader up and running 😄

[Marty1965]

Have an older reader no buttons. Won’t charge. Get orange lights, then red for 2-3 seconds then nothing. I need this for Saturday 11-9-2019. What’s up? 

[ashc]

Hi @Marty1965! Welcome to the Community.

By older reader- do you mean the one that plugs into the headphone jack but has a chip reader on it?

The Contactless reader has a power button on it on the back. 

[BklynCakeStudio]

Doubtful that Square is doing anything about it!  Here I am in 2021 having the exact same issue, and I've only had the contactless reader for 7 months. 

[KAFrye]

Me, too.

[NPB]

Mine was new out of the box but unopened for a year (I got it to use at our charity golf tournament) not one light came on after a day of charging and they won’t replace even though it’s brand new because it’s past 6 months! BRUTAL

[DécorOn34th]

Having same issue, just stopped for no reason at all. It's not been dropped or had anything done to it. 

[kklein127]

I've had my chip/contactless reader for a few months now and it has been awesome.  All of a sudden it won't charge and it just flashes a red light from time to time when I try to charge it.  Is this thing seriously dead after just 6 months of use?  I charge it and run it on Tuesdays for a payment with a client, Wednesdays for one client and Saturdays for one client.  So from a volume perspective I've not used it that much.  Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Kurt