My chip reader is flashing red and won't connect. What does this mean and what do I need to do?

[Rylee095]

My chip reader is flashing red and won't connect. What does this mean and what do I need to do?

[George]

One blinking red light means that your contactless and chip reader is low on batteries.

Just plug one end of the the accompanying USB cable into your reader and the other end into a USB port, like a cell phone charger or computer. With a low battery, the reader will take approx. two hours to charge completely.

See this support article for more info on charging your reader. Hope that helps!

[Biatorrance]

My chip reader is flashing red, all the 4 lights. My phone can't see the reader and when I try to connect the reader, I end up with flashing red lights. I've unistalled the app and re-installed it, it worked after that. Unfortunatly after a couple of days I was back, getting frustrated with it.  I don't want to keep unistall and re-install the app.

How can I resolve the chip reader problem?

[BeanEverywhere]

I have 4 red lights flashing on my square terminal. It was working fine earlier today.
I’ve tried doing the hard reset of holding the button for 20 seconds and the lights stop flashing but as soon as I release the button the red lights flash again.
I have also reinstalled the app to no avail.

[ashc]

Hey @BeanEverywhere,

If you've gone through all the troubleshooting steps, your next step should be to reach out to our direct CS team.

[Nanica54]

Hi,

I have the same problem, one red blink and reader disconnecting.  The battery does not seem to be charging, as the reader is physically connected to a USB port all the time (we have an iPad 2).  What should I do?  Software is up-to-date.  Thank you for your help.

[RayD]

I'm having the same problem. I keep my chip reader plugged in all the time and am getting a flashing red light indicating low battery. Unit arrived in January. Is it dead already?

Ray

[Sean · Accepted solution]

Sorry to hear about the reader issues! 

If you see one blinking red light, then it means your contactless and chip reader is low on batteries and is in need of a charge.

If you are seeing all 4 red blinking lights, it sounds like you’ve held the button for too long, and the reader has been reset to factory settings. You'll need to re-pair it to your device, as if it were new. 

You can also find some more useful troubleshooting steps here.

Hope this helps! 

[WineandRoses]

I just tried only holding the power button down for two seconds and it immediately goes to 4 flashing red lights.

This is the 6th card reader (out of 11) that I have had problems.   I've tried the hard reset and it just comes back on with 4 flashing red lights.  Pretty darn frustrating!!

[Glimmer42]

Same problem with the flashing 4 red lights. 

Sign out and sign in again. Fixed it for me. 

[BayBarbers]

I am having this problem , my reader is factory reset, I did that because it stopped pairing with my devices. Bluetooth is on when trying to pair, the lights on my reader just never flash orange I’m just holding it down so long trying to pair it on a 24 g network , it just flashes red again. Help.

[Helen]

Hi again @BayBarbers, sorry to hear your reader isn't pairing with your device. Have you tried the additional pairing troubleshooting steps in the Support Center? If the reader still won't pair I recommend calling our CS team so they can help you to get your reader back up and running! 

[eurekafabrics]

My chip reader kept losing a charge, so I went to the warranty page, and got a new one.

Now the new one isn't keeping a charge, even though it's plugged into the dock all the time, so I'm thinking it's my dock.   I changed where my doc is plugged in, to make sure it's getting power, but it's still happening.

Before I spend $30 on a new dock, does this make sense to you?  Should I spend on a new dock?  I'm losing time and money keying in cards by hand!

Thanks!

[Du]

Reader won’t flash orange, just red?

[Joe]

Hi there, @Du. Thanks for reaching out here. Yikes! - so sorry for the trouble with your reader.

I've merged you post with another thread of Sellers who were also experiencing this issue with their Contactless & Chip Reader. The Best Answer in this thread may be helpful here.

Let me know if you have any questions! We want to make sure this gets solved for you.

[birdiesgelato]

Hi Sean! I have one Square reader that plugs into my iphone and it seems to be defective (I'm a new small business just getting started). Is there a way to order a replacement or exchange this?

Thank you!

Meghan 

[JJ_]

Hey there @birdiesgelato 

I recommend reaching out to our Support team for them to help with replacing your reader. All Square hardware comes with a 1-year warranty. So if this applies we would be able to replace it free of charge.

I hope this information is helpful and Welcome to the Seller Community!

[birdiesgelato]

@JJ_ thanks so much! How do I get in touch with support? 

[JJ_]

To speak with our Support Team by phone, you can give us a call at 855-700-6000 between 6 am - 6 pm Pacific Time Monday-Friday. If you call outside of these hours, you will be required to enter your Customer Code to validate your account.

You can also get in touch with our Messaging and Email Support Teams here: http://squ.re/contactsqsupport

[Tadzio]

I’ve seen several people on this thread suggesting that their USB base is defective and that they can’t charge the reader anymore. Happy to say that I have a solution! Hopefully it’s THE solution, but time will tell. 

The reader itself can be charged or powered by a standard micro-USB cable. Take it out of the base and plug it into the cable. If it starts charging then you’re golden! If it doesn’t, then you likely have a bad reader/battery. 

Now if the battery is completely dead then it may take several minutes of charging before it will respond. It appears to me that it won’t work with a bad battery, even if it is connected to power. In that case, it’s probably time to get a replacement via warranty (if available) or purchase. 

I hope that some of you find this helpful. I’m extremely technical, so I know what I’m talking about more than most. Good luck!

[auldyeller]

Sadly we’re still having this issue, after switching to just the charging cable, instead of the dock.