Something is wrong with your payment terminal. Use this guide to identify what you're seeing and go straight to the right fix. Most terminal problems fall into one of three situations — find yours below.
Before anything else — check two things
1. Is the terminal plugged in and powered on? The power cable connects to the left side of the device. If the screen is completely dark, confirm the cable is firmly seated before doing anything else.
2. Is the terminal on the dealership's Wi-Fi network? It must be on your designated secure network — not a guest network or a personal hotspot. A lost Wi-Fi connection is the most common cause of terminal issues.
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The terminal screen is black, frozen, or won't respond to touch
The physical device is unresponsive — tapping the screen does nothing, or the screen won't turn on at all
This is a hardware issue with the terminal device itself. It requires a hard reboot — relaunching the app alone will not fix it.
Try these steps in order:
- Unplug the power cable from the left side of the terminal.
- Press and hold the power button on the left side of the device.
- Keep holding until a white icon appears on screen. Do not plug the cable back in yet — the timing of this step matters.
- Once the white icon appears, plug the power cable back in.
- Wait 2–3 minutes for the terminal to fully boot. The DealerPOS app should relaunch automatically.
- Return to DealerWorks in your browser and refresh the page. The terminal should now show as Online.
Do not send a new payment to the terminal until the previous session has fully cleared. If a payment was in progress when the terminal froze, check the Transactions list before reprocessing to avoid a duplicate charge.
If the terminal does not recover after a hard reboot, or if the screen remains black after plugging back in, see the full article: Terminal Screen is Black, Frozen, or Not Responding →
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The terminal screen is on, but DealerWorks shows it as Offline
The device is powered and responsive, but the terminal shows "Network Disconnected" or doesn't appear in the terminal list when processing a payment
The terminal is on but has lost its connection to DealerWorks. This is usually fixed by relaunching the DealerPOS app on the device — no hardware reboot needed.
Try these steps in order:
- On the terminal screen, press the circle (Home) button at the bottom to minimize the DealerPOS app.
- Swipe the DealerPOS app off the recent apps list to fully close it.
- Tap the DealerPOS icon on the home screen to reopen a fresh session.
- Return to DealerWorks in your browser and refresh the page.
- If the terminal still shows Offline after refreshing, log out and log back in to DealerWorks to reset your browser session.
Why this works: Relaunching DealerPOS forces the terminal to re-establish its connection to DealerWorks. It can also apply pending app updates that may have been blocking the connection.
This restart does not affect any transaction data or reporting.
If relaunching DealerPOS does not bring the terminal back online, see the full article: Terminal Offline: Relaunch DealerPOS →
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The terminal is Online, but a payment isn't going through
The terminal appears in DealerWorks, payment was sent, but it's stuck, not prompting the customer, or showing an error
The terminal is connected but something went wrong with a specific transaction. Find your situation below.
The terminal received the payment but the customer screen is stuck or not prompting
Wait for the current request to time out — do not send the payment again while it is still active. Once the session times out, the transaction will show as Failed in the Transactions list. Then reprocess the payment from the start.
The transaction status has been yellow for several minutes
Confirm the customer has completed their card interaction on the terminal. If the customer is done but the status hasn't updated, refresh your browser. If still yellow after refreshing, contact DealerWorks support with the transaction ID and timestamp — do not reprocess until the original request resolves.
The terminal doesn't appear in the terminal selection list when processing a payment
The terminal may have dropped its connection between when you loaded the page and when you opened the payment modal. Relaunch DealerPOS on the terminal device, then refresh your browser. If no terminals appear at all after relaunching, contact DealerWorks support.
The transaction came back red — Declined
This is a card issue, not a terminal issue. The terminal worked correctly — the customer's bank declined the charge. Do not retry the same card repeatedly. Ask the customer to use a different card or payment method. See Understanding Transaction States in DealerWorks for a full list of decline reasons.
If None of the Above Resolved It
While the terminal is being resolved, you can still collect payment from the customer using a different method — a payment request by text or email, keyed card entry (if your role has permission), cash, or check. The customer does not need to wait.
When contacting DealerWorks support, have the following ready:
- Terminal name or ID — printed on the sticker on the bottom of the device
- What the terminal screen currently shows — exact text or error message if visible
- What the terminal shows in DealerWorks — Online, Offline, or not appearing at all
- Steps already tried — DealerPOS relaunch, hard reboot, browser refresh
- Wi-Fi network name the terminal is connected to (if known)
- Transaction ID if a payment was in progress when the issue occurred
Before reprocessing any payment
If a payment was in progress when the terminal went down, always check the Transactions list first. Confirm whether the original attempt shows as Approved, Failed, or is still pending before taking any action. Reprocessing without checking first is the most common cause of duplicate charges from terminal issues.