Something is wrong with your payment terminal. Use this guide to identify what you're seeing and go straight to the right fix.
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? 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.
?️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 requires a hard reboot — relaunching the app alone will not fix it.
- 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, see: Terminal Screen is Black, Frozen, or Not Responding →
?The terminal screen is on, but DealerWorks shows it as Offline
The device is powered and responsive, but shows "Network Disconnected" or doesn't appear in the terminal list
The terminal has lost its connection to DealerWorks. Relaunch the DealerPOS app — no hardware reboot needed.
- On the terminal screen, press the circle (Home) button at the bottom to minimize DealerPOS.
- Swipe the DealerPOS app off the recent apps list to fully close it.
- Tap the DealerPOS icon on the home screen to open 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 and can apply pending app updates that may have been blocking the connection. This does not affect any transaction data or reporting.
If relaunching DealerPOS doesn't bring the terminal back online, see: Terminal Offline: Relaunch DealerPOS →
?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 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 it times out, the transaction will show as Failed in the Transactions list. Then reprocess from the start.
The terminal doesn't appear in the selection list when processing
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, then refresh your browser. If no terminals appear at all after relaunching, contact DealerWorks support.
None of the above resolved it?
While the terminal is being resolved, you can still collect payment using a different method — payment request by text or email, keyed card entry (if your role permits), cash, or check. The customer does not need to wait.
When contacting DealerWorks support, have 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: Always check the Transactions list first to confirm whether the original attempt shows as Approved, Failed, or still pending. Reprocessing without checking is the most common cause of duplicate charges from terminal issues.