PAX A920 troubleshooting: fixes for the most common issues.

Most PAX A920 problems are fixed by one of three moves: get it on the right network, reboot it properly, or let the PAXSTORE client re-sync. The trick is knowing which move matches which symptom — and knowing when the terminal is actually fine and the real problem sits with your processor. Work through the section that matches your symptom — each covers the likely cause before the fix. Everything here applies to the A920 and A920Pro alike unless noted.

1. Wi-Fi won't connect or keeps dropping

First check: 2.4GHz vs 5GHz

This is the single most common reason an A920 "can't see" a network. Per PAX's own datasheets for the A920 and A920Pro, both models ship with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi as standard — 5GHz is an optional configuration, not a given. Many fielded units are 2.4GHz-only. If your router broadcasts a single combined SSID or a 5GHz-only network, the terminal may never list it. The fix: make sure your router broadcasts a 2.4GHz SSID and join the terminal to that one.

Connects, then drops

If the terminal joins but keeps losing connection, work through the basics: check signal strength where the terminal actually lives (not just where it was set up), re-enter the Wi-Fi password under the terminal's network settings, and reboot both the terminal and the router. If your network runs DHCP, note that a power-cycled router can hand the terminal a new IP address — fine for a standalone terminal, but if anything on your network points at the terminal's IP, that reference breaks. A static IP (or a DHCP reservation) keeps the address stable; just make sure the static settings match your subnet and gateway exactly, because a typo there looks identical to "Wi-Fi is broken."

Captive portals and guest networks

Avoid guest networks that show a login or "accept terms" page. Those captive-portal sessions expire on their own schedule, and when they do, the terminal shows full Wi-Fi signal but has no real internet — which surfaces as random comms errors hours or days later. A payment terminal should live on a normal, password-protected network, ideally one that isn't shared with dozens of customer phones.

2. "Comms Error" or can't reach host

A comms error means one thing: the terminal tried to talk to its processing host and didn't get an answer. The cause is either your network or the host configuration — and it's worth splitting those cleanly, because they have different owners.

Network side (yours): confirm the terminal shows Wi-Fi or cellular signal, confirm other devices on the same network can reach the internet, and reboot the terminal. If you're on a SIM, check that mobile data is enabled and the signal indicator isn't empty. A terminal that passed the Wi-Fi checks above and still can't reach anything usually just needs the reboot.

Host side (your processor's): if the network is healthy and the error persists — especially if it started suddenly on a terminal that worked yesterday, or appears on every transaction — the problem is almost always host configuration: the terminal's host settings, merchant parameters, or the processor's own endpoint. That is not something you can fix from the terminal menu. Call your processor or ISO with the exact error text and your serial number (location below), and they can check the host side in minutes.

3. Frozen or unresponsive screen

The A920 runs PayDroid, PAX's Android-based OS, and like any Android device it can occasionally hang. The recovery ladder, gentlest first:

• Normal reboot. Hold the power button on the right side until the power menu appears, then choose Reboot.
• Forced restart. If the screen is frozen and no menu appears, keep holding the power button until the device restarts on its own.
• Battery pull — last resort only. Slide the battery cover hatch on the back of the terminal, remove the cover, pull the battery, wait about 30 seconds, reseat it, and power on. Do this only when both reboots above have failed.

If a terminal freezes repeatedly, note what was on screen each time. A hang that always occurs in the same app is an app problem (see the PAXSTORE section); random hangs — and especially freezes during a card interaction — are worth a call to your provider.

4. Battery drains fast or won't charge

The A920 is a battery-powered mobile terminal, and batteries age. Before assuming the worst:

• Clean the base contacts. If the terminal charges on a dock, the gold contact plates on both the base and the terminal collect grime. Clean both sets; a terminal that charges over USB but not on the base is almost always a contact problem.
• Test the cable path. Charge directly via the USB port with the PAX-supplied adapter, and try a different outlet and cable to rule out the cheap parts before blaming the expensive one.
• New unit that won't charge? Open the battery compartment and check for a protective pull-tab on the battery — it ships installed and blocks the contacts until removed.
• Tame the drain. Lower screen brightness in the display settings, close background apps, and shorten the screen sleep timeout. A screen at full brightness all day is the biggest single drain on the battery.
• Accept battery age. A battery that held a shift a year ago and dies by lunch now is worn, not misconfigured. Batteries are replaceable — ask your provider about a swap rather than tethering the terminal to a charger forever.

5. Printer problems

The A920's built-in printer is thermal: no ink, no ribbon — the paper itself darkens with heat. That drives every printer fix.

Printing blank receipts? The paper is in backwards. Thermal paper only prints on its coated side, so open the compartment and flip the roll: the paper should feed from the back of the roll, up and over the cutting bar, so the coated outer surface faces the print head. This is the number-one printer "fault," and it costs nothing to fix.

Not printing at all, or jamming? Confirm you're using 57mm (2¼-inch) thermal rolls — the size the A920 takes — and that the roll isn't oversized for the compartment. Open the compartment, clear any torn scraps, reseat the roll loosely (it should spin freely), leave the leading edge lying over the cutter, and snap the door fully shut — a door that isn't clicked closed won't grip the paper. Then reboot and print a test receipt.

6. Card reads failing (chip or tap)

When inserts or taps stop reading, isolate the variable first: try more than one card. One card failing everywhere is a card problem; every card failing is a terminal problem. For the chip slot, debris is the usual culprit — clean the reader with a proper cleaning card (or a soft cloth), then reboot the terminal and try again. For contactless, make sure the card or phone is held flat and steady over the NFC area at the top of the screen rather than waved past it.

One important distinction: a card that reads but then declines is not a reader problem — the hardware did its job and the answer came back from the issuer. If cleaning and a reboot don't restore reads across multiple cards, stop there and call your provider: a failed reader is a hardware repair, not a settings issue.

7. Apps won't update from PAXSTORE

Apps on the A920 don't come from Google Play — they're distributed through the PAXSTORE client, and your processor or ISO pushes releases to your terminal. When an update stalls or an app never arrives, work through this in order:

• Connectivity first. Downloads need a stable connection. Fix any Wi-Fi issue from section 1 before touching anything else, and give large downloads a few minutes before declaring them stuck.
• Free up storage. A full terminal can't download anything. In the terminal's storage settings, clear cached data and remove anything unused.
• Reset the PAXSTORE client. Force Stop the PAXSTORE app, clear its data, and relaunch. The client behaves as if freshly installed and re-triggers any incomplete downloads — this clears most stuck queues.
• Still nothing? If the client syncs cleanly but the app you expect never appears, the push may not be assigned to your terminal on the PAXSTORE side. That's a one-minute fix for your provider — call them with your serial number.

Before you call support

Two minutes of prep turns a 40-minute support call into a 10-minute one. Have this done and noted:

• Reboot once, properly. Power menu → Reboot. It genuinely clears a large share of faults, and support will ask you to do it anyway.
• Check the signal. Note whether the Wi-Fi or cellular indicator shows a healthy connection, and whether other devices on the same network are online.
• Note the exact error text. "It says comms error 100" gets diagnosed; "it's not working" gets a script read to you.
• Note when it started and whether anything changed — new router, new ISP, moved the terminal, new app pushed.
• Have the serial number ready. It's on the label on the back of the terminal, just above the rear camera, prefixed S/N — and on the shipping-box label too.

When it's not the terminal at all

Here's the honest part most guides skip: declines, batch failures, and settlement problems are almost never terminal faults. The terminal is a messenger — it captures the card, sends the transaction, and displays whatever answer comes back. A decline is the issuer's answer. A batch that won't close or funds that don't arrive live in your processor's host and your merchant account configuration. You can reboot an A920 all day and it won't change any of those.

So split your calls: hardware and connectivity issues go to whoever supplied the device; anything involving money — declines, batches, funding, rates — goes to your processor or ISO. If those are the same company, one call covers it, which is a real argument for keeping your terminal, processing, and support under one roof instead of three vendors pointing at each other.

The A920 family is what Lifted Pay runs on

We troubleshoot these terminals because we build for them: the Lifted Pay terminal app runs on the PAX A920 family — PAX-signed and PayDroid-certified. Card processing runs on the Maverick gateway with E2EE tokenization, ACH on NMI, and the merchant portal at pay.liftedpayments.com covers the virtual terminal, transactions, and reports. If you're setting up a terminal from scratch, start with the A920 setup and app guide; for the full picture, see Lifted Pay. And if your current processor is the vendor that never answers the phone, send one statement for an honest interchange-plus rate review — no application fee.