Pax Device - Network Diagnostics and Troubleshooting

Introduction

This guide will give an overview on how to troubleshoot and configuring a PAX device attempting to connect via Wifi, Ethernet or RNDIS.

Common Troubleshooting Steps

The troubleshooting steps below will cover basic resolution instructions to bring the terminal out of generic networking errors. These steps should be attempted before troubleshooting any specific issues.

• Confirm that the pinpad device is powered on and that it is charging correctly.
• Check that the pinpad device is connected to the correct Wifi network.

The function codes below can be entered onto the terminal device, this can be accessible from the 'POS Connect' screen.

• 1111 2227
  Configured the terminal communication methods (Cloud or On-Premises).
• 8880
  When the terminal is configured for Cloud, this will generate a Cloud pairing code.
• 42071
  Performs a network diagnostics test between the device, local network and gateway.
• Confirm that the terminals base (if using RNDIS) is powered on and connected via its AC adapter.
• Confirm the Ethernet or USB cables are properly connected to the base and that Pinpad is displaying an Ethernet icon on the top task bar.

Identifying Network Issues

Check the terminals connectivity icons
On the Pax terminal terminal, displayed on the top bar this will show the currently connectivity of the device.
If the terminal has missing Wifi or Ethernet - Check the physical connections or attempt reconnection to Wifi.

Ethernet or Wifi Icons present but transactions fail
Possible upstream link issue, run through function code 42071 and troubleshoot network comms between the terminal and the network.

Common Network Error Responses

These responses return either from the Host or the terminal device when encountering network related issues.

X0 - No Response
Response from the Host was not received before the transaction timeout occurred.

CE - Connect Failure
Generic connection failure for an attempt made out towards the Host.

Host Unreachable
The Pax terminal attempted to send a request to the configured Host but no route was found.

Comms Limited
Enable or connect the network comms such as Wifi, Ethernet or RNDIS (USB)


 

Wi-Fi Troubleshooting

The Pax device can utilise the local Wifi network for its primary network communications method.

To access the Wifi settings, tap the hamburger menu on the top right side of the screen and press 'Wifi Settings'.
From this menu, confirm that the Wifi is connected to your desired wireless access point.

Specifically for RNDIS connected devices (If the terminal is paired to a base) ensure that the terminal does not have any other known Wifi access points associated. Sometimes during power on, the pinpad may inadvertently connect to another Wifi network instead of bases Wireless access point.

To confirm that the pinpad has only have one single known Wifi network:

1. Go to the Burger Menu and select ‘WiFi Settings’.
2. Ensure the terminal is connected to the Bases Wifi Access Point denoted by the SSID of the Base model name plus the Base serial number.
3. If the terminal is NOT connected to the Base Wifi Access Point, then manually connect to it.
4. Look for any other Wifi networks marked as  saved or known and select ‘Forget’ on those networks. 

 

RNDIS Troubleshooting

The Pax terminal can be configured for primary comms via Ethernet  or USB if the correct hardware is available. 
The A80 has its own Ethernet interface, but the A920, A920Pro, A910s will require their own base to utilise an Ethernet connection, this is connection type is called RNDIS.

To troubleshoot the Pax device when it is communicating over RNDIS or USB to Ethernet, please follow the steps below.

Firstly, ensure that the Linkly RNDIS service is running, this can be viewed from the PC under 'Services.msc', labelled 'LinklyRndisService'. This is installed by default when installing Linkly standard or lite installer

• Ensure that the Linkly RNDIS Service is running.
• Confirm that the Pax terminal is on the base, and the base is connected to power and the Ethernet cable is attached to the LAN port.
• Confirm you are able to successfully pair the terminal (via bluetooth) to the base.
  This can be completed by tapping on the hamburger menu on the top right of the screen, then choosing the 'Setup Wifi Base' option.

• On the PC, navigate to the Network Connections control panel.
  From the primary Internet link (the network adapter that is connected to the internet), navigate to Properties. Click on the Sharing tab, enable Sharing and choose the network adapter that is connected to the USB or Ethernet Pax device.

• If the terminal is integrated, add the Linkly Client to the exception list to the Windows firewall.

Internet Connection Sharing Settings

By default the Linkly Standard and Lite installer will include the LinklyRNDISConfigService service which will enabled the correct ICS configuration when connecting the Pax device via RNDIS.
Alternatively, you can manually configure these settings as a troubleshooting process by following the steps below.

To enable Internet Connection Sharing, go to 'Network Connections' on the PC, right click on the desired network connection and select ‘Properties’ and select the ‘Sharing’ tab. Select ‘Allow other network users to connect’ and then ‘OK’. If not sharing for any other means, then it is pertinent to restrict Internet Connection Sharing to the RNDIS Network Adapter.

To confirm internet connection sharing is set up correctly, try:

• Run the Base Pairing wizard from the Pax device and check the last step where the Internet Connected is tested. This should result in a green tick if the ICS is working. If the internet connection test is failed with a red cross, check and/or reconfigure the ICS settings on the PC (POS)
• Or plug the USB cable into the USB slave port on the back of the base. Check for an unidentified Ethernet connection e.g. ‘Ethernet 3’. Right click on the Ethernet connection and select ‘Properties’ then select ‘Internet Protocol Version 4’. Confirm that the Ethernet connection has the PC’s IP address.

Failover Comms

For the Pax terminals that support 4G network capability, 4G failover allows the terminals to automatically switch from their primary internet connection (usually Ethernet or Wifi) to a 4G cellular network if the primary connection fails. This will ensure uninterrupted payment processing.

To ensure Failover comms is enabled, make sure the configuration settings below are set to Y (enabled) from either PaySuite or in the 'overrideparams.xml' config file.
commsFallbackEnabled
commsFallbackHost
 

Monitoring Link Status

• Physical link status monitoring detects the LAN connection is down. This is automatically performed by the Android OS. The wifi or ‘base’ icon will disappear, and the primary connection/route will become the backup  method (e.g. cellular).
• Financial transaction or other function requiring online operation is initiated (e.g. purchase, settlement, logon, reversal, etc), and a connection error is detected ('last minute' detection, results in a connection timeout period being observed by the user if failover to 4G is synchronous).

Failover Logic

• Transactions should be sent across the default/current link. While in fallback mode, this should be the secondary link.
• If an on-prem mode of operation is in use, the primary link must be used for all POS communications. This requires the link to be up. (This is the same regardless of fallback state).
• During idle time, the terminal will perform a periodic internet health check operation on the LAN link. 
  When this detects that internet is up again on the LAN link, the terminal will revert to Normal (no fallback) operation mode (primary comms).