Troubleshooting an Opayo (formerly SagePay) VX820 PIN Pad

Chip & PIN machines (PIN pads, as we’ll refer to them), like any pieces of hardware, are unlikely to work 100% of the time. While problems should hopefully be rare, we’ve gathered together some of the common issues you might face to help you troubleshoot in the event that you’re struggling to get your PIN pads installed, or if they stop working as expected.

Although Spektrix doesn’t produce PIN pads, we will always be on hand to help fix any issues you encounter with them. In some cases we may need to refer you to SagePay, or the PIN pad’s manufacturer, but please check with us as your first line of support.

This article is intended to be your first port of call for issues specifically with the VX820 pin pad model. It is a resource that you can use to try and resolve any issues with your PIN pads. If the problem you’re seeing isn’t listed here, or if you’ve followed these steps and you’re still having problems, please get in touch with the Spektrix Support team.

If you are having issues using the P400 pin pad model, please consult the following guides and get in touch with us if you're still having issues:

Always check this first

In the event that a PIN pad stops working, the first thing to do is to check that your Box Office App is connected and configured correctly.

The Box Office App is a small program which needs to be installed on every computer that you want to connect a ticket printer, chip and pin pad or cash drawer to. It provides the bridge between that computer’s locally installed hardware and your Spektrix system, which is accessed via a web browser.

If a computer’s App is not connected, then any hardware installed on that computer will not work with Spektrix, and may not appear where you would normally see it in the Change local settings section within the Spektrix control panel. See this article for more information about the Box Office App, or this guide to troubleshooting the App.

Next steps

If a PIN pad still isn’t working once you’ve checked your Box Office App, then it may be related to one of the problems listed below. While this list is not exhaustive, it should cover most common problems, and where possible we’ve tried to include not only the cause of the problem, but how to fix it and avoid it happening again.

Click on one of the links below to go straight to that section of this article:

I’m installing a PIN pad and the download of Sagepay’s Guardian software didn't work OR I'm seeing the message 'Failed to Initialise Download'
My Chip and Pin machine is unresponsive even though we are not getting any error message on its screen
The Guardian Software does not display when I try to complete a Chip and Pin transaction
The PIN pad was unplugged and plugged back in again and / or it was moved to a different USB port on the PC and now it no longer works!
When I attempt a chip and pin payment, I’m only prompted to key in the card number, rather than tap or swipe...
My chip and pin transactions aren’t being reflected in MySagepay
My PIN pad restarts every time I take a payment
I get the message 'Contactless Error'or 'Failed Initialising Contactless Reader' when turning on the pin pad.
I get the message 'Chip Error' when trying to take a card payment
Receipts aren’t printing out when I first process a chip and pin transaction

I’m installing a PIN pad and the download of Sagepay’s Guardian software didn't work

The process of installing Sagepay’s Guardian software on a PIN pad is detailed in this article, and involves making TMS calls, during which the PIN pad checks for any required software downloads from Sagepay.

Some versions of the Guardian software will require at least two TMS calls to fully download. This can mean it looks like the first download has failed, when in fact you’ll just need to make more TMS calls. If this is the case, the PIN pad screen may display the message WAITING FOR DOWNLOAD REQUEST...

**Here’s how to run another TMS call:**

First, launch the Guardian Configuration Utility, if it isn’t already open on your computer. You can usually find this at: C:\Program Files (x86)\IntegralCreditCard\IntegralConfig.exe.

To force Guardian to make a TMS call you just need to make a change on any one of the screens - the easiest thing to do is to untick an option and re-tick it, as Guardian interprets that as a change being made.

From the first screen, keep clicking Next to get to the final Size, Positioning and Logo screen.
Untick and re-tick the Force Guardian to always be on top check box before clicking Finish.

On the following screen, select Run TMS Call, after which the PIN pad screen will show the progress of the download and installation.

It can occasionally take around 5-6 separate TMS calls, but the PIN pad should eventually display the Sagepay Welcome screen, at which point the installation is complete.

If you see the message Failed to Initialise Download at any point, you may need to press OK or the green Enter key (on the device itself) before the PIN pad will return to the WAITING FOR DOWNLOAD REQUEST... screen, at which point you can continue with the TMS calls as per the above.

It’s normal to see "Certificate Error" messages while the PIN pad is running through the updating process. However, if at any point during the installation you get a certificate error and are asked to press "Enter" to continue, there have been multiple unexpected certificate failures.

This can happen if there are old certificates installed on the PIN pad, due to manufacturer error, or if the PIN pad has previously been used with another payment provider and needs to be repurposed.

Please contact the Spektrix Support team in this case, who will be able to advise further.

My Chip and Pin machine is unresponsive even though we are not getting any error message on its screen

It may have crashed. Try unplugging it from the PC and plugging it back in again. Now, restart the PC it is attached to.

If it’s still unresponsive, have you recently plugged another USB device into the computer? Sometimes this can cause the COM port that was originally assigned to the PIN pad to change.

The Guardian Software will be attempting to communicate with the PIN pad on COM port 9, and if this has been reassigned then the PIN pad will no longer respond.

You can double-check the PIN pad is in the correct COM port by launching the Device Manager and expanding the Ports menu, where the PIN pad should show as Pad Model Name (COM9).

If the PIN pad is showing in a different COM port, or its model name is not correctly displayed, please refer to this article.

A final thing to check is that Windows Updates have all been run on the PC in question. Microsoft sometimes puts out key security updates and without these your PIN pad may stop processing payments:

Windows 7

Click the Start menu button.
Click All Programs.
Scroll the list and click Windows Update. The Windows Update window will open.
To check for updates, click Check for updates.
To install updates, click Install Updates.

Windows 8.1

Launch the start menu. This is the Windows icon that is present at the lower-left corner of your screen.
Type check for updates and hit Enter.
Click Check for updates to begin.
Click on Install updates if updates are available.
Review and accept the license terms, then click on Finish. Windows will then take a few moments to install the latest updates from Microsoft.

Windows 10

Launch the start menu. This is the Windows icon that is present at the lower-left corner of your screen.
Type check for updates and hit Enter.
Click Check for updates to begin.
If there is an update available, it will start installing. If there are no updates, it will say that your PC is up to date.

The Guardian Software does not display when I try to complete a Chip and Pin transaction

The Guardian Software window, in which you will normally see prompts on the PC telling you to Tap/Insert/Swipe a payment card, will only show on the computer that has the PIN pad attached:

If you are not seeing this window appear when attempting a transaction in Spektrix, but the PIN pad is asking you to insert/tap the card as normal, then try minimizing all of the application and browser windows that you currently have open on your computer’s desktop.

If the Guardian software window is open underneath other windows, then you should be able to complete the transaction as normal, and will then need to change some settings in the Guardian Configuration Utility to ensure that the software window is always ‘on top’ in future. Here’s how to do that:

Open the SagePay Guardian configuration utility.

This is usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\IntegralCreditCard\IntegralConfig.exe

Once that’s launched, click Next until you reach the Size, Positioning and Logo screen.

Make sure Force Guardian to always be ‘on top’ is ticked, then click Finish and select Run TMS Call on the following page.
The PIN pad should briefly show the progress of the download and installation of any required software update, before returning to the Sagepay Welcome screen. If this option was already ticked, then just click Close.

If the window was not underneath other applications, and you have multiple PIN pads in use at your venue, it’s possible that you have selected the wrong PIN pad from the Change local settings menu in the Spektrix Control Panel.

NOTE: make sure there is at least one ticket printer selected in the Select Box Office App screen, as without this the Guardian window may not display.

If you have definitely selected the correct PIN pad and are still not seeing the Guardian Software window when attempting transactions, please contact Support.

The PIN pad was unplugged and plugged back in again and / or it was moved to a different USB port on the PC and now it no longer works!

Sometimes this can cause the COM port that was originally assigned to the PIN pad to change. Sagepay’s Guardian Software will be attempting to communicate with the pad on COM port 9, and if this has been reassigned, then the PIN pad will no longer respond.

Here’s how to troubleshoot that:

Double-check that the PIN pad is in the correct COM port by launching Device Manager and expanding the Ports menu, where the PIN pad should show as Pad Model Name (COM9).

If the pad is showing in a different COM port, or its model name is not correctly displayed, please refer to this article.

NOTE: some networks have COM port security (particularly common in council-owned venues) which means that only certain USB ports are available to the PIN pads. In this case, double-check that the PIN pad has been plugged into the same port that it used previously. It may be worth labelling this for future reference.

If the PIN pad doesn't automatically assign to COM9 and manually assigning also doesn't work, try unplugging all of your USB devices and then plugging the PIN pad back into each USB port, cycling through the ports until it assigns automatically to COM9.

When I attempt a chip and pin payment, I’m only prompted to key in the card number, rather than tap or swipe...

This can mean that while the Guardian software on the computer is working correctly, it’s not able to successfully communicate with the PIN pad. This results in the only option left being to manually key in the card details to process a payment, as this doesn’t rely on the PIN pad itself. This may happen if the port assigned to the PIN pad has changed, or a Windows update has corrupted the driver itself.

You can double-check the pad is in the correct COM port by launching the PC’s Device Manager and expanding the Ports menu, where the pad should show as Pad Model Name (COM9).

If the pad is showing in a different COM port, or its model name is not correctly displayed, please refer to this article.
If the pad is showing in COM9, with the model name displayed, but a yellow warning sign (or exclamation mark) is displayed, then you will need to fully remove and reinstall the driver. It's important you follow the below steps in the exact order they appear.
- Right click on the driver as per the image above and click 'uninstall'.
- Unplug the pin pad
- Check if the 'Verifone' Folder in C:ProgramFiles/Verifone is still present. If it is, delete it, and restart your PC if required.
- Click this link to download the driver files again
- Extract the folder with the driver files and run the 'setup' file.
- Plug the pin pad back into the PC
- The pin pad may now be showing in a different COM Port. Please refer to this article for steps to resolve this.

If you are still being prompted to 'key in card number' after following the above steps, please contact the Support team.

My chip and pin transactions aren’t being reflected in My SagePay

Card Machine transactions aren’t shown in My SagePay until the day after they’re processed. If you’ve checked back and they still haven’t appeared, this might mean that the security permissions haven’t been correctly set for the IntegralCreditCard folder on the PC.

The folder is usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\IntegralCreditCard, but this may differ.

The PIN pad needs to be able to read from and write to this folder, regardless of which user is logged into the PC, in order for transaction confirmations to be successfully passed to SagePay. This article details how to check the permissions are correctly set.

If the folder permissions are incorrect this will mean that the transactions confirmed with this PIN pad won’t yet have reached your bank account. Don’t panic, they are just stuck - once the folder permissions issue is fixed, SagePay can manually process these pending transactions. Just let the Spektrix Support team know to arrange this for you.

If the folder permissions are already correct and you are a relatively new Spektrix client, please contact the Support team, as we may need to ask SagePay to adjust some of your newly created account settings.

My PIN pad restarts every time I take a payment

This could be caused by the Guardian Software having been configured incorrectly, so to troubleshoot it you need to go back through the Guardian setup and make sure everything is set as per this article.

The first thing to do is check that Guardian isn’t set to run a TMS call at the start of each day. Here’s how to do that:

Open the SagePay Guardian configuration utility.

This is usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\IntegralCreditCard\IntegralConfig.exe

Click Next until you reach the Configuration (General) screen, and double check that the Perform TMS Call after first transaction of the day check box is NOT ticked.

It’s also worth double-checking the rest of the configuration as per the installation article, in case there were any other setup errors.
Once you have made any necessary changes, click Finish and then Run TMS Call on the final page.
The pin pad will then check if any additional downloads are required, and will display any progress on its screen, before returning to the Sagepay Welcome screen when finished.

I get the message 'Contactless Error' or 'Failed Initialising Contactless Reader' when turning on the pin pad

This might just be a case that the PIN pad needs to run another TMS call. Here’s how to try resolving this:

Open the SagePay Guardian configuration utility.

This is usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\IntegralCreditCard\IntegralConfig.exe

Click Next until you reach the final page, Size, Positioning and Logo, then untick and re-tick the Force Guardian to always be ‘on top’ check-box before clicking Finish.

On the next page, from the drop-down menu, select Force full download to ped and then click Run TMS Call.
The pin pad should then begin downloading and installing software, with the progress displayed on its screen.
If the pin pad doesn't begin downloading and installing software, repeat the above steps, this time selecting 'Run Standard TMS call' before pressing Finish.
Once it has returned to the Sagepay Welcome screen, unplug the pad before plugging it back in and trying some test transactions.

If it does not respond to the TMS call or does not subsequently return to the Sagepay Welcome screen, it may be due to a hardware fault that would require the PIN pad to be replaced. Please contact the Spektrix Support team to arrange this if necessary.

I get the message 'Chip Error' when trying to take a card payment

Here’s how to try resolving this:

Open the SagePay Guardian configuration utility.

This is usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\IntegralCreditCard\IntegralConfig.exe

If you have the latest version of Guardian then it should show as v1.32, in which case:

Click Next until you reach the final page, Size, Positioning and Logo.

Untick and re-tick the Force Guardian to always be ‘on top’ check-box before clicking Finish.
On the next page, from the drop-down menu, select Force full download to ped and then click Run TMS Call.

The pin pad should then begin downloading and installing software, with the progress displayed on its screen. Once it has returned to the Sagepay Welcome screen, you should be able to carry out some test transactions.

If the PayRouter Guardian Configuration Utility shows a different version number than v1.32 when launched:

Click Next, checking that the current configuration on each page matches step two (Configuring the PIN pad's software) onwards of this article and making a note of your organisation-specific information, before closing and uninstalling the program.
Once uninstalled, delete the IntegralCreditCard folder (you may need to restart your computer before completing this step).

The folder is usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\IntegralCreditCard.

You will now need to download and configure the latest version of this program.
Follow step two (Configuring the PIN pad's software) onwards of this article before running a TMS call to Force full download to ped as per the above.
Payments should then work as normal.

Receipts aren’t printing out when I first process a chip and pin transaction

This can sometimes happen if the PC the PIN pad is connected to has recently had any updates applied, leading to certain software configuration being out of date. Uninstalling and reinstalling the Guardian Configuration Utility should resolve this issue.

To uninstall the existing version:

Open the Control Panel on your PC by searching for it in the Start menu and selecting Uninstall a program.

Select Sagepay Payrouter Guardian v.X.XX (where X.XX refers to the version you have installed) from the list and click Uninstall.
Once uninstalled, delete the IntegralCreditCard folder (you may need to restart your computer before completing this step).
- The folder is usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\IntegralCreditCard.
You will now need to download and configure the latest version of this program, step two (Configuring the PIN pad's software) onwards of this article before running a TMS call.
The PIN pad should briefly check for any required software downloads before cycling back to the standard Sagepay Welcome screen.

If you find that the chip and pin card receipt still isn’t printing after making these changes, please contact the Spektrix Support team.

***

Hopefully this article has covered everything you need to know about troubleshooting a SagePay chip & PIN machine. If you’ve followed these instructions and are still having problems, or if you’re seeing an issue which isn’t mentioned here, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Spektrix Support team to discuss it further.

Troubleshooting an Opayo (formerly SagePay) VX820 PIN Pad