Frequently Asked Questions

Power Outages

Power outages can occur at any time and the theater should have policies in place to assure the safety of customers and staff. However, computers, printers, routers, and signage can easily be overlooked or forgotten during what may be a challenging period of time. But simple steps can be taken to prevent damage to your Point Of Sale hardware.

1. Unplug all devices that are not protected by an approved surge protector.

  • A surge protector is a type of power strip which is specifically designed to withstand a power surge and keep your electronics safe.
  • Surge protectors will have a rating in Joules of energy showing the maximum voltage they can handle from a power spike. You can find those numbers on the box or strip itself. If there are no numbers listed, it is just a power strip.
  • If your router/modem is not plugged into a surge protector, we strongly recommend that you unplug that as well. We have seen numerous router/modem combinations destroyed by power surges. If your modem/router goes out, it will need to be replaced before the Point Of Sale can be brought back online.

2. When the electricity comes back on, wait two or three minutes before plugging everything back in (to assure the flow of electricity has stabilized).

3.  Boot up the office computer first. Launch Retriever Process. Verify that Soft Ether is connected to the Internet (see VPN Connections). Turn on your Windows Terminals (your POS software should launch automatically) and verify that any cashiers who were signed in before the power outage are still signed in to their respective terminals.

Terminal Freezes

A terminal freeze is when the Point of Sale (POS) screen stops displaying and pushing buttons does nothing.

Windows Terminals may freeze for a variety of reasons from lost connections to an irregular transaction process. No matter what the reason, they are often confusing, disruptive, and time-consuming. Naturally, we always want to do everything we can to trap out any reason that a terminal might freeze. So when it does occur, please make a note of everything that occurred immediately before the terminal freezing.  This information should be compiled into a ticket so that our developers can replicate the issue and fix the problem.

Terminal Crashes

A terminal crash is when the Point of Sale (POS) stops operating and requires a reboot. There will usually be an error message that appears before the software shutting itself down.

Take a photo of the error message and note the steps performed on the terminal immediately before the crash. You will want to provide as much information as possible into the help desk ticket along with error messages and images.

If necessary, reboot the terminal (using the start button if possible).

Terminal Dies

In the event that the terminal fails to power up, check the breaker and all power sources. Make sure that the power chord is firmly plugged into the outlet and the terminal. If possible, try a secondary outlet. If plugged into a power surge protector, make sure that the surge protector hasn't "flipped" to the off position. Once you are certain that the machine will no longer power up, create a ticket or call tech support during business hours. Tech support will walk you through troubleshooting for any possible issues. They want to make sure that the issue isn't something that can be repaired onsite prior to going through the replacement process. Tech Support can also assist you in putting a working terminal in place of the broken unit (if necessary).

If the terminal dies while a cashier is signed in, the manager will need to deassign the terminal prior to the end of the day. The drawer may need to be opened manually with a key.  If a key is not available, the drawer can be attached to a working terminal and opened in order to remove the day's receipts.

Lost Connection to Back Office 

Check all ethernet cable connections at all termination points. Connection to terminal, hubs and switches. Make sure that the end point snaps and locks into place. Broken ethernet connectors should be replaced so that they do not fall out of their termination point.

Credit Cards Failing

If everything else (gift cards and loyalty accounts) is working as expected, contact your credit card processing provider. You may be able to check for outages in your area online. Outages are often localized, but occassionally they can be wide spread across states or national regions, or even system wide.  Prior to contacting Retriever Help Desk, please contact your Credit Card Processing Provider. You will need to have your account information handy when you call (Retriever does NOT keep usernames and passwords).

See Lost Connection to Back Office.

CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBERS FOR CREDIT PROCESSORS (you must have your theater account number, username and password when calling these customer service numbers)

World Pay: https://www.fisglobal.com/en/merchant-solutions-worldpay/support  (877) 776-3706

Heartland:

NAB: https://www.northamericanbancard.com   877-840-1952

Authorize.net: https://support.authorize.net/s/  877.447.3938

 

Customer Cards/Loyalty Cards/Gift Cards failing

If customer cards or scanning apps suddenly shows card or number not found, it may be necessary to verify that your temrinal is still connected to the internet. If the issue is happening across all terminals, your internet has failed. Contact you ISP. If the internet is working, but you still can't connect to the gift card and/or loyalty app, make sure that your VPN is running and connected.

RESTART YOUR VPN -

Windows terminals and the back office computer both contain an application called SoftEther. The icon resembles a die with four colored spots (you can also find it in the menu or search SoftEther). Open the application and double left click the connection line. The softether connection should change from not connected to connected. If it is stuck on "connecting" you may be having issues with your internet. Contact Retriever Solutions Help Desk if you are unsure.

Internet is down

If your internet is down, you will want to call your ISP or wait until it comes back on.

What is a Switch?

A switch is a rectangular box that houses a block of ethernet connections (termination points) for all of your terminals, signs, and primary server.

What is a Router?

 

The printer has stopped working