How to fix tamper error in verifone vx520

Question

In Verifone vx520 i faced in tamper error. How could i fix this error? Is there any way to fix this error ( TAMPER ERROR )? I can't do anything with this error and it's just shown in display.

Izmir

How do you reproduce this error? How is this question related to programming? Is it your software or plugin or are you just using or providing such a terminal? – Butternut

Does it ask for password at this TAMPER screen ? – Sihun

@Sihun no. I fixed it. Thanks – Izmir

@Izmir how did you fix it? would you share your steps? – Stibnite

Answer 1

UPDATE:

keunhee han posted an answer that says to go to the "IPP KEY LOAD" in system mode and then press F1. I can verify that it works on a 570.

ORIGINAL ANSWER:

First you need to understand where this error came from.

Inside the terminal there are something like 5 pressure points. The purpose of these is to be able to tell if someone is trying to open the terminal up to install a card skimmer or other nefarious device that could compromise security. If any of these pressure points is tripped, the terminal goes into a "Tamper" state to alert the next user that there may be something wrong. This is not only a good feature (there have been merchants that were burned by not having this in the past), but necessary for PCI compliance.

In order for the terminal to be able to detect an intrusion, even when the power is unplugged, it has a battery (it also supplies power for the internal clock, but that's a different topic...). If the power is unplugged and the battery dies, then the terminal is unable to guarantee that it has not been tampered with, so it alerts you that it has been, just for good measure.

In my experience, the dead battery is the most common reason a terminal would go into this tamper state. When this is the case, you can clear the tamper message, but as soon as you unplug the power, the message will just come right back. In order to keep it from coming back, you will need a new battery and that's actually a pretty involved process--you have to take the terminal all apart, desolder the battery from the main board, and then solder a new one on. I'm convinced they made this as complicated as possible so that you would be almost forced into sending the terminal in for repairs.

It is possible (though less likely) to trip one of the pressure points by simply dropping the terminal or doing something similar--especially if there is a loose screw somewhere. In this case, you can clear the message and it will not (necessarily) come back right away.

So, now to your question--how do I clear it?

Well, it's actually very simple to do, you just have to download some special file to the terminal's group 1. What makes it hard is GETTING this special file to download. We actually go through enough terminals at my company that we have a terminal repair department. The company has paid for the people there to take a class from VeriFone on how to repair the terminals and as part of the tuition, they get access to some special software like the tamper clear file. If you haven't taken the class, VeriFone won't give it to you. If you think about it, this does make some sense--if they were to put the "tamper clear" download "in the wild", then someone could easily tamper with a terminal and then just clear the message when they were done. By requiring people to pay a hefty tuition and take the class, they severely limit the probability that this will occur. As such, the repair people are instructed not to give this software out. When I get a tamper message on one of my terminals, I have to send it to them and they deal with it for me.

The good news is that (at least as far as I'm aware) there is no problem with leaving the terminal in this "tamper" state from a functionality stand point. I would strongly advise against leaving a terminal in the field in a tamper state, but if it is your dev terminal, then the ONLY difference is that you will have to press clear during boot up and then everything else should be the same. An annoyance, yes, but if you are unable to send the terminal in, or whatever, then you really aren't out anything.

Rag

This probably doesn't apply to my problem, tamper message but on a H5000, but could you elaborate on "press clear during boot up"? Is this the yellow "back" / "delete last input" button, or the red "cancel" one? Do you have to press it once during boot, or continously? – Pollute

Sorry--Red X. The red key used to be "Clear" on older terminal versions, and old habits die hard. When the screen comes up saying "Tamper", you just press it once to move on. It is possible other control keys (Green arrow/enter, for example) may work, too... I'm not sure. – Rag

Sadly, not even that key helps on the H5000, but thanks anyway for replying! – Pollute

Yeah, sorry--no experience on the H5000 – Rag

Answer 2

f2+f4 password choose ipp key when you go to that page press f1(option not showing but trust me it will work)

Recrystallize

Cool. I just tried that on my 570 and it seems to have done the trick. I'll have to remember that one. – Rag