Though it may seem silly, the best starting point is to make sure the device is fully charged: Plugged in until the green light on the back (TRMNL OG) turns off.

It's also a good practice to slide it into the OFF position during this charging cycle.

Slide the power switch to ON once it is charged.

If the device is responsive when plugged in, but it either:

This indicates a problem with the internal battery. If you recently opened the unit, please double-check it is properly plugged into the PCB. If not, look for any signs of battery swelling or burn marks on the battery itself.

Do not keep a faulty battery plugged in continuously! Contact support for further follow-up.

An unresponsive device may require a soft reset. There are two ways to trigger the reset:

Hold the button down on the back for 15-20 seconds to perform the soft reset.

Reflashing the device overwrites the existing firmware via a USB-C cable and our web flashing utility, which contains the necessary instructions.

Start with the most current firmware, and then step backwards and retest device responsiveness.

If the dock is attached, remove it and invert it so the pins are pointing up. Place the inverted dock near the bottom-left corner of the back of the device and make a small circular motion (no need to touch, the magnet will do the work).

The front screen of the device should automatically change to mostly blank with the loading image in the bottom-right, indicating the reset worked, before loading a screen. You can repeat these steps with no negative impact on the device.

If the device does not respond to a soft reset, it will need to be charged.

To do so, attach the dock with pins down to the center of the TRMNL logo glyph. It will be pulled into place by the magnets.

Attach a USB-C cable to the dock and to a power source. Your device should start charging immediately. Note: Some fast charging blocks do not work properly; you may need to connect the USB port of a PC or a basic USB->Wall Charger.

If the device is online, you will see the charge state within your trmnl.com account, in the top-left. In v1.8.2+ of TRMNL X firmware, there will be a battery charging indicator visible on the bottom of the screen as well on any loading screen:

If charging is not working, there are two orientations that are successful. Thoughtfully adjusting the rotation of the dock can ensure a good connection for your unit. If there is an alignment issue of the PCB mounted inside your unit, then one of these two orientations will work, but the other may not.

If you are using a power+data USB-C cable (included with Clarity Kit), connecting the cable to a PC and using our flashing guide is another way to verify connectivity with the device showing up as USB JTAG/serial... on the list. This method requires the battery to have charge.

A quality connection requires 4 pins for power and data. Each dock is QA tested with the unit before being boxed for shipping. However, pins can be compressed or damaged sometimes in shipping (continued improvements in packaging will minimize this).

Pins in Good Condition

Here are examples of pins that need attention:

Pins not fully extended

Stuck Pin

Pin not "springing back"

For these cases, you can exercise the pin manually to get the spring to properly extend again by pushing on it up and down.

On rare occasions, the spring is damaged and it can be gently pulled out for a good connection, but will not spring back (contact support for a replacement dock).

Additionally, one customer (of thousands) had a tight fit hole for a pin, causing it not to extend properly without slightly widening the hole. This was a manufacturing defect during injection molding that may not be caught in QA.

Missing Pin(s) - Damaged in Shipment

(contact support for a replacement dock)

Pin Pressure Pads

We add these pads to the back of the dock's PCB to accomplish two tasks: Keep it from rattling and to apply additional pressure to ensure good pin connection. The are pressed down by bumps molded into the inside of the back cover.

If you cannot get your device out of the setup/off screen by connecting your charging dock and USB cable, you can test if additional pressure on the PCB manually makes a good connection (dock should be connected to the unit with USB power):

If the pins are all present, all fully extended, and you are still not getting a good connection, you could remove the glyph sticker on the back of the TRMNL X and retry your connection.

This sticker isn't just aesthetic, it provides rotational friction between the dock and the device! This is relevant for magnetic mounting or wall mounting, not for using the kickstand.

If you need to connect to a new WiFi network, you can trigger the WiFi captive portal by simultaneously pressing the left and right side of the touch bar.

Then, hold the middle button to confirm on the next screen. See our guide with video.

Please see our guide for putting the TRMNL X in flashing mode. The unit must have some battery charge to trigger the mode change.

If the unit continues to be unresponsive, please contact support using the online chat icon in the bottom-right of any page on trmnl.com or by emailing [email protected].