If your TRMNL X won't charge, looks dead, or won't move past the welcome screen, the steps below bring most devices back. Do them in order and stop when it works.
Often the battery charged fine and the X only needs a reset to wake up. An empty X can also keep showing its last screen, because ePaper holds an image without power. So the screen alone does not tell you whether it is charging.
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Stuck on the welcome screen
This is the screen we mean:
Welcome to TRMNL.
Attach the dock and a USB-C to get started.
It means the X is in shipping mode. Every X leaves our warehouse in this mode to save its battery. The X also goes back to this screen after you turn it off, and when Wi-Fi setup is not finished within 15 minutes. It wakes up when power reaches it through the dock.
If the screen says Device is ready to ship!, unplug the USB-C cable. The X then shows the welcome screen. Go to Step 1.
Step 1 - Plug in power through the dock
Attach the dock, pins down, to the center of the TRMNL logo on the back. Plug a USB-C cable into the dock and into a power source.
If the cable was already plugged in, unplug it and plug it back in. The X wakes when power arrives, not when power is already there. This step is easy to miss.
Use the USB port of a computer or a basic USB wall charger. Some fast chargers do not work.
Step 2 - Turn the dock
If nothing happens within a few seconds, turn the dock 45 degrees and wait a few more seconds. Getting a Good Connection shows the positions that work.
Step 3 - Soft reset, 3 to 5 times
Do the magnetic soft reset. It often takes a few tries, and repeating it does no harm.
The soft reset uses the dock, so put it back on the X afterwards with the USB-C cable plugged in. That brings the power back, which is what wakes the X.
Step 4 - Reconnect the battery
If the X is still on the welcome screen, reconnect the battery.
Won't charge, or the screen is blank or frozen
A new X can arrive with a low or empty battery.
Step 1 - Charge it flat on a basic charger
Plug the dock into a basic 5 V USB wall charger or the USB port of a computer, and leave it for at least 10 minutes. Some fast chargers do not work, so if one power source does nothing, try another.
Lay the X flat on its back, dock side down and screen up, so its weight presses it onto the dock. Do not charge it standing on the kickstand, because the dock can lose contact. Charge with Dock Down, Screen Up has photos.
Step 2 - Soft reset, 3 to 5 times
Do the magnetic soft reset. It often takes a few tries, then put the dock back on to keep charging. Often the X wakes up here with a full or nearly full battery: it was charging but had not woken up.
Step 3 - Check the dock
Turn the dock 45 degrees and try again, then check that all 4 pins on the dock are present and spring back. Getting a Good Connection and Checking the Charging Dock Pins show what to look for.
Step 4 - Reconnect the battery
If the X still does not respond, reconnect the battery.
Is it charging?
When the X draws its loading screen, a battery icon with a lightning bolt in a corner of the screen means it sees power through the dock (firmware 1.8.3 and later). A battery icon without the bolt means it does not see power. Once the X is online, your Devices page on trmnl.com says Charging next to it.
Reconnect the battery
When the steps above do not work, this has brought back many devices that nothing else fixed.
Take the dock off the X.
Open the X with the included T6 screwdriver, as shown in How to disassemble your TRMNL, up to Removing the Batteries.
Unplug each battery from the board. Hold the plug, not the wires. If your X has two batteries, unplug both.
Plug each battery back into the port it came from, with the red wire on the same side as the Wi-Fi antenna. If you have one battery, it goes in MAIN BAT, not EXTRA BAT.
Put the X back together as shown in Put together the main enclosure and the steps after it. Line up the board screws carefully, because the dock pins need the board in the right place.
Attach the dock and plug in the USB-C cable. If the X shows the welcome screen, it wakes when power reaches it through the dock, as in Step 1.
Contact support
Still stuck? Run our troubleshooter. It writes up the steps you tried so you can send them to us.
Or contact us with the chat icon in the bottom-right of any page on trmnl.com, or at support@trmnl.com. Tell us which steps you tried and what you charge it with (which charger, or a computer).
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