Promethean board problems
EDTECH Editor-Jones
My school has a number of Promethean boards and are having issues with them...especially since the most updated software has come out. BTW-we are a Mac campus. I have been using my board for 1.5 years in our building-which is one of the older ones-but seem to be having the most problems. I am often having to go in to the preferences to get the board to be recognized and sometimes am having to do this in the middle of a class because it seems to "hiccup" and not communicate anymore. Or if it seems to be communicating with my computer, the board is not responding to the pens to calibrate the board or write on it. The wiring seems to be OK, but we're having trouble getting the installers back out to check wiring on mine and several other new installs this year.
Does anyone have any experience with these boards and/or the company that could help us get things moving? We're already almost 3 weeks into our school year.
Thanks-
Shari Hiltbrand
Physical Science Instructor
The Kinkaid School
Houston, TX
Region XXI Representative-Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT)
www.edistance.cc
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EDTECH Editor-Jones
Shari,
We ran into the same problem last year with our MAC, the problem was the USB cord, we were hooking into a box, and that connection went to the board. We ran a long cord directly from the computer to the board and that worked until we could get the installers to come back out. They were arguing whether it was the installers problem or equiptment, ie, was it Promethean or the company that installed. I am not involved in the settlement, but our board is now working.
Hope this helps.
Mary Dickherber
Duchesne High School
St. Charles, MO
EDTECH Editor-Jones
Interesting. We are having the same issue. We just reverted to an earlier
version of the software. We were at 3.6.14 and now have dropped down to
3.0.x. We've only tested it for a day but no dropped connections in that
time.
Last year, we had to change everyone from USB connection to serial
connection because USB kept dropping the signal. However, if your board has
been fine until now, that probably isn't the problem.
We are also having a problem with the wands going bad after one year. Here
in Singapore, they cost more than $100 so I am NOT amused. Are you having
that issue as well?
Susan Sedro
Intermediate School Technology Coordinator
Singapore American School
> From: shari hiltbrand <sci...@hotmail.com>
>
>
> My school has a number of Promethean boards and are having issues with
> them...especially since the most updated software has come out. BTW-we are a
> Mac campus. I have been using my board for 1.5 years in our building-which
> is one of the older ones-but seem to be having the most problems. I am
> often having to go in to the preferences to get the board to be recognized
> and sometimes am having to do this in the middle of a class because it seems
> to "hiccup" and not communicate anymore. Or if it seems to be communicating
> with my computer, the board is not responding to the pens to calibrate the
> board or write on it. The wiring seems to be OK, but we're having trouble
> getting the installers back out to check wiring on mine and several other
> new installs this year.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with these boards and/or the company that
> could help us get things moving? We're already almost 3 weeks into our
> school year.
>
> Thanks-
>
> Shari Hiltbrand
> Physical Science Instructor
> The Kinkaid School
> Houston, TX
> Region XXI Representative-Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT)
> www.edistance.cc
---
EDTECH Editor-Jones
Shari,
I coordinate much of our Promethean initiative for Greenville County.
This sounds like a driver issue... do you know which driver you have? You can find out in the "Dashboard" under the "Support" tab.
Granted we don't have a lot of MACs, but I would check the Promethean website, http://www.prometheanworld.com and look at the driver upgrades under "Support." They should have specific info for MAC users.
Email me directly if you want.
Hope this helps.
Tim
Tim Van Heule
Greenville County Schools
Coordinator of Distance Learning
(864) 355-3996 - Telephone
(864) 355-9670 - Facsimile
tvan...@greenville.k12.sc.us <mailto:tvan...@greenville.k12.sc.us> - Email
http://tcubed.wordpress.com <http://tcubed.wordpress.com/> - Instructional Technology Blog
________________________________
EDTECH Editor-Hogan
I've been installing the latest version (3.6.117) of both ACTIVstudio and
ACTIVprimary. Most teacher computers have Mac OS X 10.4.11; a few have
10.5.4.
I have also been installing the latest ACTIVboard driver (2.3.147).
It's still early in the school year and most of the teachers that have been
using their ABs have not had any hardware or software specific issues.
We're an
all Macintosh district; so far, so good with the latest software and driver
versions!
All classroom computers connect to an ACTIVboard using the
Promethean-supplied
USB cable. I've been making sure that the USB connection on the AB remains
securely attached by adding a piece or two of duct tape.
I have not experimented with connecting via Bluetooth but that's on my list
(and what a list it is).
When problems are encountered, it's important to have a sound problem-solving
approach and test one thing at a time (in a previous life, I was a MS and HS
science teacher). Consider all of the variables involved:
• the computer's OS
• the computer's hardware (hard drive, USB ports)
• the USB cable
• the ACTIVboard's hardware (electronics, internal wiring, USB port)
• the ACTIVboard driver version
• the ACTIVstudio and/or ACTIVprimary version
• other software issues (e.g. is anti-virus installed? are there multiple
versions of any ACTIV- software installed?)
• room vibrations
Best of luck to all you!
Jeff Johnson
Technology Coordinator
Glendale-River Hills School District
Glendale, WI 53209
jeff.j...@glendale.k12.wi.us
EDTECH Editor-Hogan
Dear Shari,
I had something similar happen to me (with my laptop) during a Promethean
demo for the librarians. We had a traveling board (I like the mounted
ones) and it stopped communicating. Not very fun when you're showing
what's coming to the district in front of 120 people. I was told to turn
everything off, unplug and replug everything back in by my division. When
I did it, it worked.
Perhaps that's a short fix until Promethean can address it--you can go to
the knowledge base (http://www.prometheankb.com/)and post your question
there too.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Fellow Texan,
Lori Lopez
Fort Worth ISD
EDTECH Editor-Hogan
Shari,
We experienced the same problem recently with one of our boards on it's
second year of use. We found however that it was not related to anything
external to the board. After much troubleshooting, i discovered that the
ribbon connector that connects the
controller to the board was loose. I you cannot get your installers to
return.... To fix this:
Shari -
I forwarded to our Technology Integrationist and he sent me the following ...
Marilyn
>Shari,
>
>We experienced the same problem recently with one of our boards on it's
>second year of use. We found however that it was not related to anything
>external to the board. After much troubleshooting, i discovered that the
>ribbon connector that connects the
>controller to the board was loose. I you cannot get your installers to
>return.... To fix this:
>
>1. Disconnect the board from all cables and remove the cables from the
>cable ties with two people lifting the board from the mounts and place
>face-down on the floor.
>2. Use a phillips screwdriver to remove the four screws from the
>controller cover, put the screws into the cover to prevent loss.
>3. Gently press all along both sides of the ribbon cable on the board
side >and the controller card side to make sure wires are well set.
>4. Return the cover (be gentle with the screws), the sires and the board
>then recalibrate.
>
>This issue was present for us with USB, Bluetooth, with or without the
>board driver which lead me to discover the hardware issue and rule out
the >software, pen, or computer. Let me know if this worked for you.
>
>I am predicting that it is related to rough handling during shipping.
>
>Dan Trockman (dtro...@blakeschool.org)
>The Blake School
>Learning Technology and Env. Science
>952-988-3796 (office) 612-709-2030 (cell)
------------------------------------------------------
Marilyn Kelley Director of ISS
mke...@blakeschool.org (v) 952-988-3408
http://www.blakeschool.org (f) 952-988-3412
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is
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