Smartboard Intermittent USB Connection

[BHMS]

I'm having a problem with several 5 series smartboards in my school. The light on the board flashes between red and green every few seconds completely at random and the connection to them is the same. I've tried disabling USB power saving but that didn't help. I think this is related to one of the later smartboard driver releases as I never had the problem in the past and now it's affecting a large number of boards. Can anyone provide me with a download link for Smart product drivers 10.0 - 10.2. I don't think I had any problems with these but I can't find any downloads for them any more. Thanks.

[Mr.Ben]

Hi BHMS,

I have been seeing this with series 5 boards as well (4 in total here). I have tried replacing cables, different boards and upgrading software with no luck.

What OS are you using? My investigations so far seem to narrow the problem down to Windows 7, as everything works as expected on XP.

When the Smartboard disconnects, The Smart Control Panel says 'No Data is being recieved on this port'

More details:

H/W Model: SB500
USB Version: 3.0.0
Firmware: 7.23
Software: 10.6.175.2 (although later version also have the problem)

Anyone else seen it?

[BHMS]

The problem seems to mostly occur with Windows 7 but I have had it hit one XP laptop recently. Software downgrade is getting to the end of my options. I threw out my 10.0 CD just before the summer which I'm regretting now. Now I only have 9.7 and 10.6 but I'm hoping for something around 10.0 to fix it.

[Mr.Ben]

Hi BHMS,

I've tried the following versions of the software today, still no joy though,

10.0.123
10.0.163.1
10.0.528.7

That is all of the versions that I have!

[exim]

I'm having issues with Windows 7, but sb885 boards that have just gone up. We're using USB repeaters. I think the repeaters and windows 7 are causing a problem - device manager just shows the repeaters as usb hubs.
Stangely though it's not all of the boards that are not detecting, half function fine, as for the others I've tried everything to get them to detect. It's all identical kit too.

Am I right in thinking cat5 usb extenders are often better than the standard USB repeaters.

[BHMS]

I don't have any spare powered usb hubs to test but they might be a possible solution.

[Mr.Ben]

Just connected the board through some official smart speakers (which act as a usb hub and provide power to the board). No luck.

Anyone else tried it yet?

Has anyone tried to ring the smart technical desk. I can't get the number to work on my landline here or mobile phone.

0800 4563 2100.

[Mr.Ben]

Solved! (for the 500 series boards)

There are 2 types of Smart USB cable - with different firmware. The 3.0.0 cable does not work and causes the error. They are visually very different.

The version 3.0.0 cable looks like this

The version 3.1.0 cable is significatly bigger where the usb to serial conversion happens and has the smart logo on it. I will take a picture when I can.

I had to remove a 3.1.0 cable from one of our installations to prove it (a trip to a loft space and the removal of some trunking)!

[exim]

Well done. This will be helpful for others going through the same hell!

My Windows 7 + USB repeater to 800 series issue however is not solved. I can only think the engineers didn't connect them properly... we'll see.

[Mr.Ben]

The version 3.1.0 cable:
smartpicture.png

[plexer]

Smart usb boards aren't natively usb but are frakensteins using usb/serial converters?

Ben

[john]

Smart usb boards aren't natively usb but are frakensteins using usb/serial converters?

Ben

Old ones as in 5 series yes, newer ones are native I thought.

As for those leads, are you sure you have the photos the correct way round? The larger adaptor is the ye-olde this is USB and look how clever it is aged ones and the small compact one is the newest one they do as I bought a stack of them last year for all the Smart Boards I got in.

[Mr.Ben]

I thought the series 600 boards were the first native usb boards.

John, they are surprisingly the right way around, and you are right, the one that works is Ye old lead. I am not entirely sure why the older leads show up as a newer Usb version, I shall do some more investigation!

[dhicks]

As for those leads, are you sure you have the photos the correct way round?

Right, now I'm confused. We have two non-responding Smart boards, both with the larger version of the USB/serial widget pictured above. They were working fine before the summer, but now that the teachers have come back and have come to use the boards they are reporting them as not working (could be quite interesting to leave the other boards and see how long it takes for people to notice the touch feature no longer works...) I assume this is because the Smart software checks for firmware updates every 30 days and has updated something over the summer. Possibly. Maybe another reason (er, cosmic rays?). I don't see any intermittent flashing green LEDs and we seem to have mains power to the board okay (red LED indicator is on) - we have had issues with the power adaptors conking out before, so maybe something similar (power surge?) has happened and fried some more delicate electronics this time?

[john]

Look in device managed and are the USB leads showing as Smart Boards or unknown or keyboards? I've had some that were not working right and I had to point them at the drivers folder to get them to work right.