IWB wn't connect

[BSG]

Sorry if this has been posted before, i've searches but not found anothet thread on this specific problem.

We have a Promethean IWB and it used to work fine for ages, recently it's started being a bit temperamental (working then not working), all of a sudden it has stopped working all together.

The Active Control icon in the task bar has a red cross through it, usually when it does this I just upgrade the drivers and it kicks in, I have upgraded the drivers to the most recent, uninstalled and reinstalled the driver many times hoping it would just start working again. When I go to Device Manager it says it is working fine under the HIDs but the cross won't go away and the pens don't work because of this.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks.

[forcryingoutloud]

Sounds really daft but have you checked the usb connection hasn't come loose at the top of the IWB? It's done this a couple of times to us (especially if the students hvae been allowed to play with it) - apart from that have you tried using another USB cable?

[elsiegee40]

Two problems are most common. The red X means that the PC can't see the board.

1. There is no power to the board - either because the poer supply unit has failed or it's simply not switched on at the wall

2. A USB failure, so,etimes at the PC end. Try another PC

[Sylv3r]

Does the light at the top of the Promethean board light up when the pen is touching the board? This will give you an idea whether the board has power, also does it beep when first plugged in?

[Michael]

Disconnect power to the whiteboard, (then plug it back in) and doing the same with the USB cable usually does the trick.

When plugging in power back to the board, you should usually hear a bleeping noise.

Are you using a native USB cable to the board or are you using a Serial to USB cable/converter? Serial connections do require more manual intervention than native USB connections.

I would also recommend you update to the latest Promethean Driver. I've had great success with it so far.

[plexer]

dodgy psu?

[BSG]

It is native USB, it has power as the light is on in the top right corner, it has the latest driver and I have tried another laptop.

I am not on site till next week but I will try un powering the board and unpluggin the USB cable and Putting it all back on, cheers for some ideas.

[fafster]

Windows is probably using the incorrect driver. Happens when you swap USB ports. You need to go into the hardware properties, and look to see if Windows has any Human Interface Devices listed that have the exclamation mark.

If you do, go manually searching for the driver and it should list it. It's because it's not digitally signed and therefore Windows will use it's own driver first.

[DMcCoy]

It's not a FSC Scenic is it? or an intel 845GV board?

For ours we have to unplug and replug the usb cable in a couple of seconds after you start installing the driver to get it to work! Works fine with other machines, just not our old Scenic models.

[BSG]

It's a Promethean board, I have noticed that it keeps putting on a serial drive (and doesn't show an exclamation icon) however if I untick the box that only shows compatible drivers then I can put on a USB version of the same driver but as soon as I restart the computer it then displays the exclamation mark icon in device manager and it only displays the serial one again for compatible drivers.

[elsiegee40]

Hve you got an ActivPrimary/Activ Studio CD to hand so you can re-install?

[BSG]

Should do somewhere, i'll have to try and dig one out.

[cmssbrie]

Hi BSG,

If the device is showing up in Device Manager with the exclamation, it might be worth manually updating the driver, and specifying C:\Program Files\Activsooftware\Activdriver\ActivUSB\xp as a place to search for the driver.

Although the driver is digitally signed (so should not need to do this), I have seen it before, and manually pusing Windows in the right direction with what driver to use solved the problem.

Also, before trying that, might be worth just removing the driver from Add / Remove progs and getting the latest one from the website first and trying that.

HTH

[BSG]

Sorry, I forgot to reply here.

I got it working in the end, turns out the updated driver was fine however the cable going into the back of the whiteboard was a bit funny/loose, it is now working after taking the board off and wiggling it about a bit. (bit of a mission with just me doing it haha)

Thanks for all the replies though, they helped loads with trouble shooting.