Smartboard serial port on new Lenovo

[ericw400]

I am having problems connecting a smartboard with serial connection to a new Lenovo tower. I have tried V9 an V10 of the SB software. Everything connects OK on initial install then will not always connect after a reboot. This seems random and is down to the Lenovo machine as it is happening on 2 of them connected to different boards. If the board doesn't connect after reboot and I take the serial connection out of the machine and put it back in, everything works ok until the next reboot. If I connect the smartboard to a Dell everything is fine. Does anyone know of any settings on the Lenovo that could affect the serial port. I have been into device manager and checked the settings for the serial port and they are the same as the Dell. Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

[Michael]

It is a little strange I have to say. I don't really think there's much more you can do.

In my experience on both Smart and Promethean boards/software, serial connections do present more problems than USB, so you could experiment with a serial to USB adapter/cable and see if you have any success with this.

[ericw400]

Thanks Michael. I think that is the next step but schools are reluctant to pay for the new cable. Would a serial to USB convertor work (apologies if that is what you mean), the current cable is powered from a PS2 port on the Lenovo.

[Michael]

From a PS2 port? Could you describe the wire configuration? PS2 ports are used for mice and keyboards, occasionally some infra red scanners too.

[ericw400]

These are old smartboards. Serial cable from SB to serial on PC. Inline PS2 connector (to allow PS2 keyboard or mouse to be connected afterwards) with a wire to connect into the serial connector at the PC end to power the SB.

[SYNACK]

We have a mimio like that, to connect it to a laptop I had to get both a USB to serial adapter and a USB to PS2 adapter. If the Lenvo already has ps2 there should be no harm in having the ps2 bit in the pc with the serial connected to the adapter.

The ps2 port just provides a 5v power output which was sufficient on older machines to power some other devices. Perhaps the lenvo does something funny, switching on/of the power to the ps2 during startup which is causing the problems.

In my case the laptop now runs the mimio board fine with the two converters in place.

[SimpleSi]

When I first had the old serial smartboards, my installer used to sometimes use a separate psu instead of getting extra power from the ps2 plug (thats all its there for) when running the cable a long distance.

Maybe the lenova doesn't have enough umph !

Worth a go.

regards

Simon

[Michael]

These are old smartboards. Serial cable from SB to serial on PC. Inline PS2 connector (to allow PS2 keyboard or mouse to be connected afterwards) with a wire to connect into the serial connector at the PC end to power the SB.

It does sound power related. I haven't seen any Smartboard connected in this way, but Serial to USB is definitely the way to go. Think about it like this; 2.5" notebook hard drives can be powered from a single USB 2.0 port, so I am sure a whiteboard can too.

[ericw400]

Yes I agree, just the cost, schools can be difficult!

[Michael]

Print out this discussion and it show it to the ICT co-ordinator

[YorkshireTechie]

i had the same problem when we bought some new systems for one of our primary schools, i changed the original cable setup (serial/ps2) to a usb one and its worked fine ever since.

we bought ours from:

Insight UK - Laptops, Computers, Components. Over 70,000 Products

i think the Product Code is: SBDMJUSBFR (just check it though just to make sure and if anyone can find it cheaper let me know just in case i need anymore).

i have also tried the generic adaptors and have never really had one work properly

[ericw400]

Thanks all. Much appreciated.

[FN-GM]

We have had similar issues with USB smartboards. They would only work when you unplug it and plug it back in again. It turned out that the PSU wasn't powerfull enough.