Whiteboard alignment

[witch]

One of my Smart boards will not stay in alignment, and as it is the science dept and they do a lot of graphs, they are not happy. I have searched the forum but cannot see an answer.

I have set the board to the highest number of alignment points but it is still drifting after about an hour

Any thoughts?

[MkII]

Tighten the screws on the mount?

[alan-d]

We had one do that.

 

Try uninstalling the software and reinstalling a newer version. We think this cured it but can't be 100% as the PC was reimaged shortly afterwards during the summer hols, but no problems reported since.

[K.C.Leblanc]

Check the projector bracket is tight, if it's a cradle you might want to add some packing to stop the projecor moving.

 

I've had a Smartboard in the past that became unaligned by it's self. A complete uninstall and reinstall of the software sorted it out.

 

I've also heard or people getting these problems when the board becomes delaminated (might be worth swapping it with another board to see if the fault travels).

[laserblazer]

I've had a projector where the keystone adjustment moved of it's own accord. Only slightly but enought to upset the alignment.

[witch]

Projector is a lot more solid than the others in the school so I don't think it is that. It does it using 2 different laptops (one of which is fine on another board) so I don't know if it is the software - but I will reinstall newer version on the main science laptop just to see if it sorts the problem out.

[alan-d]

Projector is a lot more solid than the others in the school so I don't think it is that. It does it using 2 different laptops (one of which is fine on another board) so I don't know if it is the software - but I will reinstall newer version on the main science laptop just to see if it sorts the problem out.

 

Make sure you remove the current version completely as we found that installing a newer version over the old one didn't work.

[Geoff]

Also had this when the connection cable is close to electrical cabling. Interference basically.

[AlexB]

Also, is it a wide screen laptop?

 

We've had problems with the software gettng confused with widescreen laptops.

[witch]

No, it isn't wide screen

[torledo]

Projector is a lot more solid than the others in the school so I don't think it is that. It does it using 2 different laptops (one of which is fine on another board) so I don't know if it is the software - but I will reinstall newer version on the main science laptop just to see if it sorts the problem out.

 

We were having alignment issues when we changed the resolution of the pc that was connected to the projector. Make sure you match or are within the native resolution of your projector on both of your laptops.

 

Obviously this isn't always practical if you've got a relatively low-res projector (1024 x 768 these days) But if you don't you'll end up having to keep auto-adjusting the projector and realigning the smartboard becuase of the resolution mismatch. You shouldn't ever have to adjust the keystone or adjust the bracket if the projector has been installed properly. 9 times out of 10 it is screen resolution issues. Modern widescreen laptops tend to be SXGA or SXGA+ and even a lot of 4:3 laptops now have native resolutions a lot higher than XGA so if you've got an XGA projector you can still display but it's not ideal and you do tend to run into issues.

[enjay]

Does the projector fit flush into the cradle? We have some here which wander out of alignment because, even though the bracket is secure, the projector moves within the cradle.

[torledo]

Does the projector fit flush into the cradle? We have some here which wander out of alignment because, even though the bracket is secure, the projector moves within the cradle.

 

Not a good idea to mess around with the physical positioning of the projector before you've looked at other possible causes - as i've said before if it's being screwed to the mount and it's secure then it should be fine... projectors do sometimes vibrate but they don't tend to drift in one direction

[Friez]

This topic discusses the exact same issue.

[enjay]

if it's being screwed to the mount and it's secure then it should be fine

and if it was screwed to the mount, then the problem I describe wouldn't happen anyway. If it's not screwed on, it would be worth checking...

[witch]

sorry friez - you are right. I thought I had looked but obviously not

I will try the resolution issue and possibility of delaminating

This problem has only just occurred so I can't really believe it is the projector mount - far more likely that someone has changed something on the pc!

Ta all

[Friez]

Indeed, I've tried most of what was mentioned in my original thread and it has made little difference. Switching PC completely didn't have much of a dramatic effect at all, although I have observed that the disalignment varies over time. Currently it's out even when well calibrated, but not as severe. Very strange!

[YouKnowWho]

Is your board still in warranty?

 

We have had this happen a couple of times of our boards, the end result is always a new board.

 

When we have had this problem when they came in to fix it, the guy run the smartboard pen down the right hand side of the board, and at various points the line would just bow out. He said instantly that the board needed replacing, might be worth trying?

[MkII]

Interesting YKW - we have a board exhibiting identical characteristics