Smart Board + Windows 8.1, USB Device Not Recognised....

[iSteve]

Evening all...

 

We have recently had 12 Smart Boards installed, connected to PCs running Windows 7 Pro. Over the summer these PCs have been replaced with staff laptops, (Dell e5450s) running Windows 8.1 Pro x64. When I connect one of the boards to the new machines the laptop pops up a Windows bubble saying the USB device is not recognised. The Smart software says no board is connected. This happens with all boards on all the new laptops, so it's no specific to one machine.

 

We've only used Smart Boards for a few weeks (being long term Polyvision and Promethean board users). Is this error common with Win 8.1? Is there a known work around? I have tried various things, updating and reinstalling drivers. As this is a Windows error message, I was going to try one of the laptops under Win 7 Pro as that should work (being the same OS as the desktops the laptops replaced).

 

Any ideas?

[ericw400]

I once came across a similar issue with HP laptops (I know yours are Dell) a while back. Try popping a powered USB hub between the board and laptop and see if it makes a difference. For some reason there wasn't enough power from the laptop USB ports. Might not work but worth a try.

[ass17]

I would say it could be one of two things: USB power is not enough or the cable from the board to the laptop is over 5m.

[iSteve]

Morning. Have tried a board with a powered hub - it works. So looks like the laptop does not provide enough power. 12 mini powered hubs on their way...

[jamesreedersmith]

Some usb 3.0 ports dont seem to work with smartboards, as others have said try a usb Hub or another (ideally usb 2.0) port on the laptop

[ass17]

Or the other option is to use dual usb to usb cable, similar to http://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-USB-Cable-Dual-Power/dp/B000FKP7XA

[Ripleys]

I am currently having the same issue with our new Zoostorm PCs with Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2V motherboards. I can't seem to find any power management tricks to resolve this. I get USB not recognised when plugged into either backpanel 2.0 and 3.0 ports and the front 2.0 ports. The power USB hub did the trick however, I do not want to be going around the whole school installing clunky USB hubs. I noticed ass17 showing off those cables but our activboard wall panels are using the USB A/B ports.

[ass17]

I am currently having the same issue with our new Zoostorm PCs with Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2V motherboards. I can't seem to find any power management tricks to resolve this. I get USB not recognised when plugged into either backpanel 2.0 and 3.0 ports and the front 2.0 ports. The power USB hub did the trick however, I do not want to be going around the whole school installing clunky USB hubs. I noticed ass17 showing off those cables but our activboard wall panels are using the USB A/B ports.

 

The cable I suggested was based on theory and I have not yet been required to use them. The cable should in theory draw more power required to power the board. If the same thing happens on multiple PCs with multiple boards then try it with a laptop to see what happens.

[Ripleys]

If the same thing happens on multiple PCs with multiple boards then try it with a laptop to see what happens.

 

This has only started happening with our new Zoostorm PCs. For now were replacing some of the last year Zoostorm PCs, that we know work, with the newest ones.

[Ripleys]

Just a quick update. I tried a 2m USB A to B cable and that worked fine on the new Zoostorm PCs. Once drivers were installed I reverted back to the 5m cable and, once again it couldn't be recognised.

[jessica]

Did you ever solve the problem with the zoostorm PCs? Ours have the same problem on our promethean boards and moving the computers closer to use a 2m cable isn't an option.

[iSteve]

A minor update from me - We've had a bad time with the boards and our Dell E5450 laptops. Some work via a hub. Some do not work with a hub, but work bypassing the installed USB dado cabling and have to be plugged straight in to the board, some work without a hub, and with the installed dado trunking. Some work fine without a hub using the installed dado cabling.

[jessica]

We have tried some PCs with a 5m cable straight from the board to the PC. Some are working fine, while others sometimes work and sometimes just drop out. We have also tried Activ 5m extension cables going straight to the board but these keep dropping the connection. 2 weeks ago I put in a Superbooster USB Extender which is what promethean reccomends but this morning it has stopped working.

[Ripleys]

For now, we're not using the latest gen Zoostorms with our whiteboards. We are swapping our last gen, pupils PCs with the latest gen. We know our last gen PCs worked fine with the whiteboards, regardless of the cable size. 2m cable or a powered usb hub worked fine. Also, we still have some whiteboards that are connected via serial connections. A USB to Serial lead worked fine too, assuming it is still getting the power from the serial cable.

[jessica]

We swapped one of our boards back from USB to serial yesterday and its been working fine since. Looks like we will be swapping the non working ones back to serial as you can get a longer cable length with them.

[tb2571989]

Thanks guys, having some issues with Dell E5550s on our older Promethean Board models. With the machine plugged directly into the board these machines worked fine, but using a USB wall plate they didn't play and came up with the "USB device not recognised" error message. Putting a powered USB hub inbetween sorted the issue.