Smartboard Alignment

[gshaw]

Has anyone with Smartboards had problems with the board losing its alignment during use? Had a few emails about it, not seen it happening while I've been there (always the way ) but seems a bit odd for it to drop away during the lesson?

[Edu-IT]

I take it you're talking about the orientation? If so then I've seen this happen before but I don't know what was done to fix it. Have you got the latest drivers installed?

[gshaw]

Think we're on 9.5, one version behind the latest one (9.7), might try the update to see if it helps although I've got to try and replicate the problem first... could be fun

[chalkwellstu]

Has anyone with Smartboards had problems with the board losing its alignment during use? Had a few emails about it, not seen it happening while I've been there (always the way ) but seems a bit odd for it to drop away during the lesson?

 

yeah i have but like you never been there when its happened also had the projector go funny to by displaying about 3 feet to left!!! funnily enough its always the same classroom -with the same teacher

[enjay]

Hardware faults in the board can cause that, as can having the bottom screws too tight; also check that the projector isn't moving - we have one room where the projector isn't snug in the cage so moves a bit whenever the class upstairs move around.

[Domino]

gonna hi-jack this thread a little.

 

Someone (i forget who - sorry) said to me at bett that he was advised, when orienting a board, to drag the pen to the centre of the target, not just push down on it.

 

does anyone else do this?

[DevilsAdvocate]

I do the above, as did the engineers who set the board up originally.

[SimpleSi]

Smartboard alignment can be very problematical

 

the newer 60 series seem better than the old 500 series but just search this forum and you'll find all the different ways they can not align/hold alignment.

 

IMRE The older boards are

 

a) all getting worse

and/or

b) teachers are reporting the faults more

and/or

c) the latest software is causing it

 

SMARTBoard support(UK) are so so so unhelpful

 

I'm hoping to get some time (prob this summer!) to try and see if I can narrow i down as to what is happening.

 

regards

 

Simon

[enjay]

gonna hi-jack this thread a little.

 

Someone (i forget who - sorry) said to me at bett that he was advised, when orienting a board, to drag the pen to the centre of the target, not just push down on it.

 

does anyone else do this?

Yes I do, and I encourage all our users too as well as it is more accurate than trying to hit the exact centre.

[gshaw]

Doubt it's the projector moving as we don't have an upstairs, all one level building (no carrying upstairs for me )

 

never heard about dragging the pen, most of the time it's just a case of stabbing the centre with an index finger usually works fine. Seems odd for two boards to be going wrong, one of which isn't that old (about 1.5 years).

 

Also 2-3 boards seem obsessed with asking for re-alignment on startup even when it hasn't been asked for, to save me time messing around with startup options etc is there a setting somewhere that makes this happen?

 

Hmmm so reading the above from SimpleSi it seems that it might be out of my hands, I'll check out some of the related links and in the meantime keep firing those suggestions in, we'll get there in the end!

 

Cheers,

 

Gerrard

Edited January 15, 2008 by gshaw

[gshaw]

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

 

Innnterresting, anyone found this to be their root problem?

[enjay]

If you're aligning the boards by "stabbing with a finger" I would suggest you try the drag a pen method, as it is much more accurate - you know that you are hitting the exact centre of the target that way, your method could easily have you a centimetre or so out without realising it.

 

Try loosening the two screws behind the pen tray which are holding it to the wall - if these are too tight, it can put funny tension on the board and distort it slightly.

[enjay]

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

 

Innnterresting, anyone found this to be their root problem?

I've not experienced this personally, but I have heard talk of it on this and other forums (fora?). It's certainly more than plausible - the board does have a small current running through it which it is using to identify the location of contacts, so I can see how a nearby power cable or transformer could cause interference.

[gshaw]

Drag a pen as in press and hold down on a point on the screen then drag to the centre of the target and let go?

 

Doubt this is the cause though as tutors do the same in other rooms with no problems and would prob just knock the accuracy out from the start rather than gradually fading away. Might make it a bit better aligned in the first place though, thanks for the tip

 

Will check the screws out as they were put up by an external company and could well have something to do with it. Will check those power cable runs out as well...

[enjay]

Yes, that is how I meant to do it - press, hold, drag, release - but like you say, a misaligned board probably wouldn't get more misaligned over time, it would just remain misaligned.

 

Is the misalignment equal in all areas of the board, i.e. always 7mm to the left or whatever, or is in worse in some sections than others? If it does vary, is this variation consistent.

 

If you really wanted to prove/disprove issues of location (i.e. screws and power cables) you could swap two boards around - a bit drastic perhaps, but it could prove probative.

[Sirbendy]

We get it...it's usually bouncing projectors due to the kids charging about the rooms, boards being nudged out of position, idiot staff who really PUSH the projector buttons and move the unit, or bad classroom management where kids are allowed to touch the projectors and move them due to loosening mounts.

 

Never had one go down to the board itself or the software...500 and 600 series.

[ricki]

I have had it where the wall was not straight and the screws were too tight and bending the board a bit and it kept making it all go strange.

 

Just an idea.

 

Richard:confused:

[enjay]

idiot staff who really PUSH the projector buttons and move the unit

This is one of the reasons ours are mounted so high - I'm 6 foot and some of them I can only just reach when on tip-toes! The teachers use the remotes instead :-)

[Sirbendy]

Ours should..but they either lose them or are just too lazy and let the kids do it!

 

But then, despite REPEATED warnings and threats, a lot of our staff CBA to power them down at end of day/in idle time either...the ones in IT are the only ones I can guarantee are looked after..

[bizzel]

We have a similar problem with our RM Classboards (Interwrite boards) that might be worth investigating to see if it's your root cause. The board comes with two Interwrite software applications, labelled as Interactive Mode and Whiteboard mode in the task tray software (the labels might be different on the board itself). If you use Interactive mode, all works fine but if a teacher accidently loads the Whiteboard mode software instead -which is all too easy to do because the hotkeys on the board are right next to each other - the calibration will be thrown out. This is a known bug and still exists in the latest driver version. PM me if you think this is relevant so I can help you more. There's also an RM TEC article - TEC523779 - which is light on details but describes the basic issue.

[davyboi]

Doubt it's the projector moving as we don't have an upstairs, all one level building (no carrying upstairs for me )

 

never heard about dragging the pen, most of the time it's just a case of stabbing the centre with an index finger usually works fine. Seems odd for two boards to be going wrong, one of which isn't that old (about 1.5 years).

 

Also 2-3 boards seem obsessed with asking for re-alignment on startup even when it hasn't been asked for, to save me time messing around with startup options etc is there a setting somewhere that makes this happen?

 

Hmmm so reading the above from SimpleSi it seems that it might be out of my hands, I'll check out some of the related links and in the meantime keep firing those suggestions in, we'll get there in the end!

 

Cheers,

 

Gerrard

this some times happens if the 2 buttons (keyboard and left mouse) are pressed in at the same time before logon as this is a short cut to start the orientation, but if its done at login stage it wont come up untill some one has loged on.

 

the problem with orientation going out, ive had this a million times at loads of different schools at my old job it was mainly with the old 500 series ones, in thre end i put it down to the boards membrain detieriating over time, lets be fair they are getting pressed on for 6 hours a day 5 days a week.