ActivBoard +1 - Intermittent loss of interactity

[DavR]

Hi,

 

We still have a couple of the ActivBoard +1 models (the first generation with blue and yellow frames), that must be in the region of 10 years old now.

 

One in particular is giving us real trouble, interactivity is phasing in and out, one day it's there, the next its not. It's not the pen, as the problem remains when using a known good pen. The board remains connected and recognised in ActivDriver via USB throughout (we are using driver software v5.11).

 

Is there anything further I can do to troubleshoot this board? If this is a sign that the board is dying, are there any parts I can buy to repair it? The budget really doesn't stretch to replacement boards at the moment!

 

Dave.

[win]

Were these originally serial cables? You can try going back to the old cables if you find any lying around. I assume you have tried a power reset when interactivity goes.

[DavR]

That's an option I suppose - I don't know the original setup, before my time, but it's quite possible it was serial. Not sure if that PC has a serial port though!

 

Have you noticed that serial has been more reliable than USB on the older models?

[tech-man]

We had issues with USB on AB+2's and converted them to serial & now we experience some lagging issues on boards from time to time.

[DavR]

Gotta be worth a go I suppose, I've run out of other ideas! Lagging is potentially better than intermittent failure.

 

I'll have a bash and report back.

[win]

I found both to be generally ok. If the usb isn't working, check the power options and ensure the usb port isn't going to sleep.

[DavR]

Oh? Are these the Windows USB power settings, or in the Activ Driver?

 

I think I saw something along those lines in a previous discussion now you mention it. I can't say I've ever had to change USB power settings under Windows 7 before!

[win]

It's in the control panel > power settings

[DavR]

Ah, ok, the Windows ones then. I have those controlled by policy, but shouldn't be too hard to change. I'll try that first then consider trying a serial connection.

[DavR]

Well, fiddling with the USB power settings hasn't made a difference, so today I finally got round to switching everything over to serial (the PC didn't have a serial port, but an expansion card was only £15 on Amazon).

 

So it works now on serial, BUT, the response is so poor that you can't really write or draw on it. If you attempt a circle, you will get a polygon, that sort of thing, and handwriting you can forget.

 

 

That's an example of when I attempt to draw a curve, the jagged one is at normal speed, the smooth one at dead slow, is this the lagging that others have mentioned?

 

Also, for the life of me, I can't seem to get the serial board to detect without manual intervention at startup, anyone had that?

 

I'm thinking that by this point this is may be a dead board...

[jon_nais]

When connected by serial connection you can only use the 5.7 driver. They removed the automatic connection to the COM port on newer versions of the driver so it screws you up a bit.

Have you changed the power supply to the board at all? We do get connectivity issues if the psu is throwing a wobbly, changing them does solve the problem more often than not.

[DavR]

When connected by serial connection you can only use the 5.7 driver. They removed the automatic connection to the COM port on newer versions of the driver so it screws you up a bit.

Have you changed the power supply to the board at all? We do get connectivity issues if the psu is throwing a wobbly, changing them does solve the problem more often than not.

 

Jon! If I only I'd had you around a few weeks ago! These are all things that I finally discovered myself, after much agro.

 

Yes, I have now discovered that the current / recent versions of ActivDriver, whilst they do install a serial driver, just do not work with the serial boards (WTF guys). I've reverted back to 5.9 driver, which with the correct options selected, does work with serial boards.

 

Because of the poor performance on serial, I put the board back on USB, and guess what, it is now working again properly. It could well be related to power, as when I was rewiring to put it on serial, I had to the re-route the power cables. They were previously cable tied to the unshielded 240v mains supply in the trunking(!), which probably wasn't helpful. In the process, I also replaced the lead between power supply and board, as I accidentally snapped it, which may also have some bearing on it.