Harry1980 Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 Hi All, I have a promethean board, when I try to write in active inspire it is spiking. When I try to calibrate the board I have to put force on the +. The Firmware is V3.29 Build 5, Driver Version is V5.8.46.3. I am using windows 7 OS. I have installed the latest version on Active Inspaire v2.5.66477 still the same issue. Below is a picture of the board. I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks
samperry209 Posted March 10, 2016 Posted March 10, 2016 Hi All, I have a promethean board, when I try to write in active inspire it is spiking. When I try to calibrate the board I have to put force on the +. The Firmware is V3.29 Build 5, Driver Version is V5.8.46.3. I am using windows 7 OS. I have installed the latest version on Active Inspaire v2.5.66477 still the same issue. Below is a picture of the board. [ATTACH=CONFIG]35452[/ATTACH] I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks Hello Harry, I experience this myself and found after trying everything that it is a known fault on Promethean boards, You have to contact them and to a warranty repair its to do with the membraine that gets drawn on apparently? Kind regards Sam
IT_Ninja Posted March 11, 2016 Posted March 11, 2016 May be out of warranty, worth trying to flash a new firmware or overwriting the current one. Contact Promethean they may have a solution otherwise just tell you to flash firmware - get file from them or their website. Had spiking issues as well, are you Serial or USB. I find the USB better but worth trying whatever you're not using at the moment. Also check your pens, the pen nibs may need to be replaced.
marsdenprimary Posted March 18, 2016 Posted March 18, 2016 May be out of warranty, worth trying to flash a new firmware or overwriting the current one. Contact Promethean they may have a solution otherwise just tell you to flash firmware - get file from them or their website. Had spiking issues as well, are you Serial or USB. I find the USB better but worth trying whatever you're not using at the moment. Also check your pens, the pen nibs may need to be replaced. Same issue here, literally a few days ago... tried the following: 1) Swapped for a new board (!) 2) Updated driver 3) Changed power cable 4) Changed usb cable 5) Changed laptop(!!) 6) Plugged board into an extension lead away from original sockets 7) Swapped for new new pen Still spiking! Any ideas???
Harry1980 Posted March 18, 2016 Author Posted March 18, 2016 Hi, I used a different power cable and bypassed the wall unit, straight into the power socket and stopped spiking. It has been working fine since.
IT_Ninja Posted March 18, 2016 Posted March 18, 2016 Sometimes spiking can be caused by electrical interference so worth bypassing it ^^
DaveJ2717uk Posted March 18, 2016 Posted March 18, 2016 Also if they are dual touch boards(pen and finger), disabling the touch function worked on one of the boards we had issues with, the other was environmental issues, electrical interference as @IT_Ninja says. Especially when the usb cable and power cable are close to each other (same trunking - even divided trunking.)
marsdenprimary Posted March 18, 2016 Posted March 18, 2016 Also if they are dual touch boards(pen and finger), disabling the touch function worked on one of the boards we had issues with, the other was environmental issues, electrical interference as @IT_Ninja says. Especially when the usb cable and power cable are close to each other (same trunking - even divided trunking.) USB and power are totally separate and straight into the board. The only thing I can think of is two power sockets directly behind the board on the wall... think this could make a difference???
IT_Ninja Posted March 18, 2016 Posted March 18, 2016 Any power is liable to cause interference at some stage... Only way to be sure would be to eliminate the possibility by testing the board away from such possible factors.
psydii Posted March 18, 2016 Posted March 18, 2016 Sometime leaving the board completely unplugged over the weekend fixed this for us. Additionally sometimes boards were disrupted by power cables running behind them. 1
marsdenprimary Posted March 18, 2016 Posted March 18, 2016 Sometime leaving the board completely unplugged over the weekend fixed this for us. Additionally sometimes boards were disrupted by power cables running behind them. I'll give it a shot!
chris17_99 Posted June 21, 2016 Posted June 21, 2016 We've had issues with some of our older boards before where they've started to delaminate. You can feel it when you rub your hand over the board and the surface becomes uneven which is what causes spiking. Just a suggestion in case that's something you've not seen before.
Bob_the_Goon Posted June 21, 2016 Posted June 21, 2016 I used to see this a lot in the past, although at my current school we don't use them so I haven't seen it for a while. The controller on the back of the board used to cause this, so I suspect it is probably that. Do you have any spares. Could you swap out the controller to see if the problem follows to the new board? When we weren't able to fix the issue we used to ask the teacher to switch the board off and then back on again. This would clear the fault for a day or so.
marsdenprimary Posted June 21, 2016 Posted June 21, 2016 It's a weird one. Moved the board somewhere else and there were no spiking issues... Put a different board in place of it...spiking!!! I've put it down to electrical sockets...
here_hare_here Posted August 25, 2016 Posted August 25, 2016 Had a similar problem a few years ago with Smartboards, If you drew a straight line it resulted in an ECG type spikes all along it. Found that if the metal fixing brackets that were screwed into the wall were isolated from the wall & screw using plastic washers then the spiking stopped. Might help for the Prometheans?
Alis_Klar Posted November 17, 2016 Posted November 17, 2016 I have had loads of those boards start spiking after we had the classrooms refurbished and electrical sockets moved close to the boards. We replaced some of the boards with refurbs and it went away for a month or two and then started to happen on replacements also. The year before we replaced PC's which had no Serial port so had to use CAT5 USB extenders (expensive type). Didn't really have issue with spiking on serial connection. Also it appears the activedriver (in my experience) does not work with a serial connection under 64bit windows at all!!! So USB to Serial adapter was out also. Have tried putting ferrite beads on every cable anywhere near the whiteboard but this made no difference. May also be worse if IWB power supply is near board as it can be with USB. With Serial it was always by the PC as power is fed from serial port. This has been the hardest problem I have failed to deal with effectively in my whole career! Guess these things are giant aerials so any EM interference is an issue. Would also avoid any coiled mains cables nearby as this generates a magnetic field.
Alis_Klar Posted November 17, 2016 Posted November 17, 2016 I think my Ergo Microflex PC may be part of the problem they all have really buzzy audio outputs when using wall mounted speakers that other PC's don't have. These things have miniscule power supplies that I can't imagine are very high quality. Could also be the soundcard built onto the motherboard I suppose. I was even doubting the quality of the USB host chip as a possible issue. I used a ground loop isolator to eliminate the buzz. I have tried various types of these and only this one worked for me. (didn't fix spiking just speaker buzz) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005LG9ODM
kennysarmy Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 We seem to be getting some issues now like the ones discussed above. The board in question is a Promethean ABV578PRO purchased July 2015. It's on the latest drivers and firmware and we're using a pen with a decent nib. The power and USB cables are not running side by side from the board.
Harry1980 Posted January 11, 2017 Author Posted January 11, 2017 If you have the latest driver and firmware, if would look at the cables (power and USB). I had an issue and it was the cable in the past.
Alis_Klar Posted January 11, 2017 Posted January 11, 2017 (edited) With the older generation (non PRO) boards we had an issue when the power sockets for the speakers were moved to be next to the boards. When we plugged the speakers power and Promethean power supply in elsewhere we resolved the issue. Also eliminate any USB extender if you can. Edited January 11, 2017 by Alis_Klar 1
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