SmartBoard Orientation Issues

[Richard_Drury]

Hello everybody!

 

I suppose I should start with the ever so cliche introduction. My name is Rick and I'm an IT Technician at a school (pause for the group to say "Hello Rick." in AA format).

Now that we got that out of the way, maybe y'all can help me out with this. So we have a number a of SmartBoards here at the college I work for, most of them are SBX885's. A couple of them have been dropping their orientation left and right, our instructors have to realign them a couple of times a day, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but I'm guessing somebody on here can understand the dilemma of instructors being mildly inconvenienced and how quickly it becomes your fault. I have done the firmware and software updates for the boards (we check for and apply those every summer and when something goes wrong, like this, we check again), I've checked the drivers for the computers that are driving the SmartBoards and I've realigned them myself a couple of times, all to no avail. As far as I know there aren't any high voltage lines behind the boards, there doesn't seem to be any interference with anything between the board and the computer (save for our USB to Ethernet to USB setup, but that hasn't given us any trouble in the past). Any ideas?

[crwardell]

We have the same problem at the school I work, Usually caused by the boards being delaminated. Either repair or replace unfortunately. Replace is the only way to go unless someone on here knows of a way to repair them. [emoji106]

[Richard_Drury]

I'm guessing, when you say "delaminated" that it means they initially have some sort of lamination on them and over time, with the use of the pens, the laminate gets scraped off little by little until nothing remains? If that is the case then wouldn't it be as easy as sanding off the remaining laminate and reapplying a new coat? Especially if they're out of warranty and you can have your way with them, as the kids say.

[crwardell]

Hi Rick don’t think it’s as straight forward as that if you press on one of the boards you will probably find that the surface of the board bounces on the internal layer of the board this I have been told is classed as delaminating. There should be no flex or movement in the top surface of the board for them to work as they should.

 

Hope that makes sense [emoji846]

[Richard_Drury]

Yeah that does make sense. I believe we might be in the beginning talks of replacing all of our smartboards with newer models, as our 5-year cycle is almost up on them. I just wish the new smartboard, that runs an Android distro, didn't weight over 150lbs because we have some walls that can't support that.

[AlanD]

As well as drivers - there is firmware - and its worth making sure you have the latest firmware. Its worth using the "reset" switch on the controller to make a clean start with orientation. There are also different versions of the controller itself. Sometimes getting the latest one fixes an issue. (I used to swap them round - and if the problem moved - change the controller).

 

Check how tightly the bottom of the board is screwed to the wall. Sometimes - the screws just force a small distortion in the back of the board by attempting lift the board a little. Check by removing the screws nd see if the problem remains.

 

There is (or used to be) a load of things on Smartboard web sight to help with orientation issues and its worth working through them.

 

Nothing of course - will fix a board that has been physically damaged.

[All-Office]

Please ensure you Smart software and Smart Board drivers are up to date. Note, the latest version of software will contain the latest firmware for your board.

Check the board for damage and make sure that the board has not been tightened too much behind the pen tray. (if you have the screws behind the pen try to tight they can cause issues)

Reset the SC9 Controller. (which should be on the back of the board)

 

Edited November 9, 2018 by Dos_Box

[Richard_Drury]

I hate to add something to this so late after it was posted, however... Does anyone know of any kind of documentation that talks about the SmartBoards having this laminate? Or anything that talks about it from Smart Technologies? We're having a bit of an issue with this and we need to present the issue to higher administration and we need to have facts from a source that they will see as "appropriate" so does anyone have anything or could point me in the right direction?

[mtmeyrick]

I had similar issues at one point, the length and the quality of the cable were factors to consider.

 

Smart recommend 5m of usb lead, but you can use longer if you use good quality cable but is unsupported.