Odd Smartboard/Dell problem

[witch]

My newest smartboards have a standard 'printer type' usb connection and work fine- EXCEPT:

One teacher has a newish Dell Latitude D520 and it will not connect to the board no matter what I do. (Although it has done for a year) I have upgraded smart software and drivers, and I cannot find a problem on the Dell.

I have spoken to Smart and they have said that it is a problem with newer Dells that they believe is to do with excessive current.

I have tried another laptop - a newish Tosh - and it worked first time, so I think Smart may be right.

Has anyone come across this and maybe a solution?

[witch]

Yes I am

[teejay]

We have had a problem with the D520's, not quite the same problem as yours, and it was down to the power supply. Try running the laptop off battery and see if it works. If it does Dell will swap the power adaptor if its still under warranty with a different model.

[witch]

XP pro

 

Thanks TeeJay I'll try on monday - but I thought the smartboards will only work when the laptop is on mains power - that's what they told me, anyway

[witch]

Right - still no joy - doesnt work with or without power supply. I will ring Dell support but I hold out little hope of a solution. Has anyone any other ideas or experience of this?

[dave.81]

I wonder if this could be the same problem as our new vostro laptops producing spikes, excess current making the boards short out against the wall. Hmmm will have to investigate this.

[powdarrmonkey]

Get hold of an externally powered USB hub and try connecting through that. If you're lucky a cheapy one will have some power isolation between the host and the devices, which may help.

[cooper]

Have you tried all the usb ports i had a dell laptop that would only work the my ipod from one port the others didnt like it.

[wesleyw]

The USB hub won't work for long we've had the problem you describe except our would connect but produce some very strange effects as the power spikes occurred. What you need to do is mount some wooden batons about 2 - 3 inches deep and then mount the smartboard on these that will stop it shorting out against the wall. Just to make sure though take the Smartboard down plug the laptop into then and try it if it works mount the batons and then the smartboard you'll be fine.

 

 

Wes

[witch]

I have ordered a powered hub and will try this as well as taking the board off the wall and seeing if that is the problem

I'll let you know

[witch]

Update: Dell have 'no idea' what the problem is. Powered hub doesnt work. Taking board off the wall doesnt work.

I am really stuck here- does ANYONE have any more ideas? Smart definitely seemed to think it was a known issue and I cant believe it doesnt have a solution

[witch]

Havent reimaged it as I dont have an image of this one. But I dont think it is that as the other Dell has the same problem. I am also not convinced it ever worked!

Have System Restored though and that didnt work!

[teejay]

We have D520's and D510's here and they don't have problems. We did have a batch of dodgy PSU's which would cause problems with interference.

If you've got a D510 or D520 with a different model of the power supply try that. The revisions we had problems with are the PA-12 Rev A00 and A01, the newer A03 revisons has no such problems. It might be worth persuading Dell to send you one out to try.

Few other things:

Is it only the newer versions of the Smartboards, ie the 600 series rather than the 500?

You say there is another Dell with problems, is it the same model?

I know this is bleeding obvious but do the usb ports work with other devices?

Are you using Smartboard v10 software and if so is the seperate driver package installed?

[witch]

Smartboard works with all other laptops - old Dells, Tosh, etc Yes, the drivers etc are in and working

The problem only lies with the new Smartboard 600 usb boards

USB ports on laptop work with other devices

Both of my 520s have identical PSUs unfortunately

Contacted Dell again, they had no solution at all

Someone must have come across this before

HELP!!

[witch]

I have had a long chat with a very helpful Dell guy who could only suggest that I disable anything that takes power like the bluetooth and the wireless by actually disconnecting them - I must admit the thought of taking a new Dell apart gives me the screaming abdabs.

If anyone has any advice on how to go about this I would be grateful

I will give it a go though if I ever have time - but I can't see it

 

Can ANYONE give me some help on this? It just seems so odd that it is just one board and one laptop

[Andie]

OK. Two very very long shots, and you may be unable to try the first anyway, but here goes:

 

Remember I had a problem getting a SMARTboard to install to a laptop?(http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows/13073-smartboard-driver-install-failure-headache.html)

There, it was the Windows drivers that weren't working. Have you had a look in Device Manager to see if there are any issues with drivers (yellow question marks against devices)? In my case it was a problem with a Human Interface Device. The problem laptop was a new one. I had installed software onto it, and then connected it to the board and it didn't install drivers properly. Never found out why, as an identical new laptop didn't have the same problem. But it was solved by the laptop supplier sending me out a replacement hard drive with original image on it as supplied, then I connected the board to the laptop without installing any other software first. In your case, this may mean a windows reinstall?

 

Suggestion 2: a problem I encountered on my home machine in Vista, but worth a try if you haven't already (and similar but not as drastic to the suggestion from Dell). Have you tried disconnecting all other USB devices (memory sticks,etc.) from the laptop? At home, and this machine has a lot connected to it, we have to remove the web cam or a memory stick crashes the computer!

[witch]

Thanks Andie, but there are no problems in Device Manager and no other USB devices attached to the machine. I did think it might be the USB Human Interface device but it is not registering any problems. I have upgraded the software to the latest version, even installing the drivers separately, but NOTHING works

I am at my wits end as this is the third problem this week with apparently no solution

[witch]

Just in case anyone wants to know

I fixed it

Having tried several USB cables from other boards around the school - which all worked fine with their own boards - I finally tried a new cable (different make) and, weirdly, it worked!!

Don't know why

Don't care!

Hope it lasts - Teacher is really chuffed so I got a lot of brownie points!

[pooley]

Only just noticed this thread, we had similar issues with USB leads, but it was the length of them that was the issue not the make, they had to be less than 2 meters in length from board to laptop. 5 mins with knife and soldering iron did the job here.

[witch]

Ours were already that short and the new one is the same length as the old one!

[witch]

OMG we are here again

Different board

Different D520

Same problem

Has worked for a year. Now doesnt. Changed the cable 4 times, no joy

Done all the drivery things. No joy

PLEASE has someone got a solution - Dell blaming Smart, Smart blaming Dell

There was an idea that maybe as the connection faceplate is metal, that could be causing a problem - is this likely????

 

HELP PLEASE

[pooley]

Does this Dell work with ANY other smartboard?

[krisd32]

Why don't you try not using the face plate and plug directly into the board itself? see if the problem re-occurs that way.

[witch]

The board works with every other laptop except the same type when it is flaky - sometimes on, sometimes off

The Dell ditto

Will try a direct connection if I can get to it

[rad]

Ditch the Dell and get another make laptop