problems with using IWB's/Smart Notebook

[ClaireJoanne]

Hi there

 

Can anyone help me?

 

I have a couple of problems - firstly, we have a laptop in school that doesn't allow annotating on the IWB unless using Smart notebook. You cannot write on Word/PowerPoint/Excel docs or anything else. All other laptops in school are ok and trying a different laptop with the whiteboard sorts this.

 

It must be a setting on the laptop but I don't know what - we tried installing the Smart Aware toolbar but this made no difference.

 

Also, on another laptop/IWB, you can write and tap on things and IWB is interactive but you cannot drag pictures, etc.

 

Any ideas?

 

Many thanks

 

ClaireJoanne

[BluPrint]

Hi,

 

Sorry to hear you're having these issues. I am a SMART software product manager in the UK.

 

The first issue with the Ink Aware problem does sound like a driver problem as SYSMAN says.

 

I would first check that the ink aware settings are enabled in the SMART Control Panel (either accessed through the Windows Control Panel or by clicking the SMART Tools icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen on the Windows bar - the 'system tray' as it is known). Then go to Configure SMART Tools and make sure that all the MS Office applications are ticked to be ink aware.

 

If this all looks ok then I would do an uninstall and reinstall of the SMART Board drivers. One word of warning though, the drivers now are pretty specific to the version of Notebook that you have installed, so you may be best to do a full uninstall/reinstall of both Notebook and the drivers if the Notebook version isn't the most recent (10.6 released last week).

 

Remove both the Notebook and SMART Board drrivers through Add/Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel - you don't have to uninstall the Gallery, this should be listed separately and also more recent versions of Notebook prompt you when you uninstall it and ask if you want to remove the Gallery too - just say no.

 

The combined Notebook and SMART Board driver download is available here:

SMART - SMART Notebook software,Windows operating system

 

 

The second issue sounds like a bug relating to an incorrect drivers installed with an early release of the Notebook Maths Tools beta. The outcome was everything works fine except for trying to move/rotate objects in Notebook. Again try a full uninstall and reinstall of Notebook with the drivers and this should get you up and running, you can just save the downloaded installation file from above to a USB stick or network drive and use it on this second machine.

 

If you have any further issues with this then please feel free to contact our technical support team on 08450 724999 between 9-5 Mon-Fri and they will be happy to help you.

 

All the best

 

James Austin

 

Steljes Ltd. (UK Distributor of SMART Technologies)

[BluPrint]

Hi SYSMAN,

 

Thanks for the welcome, I joined a while ago but finding the time to check the forums and reply is difficult - unless you're stuck in bed with a stinking cold after BETT! Other users such as yourself often come up with good suggestions to get people moving so thanks for your input.

 

A lag issue is a bit of a complex one. I have come across various issues with lag on boards in the past and it's difficult to pin down one distinct cause.

 

The few initial checks I would recommend are:

 

- Is the PC up to the job? Do the specs and operating system meet the minimum requirements on the software download page for the version of Notebook/drivers you are using. We all know that school machines can be a little bit behind the times with budgets only allowing for so much. A later version of Notebook and drivers is going to require a beefier machine to run it. Previous versions of the software can be found by clicking the 'find a different version' link at the very bottom of any of the SMART Software download pages if you need one.

 

- Cabling is another culprit. If USB cables are extended then these can delay signals between the PC and the board. The SMART Board ships with a 5m USB cable to connect the PC to the board. This can be extended with recommended active USB extenders (not necessarily powered but they have an amplifier circuit built in to them). SMART say you can use up to 3 of these with your standard USB cable. Converting to CAT5 cable for a longer connection to the board is also an option with USB to CAT5 converters. The best way to eliminate this as a cause is to connect the PC to the board with just the 5m standard USB cable and see if this works as it should. Bypass any wall connection plates or USB hubs because these add another possible cause of problems.

 

_ As you say it could be just corrupted or incompatible drivers/Notebook and an uninstall/reinstall could well fix the problem. Other software or processes hogging memory/CPU could also slow things down and make the board respond with a delay.

 

- The board controller on the 600 series (grey framed) SMART Boards can also be reset easily, just to see if this is doing something strange and causing a delay on the digital ink. If you look down the right hand side behind the status light on the board, there is a blue reset button on the side of the controller unit which the USB cable connects into. Press this blue button in for about 10 seconds with the tip of one of the pens and this will do a full reset on the controller. You will have to re-calibrate/re-orient (in SMART language) the board and see if this clears the issue.

 

Sorry I can't be more specific but there are so many factors which could cause this type of problem. The board itself is actually extremely simple so the PC, corrupted software or a dodgy cable is often the gremlin in the system.

 

I hope this helps somewhat!

 

As I mentioned above our tech team should be able to help recommend some steps to work out what's causing most issues and they can always get SMART involved if they can't suss it out.

 

Happy boarding!

 

Cheers,

 

James.

[ClaireJoanne]

Many thanks for this. It has sorted the problems on both the laptops. Cheers!!