Those "wonderful" SmartBoards

[Janice]

Okay group: I have been dealing with a teacher that is having "issues"with her SmartBoard. The board is 3 years old - do they ever wear out? Here is what the teacher had to say:
My smartboard seems to have a couple of issues:

1. Although I align it 2-3 times a day, it seems as though it is not as sensitive to the pens as it should be. It is frustrating when we try to write/draw on the board and it doesn't respond as we want!

2. The middle of the board has a "wave" through it as I write on the board in that area. It happens for the most part across the entire center (horizontally) as I write. It is very distracting for 2nd graders when, what they expect to see written has a wave throughout. I have checked the board and there is no indentation in that area of the board.

Any ideas?

[Jen Hegna]

Janice,
I believe SB's have a 3 year warranty so I would find out if it is a problem with the board. Check with the vendor who sold it to you. You may either get it fixed or a replacement? I have not had that problem....yet....

Good luck!

[Janice]

thanks Jen
not sure "how old it is" - I think it is past its' prime ...(no comments from Bryan ...)

[Bryan Berg]

Janice,

A couple of things.

Yes, Boards can "wear out" but generally it seems that it's the electronics that start to fail. Between D-E and Stewartville in the last five months, we've seen three Boards have issues that required replacing. Two were 500-series Boards, one was the newer 600-series. (SMART replaced the 500's with newer 600's, so that was cool!)

I'm not sure what the teacher really means with the statement "not as sensitive as we want". The Boards do need a certain amount of pressure for them to work properly, and if that pressure isn't applied, then they won't work. Getting a feel for that amount of pressure comes with practice. But if this is a teacher that has used this Board since it's been installed, and now feels that it takes more pressure than what it used to in order to have it respond, then that could be an indication of a problem with the Board.

SMART has provided us with a couple of tools that we've used to run tests on the Boards when we've had issues like you've described. One is the "Edge Diagnostic" and another is a simple Notebook file that is used to trace some shapes. The results of either (or both) have to be sent to the SMARTTech Support where they can evaluate the results and let you know if the issue is fixable, or if the Board needs to be replaced.

The Edge Diagnostic can be downloaded from SMARTTech.com website. Here's Info:

Save the results, reply to this e-mail and attach the results. Below are the link and the password to download the diagnostic program.

http://downloads.smarttech.com/techsupport/k1fi2rh8stf3eja6kjs1sdl0... Password: yamaha

Please uncompress the files to your desktop and run the EdgeDiagnostic.exe file. Please note you must uncompress all the files and not just the .exe file.

You will find the instructions inside the .zip file.

Once we have this information we will be able to determine whether it is a problem with the board or not.

Please remember to include the serial number of the SMART Board in question. It is very important that we have this serial number so we can look this board up within our database.

If the link doesn't work out, let me know. I can forward the program to you.

The other possible issue is thatthe Board could be experiencing a grounding issue. I've seen it happen at Kasson-Mantorville when the metal mounting brackets at the bottom of the Board are screwed into a wall using metal screws, and those metal screws come in contact with metal in or behind the wall (if the drywall has a foil backing, or there are metal studs used in the wall, or the Board is mounted over an existing structure (like some whiteboards) that has a metal layer). This can cause some strange things to happen when using the Board, and may not occur right away. A common symptom for that problem is usually the inability to orient the Board. Since it sounds like your teacher can do that, it may not be the issue. An easy way to check is to unscrew the lower mounting brackets, remove the screws and see if the Board operates fine once that is done.

A PDF document outlining the issue and a fix using non-conductive washers is on the SMARTTeach.com website at:
http://www2.smarttech.com/kbdoc/1418

Hope this helps, Janet!

[Bryan Berg]

SMARTBoards have a 5 year warranty (if you register them) but SMART has been known to provide warranty service beyond the warranty time-frames. And I would suggest contacting SMART Tech Support at [e-mail] if you have problems with the Boards that are causing frustrations. The vendors will point you in that direction anyway.

[Janice]

Yo Bryan

Thanks for all the help. That is at least a start. Never had a problem like this one but it could be the goofy wiring in the whole building! We need a new High School!

janice

btw - I LOVE Ning!

[Bryan Berg]

Janice,

Another thing I've thought of...it might be possible that the teacher may be accidentally touching the Board in two places at the same time when he/she uses it...that can also cause strange 'wiggles" when attempting to write with the virtual pens, and would also cause problems with trying to operate the computer through the Board. I've seen teachers accidentally have their second hand touch the Board while writing or trying to click/drag etc..., or accidentally rest their hand on the Board while writing...that second touch point creates a "confusion" in the location the Board "thinks" the user is touching. So, make sure that the teacher isn't accidentally doing something like that as well.

Thanks, Janice! I love Ning also!!

[Janice]

Just a note from the front - then we can end this thread. Shelley from CompView came and we messed with the "goofy" board for 45 minutes. Finally used the 20 point "touches" and it seems to work! So instead of just using the 9 point touch try the 20! ~janice