TroubleShooting SMART Board Problems
The Ready light on the SMART
Board pen tray is not on.
Make sure the power supply to the SMART Board is connected at both ends.
If the power supply is disconnected:
- Plug the power cord into the pen tray, then plug the power adapter into the electrical
source. (The Ready light blinks, then goes off.)
- Close the SMART Board application: Perform a right mouse click on the Whitebrd button in
the Windows 95 taskbar, then select Close.
- Restart the SMART Board application: Click the Windows 95 Start button, then select
Programs, StartUp, and Whitebrd. (The Ready light now stays on.)
If the Ready light is still not on, check the following items:
- Check the cable connections at the SMART Board pen tray and at the TC 4-port serial card
connector on the back of the PC.
- Verify that the port is configured properly:
- Connect the SMART Board to the 9-pin P0 connector on the back of the Enterprise Series
TC system 4-port serial card.
- From the Windows 95 Control Panel, double-click the System icon.
- Select the Device Manager tab, then select Ports (COM & LPT) from the list
of device types.
- Double-click the COM port, and check the properties and operation status.
If you have corrected all the potential problems listed in the steps above, and the Ready
light still does not come on, follow the power down and power up procedures described
in the TC User’s Handbook.
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When power is reconnected to the SMART Board, the Ready light comes on,
but does not stay on.
You must relaunch the SMART Board application whenever you reconnect the power supply.
To relaunch SMART Board, follow these steps:
- Close the SMART Board application: Perform a right mouse click on the Whitebrd button
in the Windows 95 taskbar, then select Close.
- Restart the SMART Board application: Click the Windows 95 Start button, then
select Programs, StartUp, and Whitebrd.
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Annotations
do not show up in the Pen Pal window.
- Make sure you press firmly when you write with the markers.
- Make sure the eraser is in its slot.
- Make sure an object is not in the slot that belongs to the marker you are using.
- Check to see if the SMART Board software, Whitebrd, is active. Currently active
applications appear as buttons in the Windows 95 taskbar.
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Annotations disappear unexpectedly from the Pen Pal window.
One of the videoconference participants may have clicked the Whiteboard button in Pen
Pal. Make sure participants understand that this action clears annotations from the
monitors at all sites.
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Stray lines
appear in the Pen Pal window.
- Make sure you press firmly when you write with the markers.
- Make sure you touch the SMART Board pressure-sensitive surface at only one point of
contact. Do not press against the SMART Board with your hand as you write.
- Check to make sure no one is using the mouse or the tablet while you are writing on the
SMART Board. Moving the mouse or tablet pen adds annotation. Whenever you are pressing a
marker against the SMART Board, the tablet pen and mouse become drawing tools, and their
movement cause marks to be drawn on the Board.
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An
unexpected marker color shows on the TC monitor.
Check to see if the markers are in the proper slots in the pen tray, and see if there
is more than one slot in the tray empty. SMART Board assigns color according to the slot
from which you last removed a marker, not according to the marker itself.
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Writing does
not show at the remote site.
- Verify that the remote site is using one of these VTEL systems:
- Enterprise Series TC
- Enterprise Series LC
- MediaMax
- Make sure the remote site has the Pen Pal Graphics option installed.
- Verify that the videoconference is an HDLC mode call.
- Make sure the Pen Pal window is displayed in the foreground on monitors at the remote
site(s).
- If the remote site uses a MediaMax system, make sure they have clicked the Slides button
in the Draw area of the tablet.
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The eraser causes marking instead of erasing in the Pen Pal window.
- Make sure a marker was not picked up after the eraser was removed from its slot in the
pen tray. The best way to correct this problem is to make sure that all the markers are in
their slots.
- Check to see that nothing has been placed in the eraser slot.
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Erasures in the Pen Pal window are incomplete or do not show up.
Use the corner of the eraser with short strokes, pressing firmly.
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Pen Pal has experienced a fatal WinPal error, and the Pen Pal application
has terminated.
Perform these steps in the following order:
- Disconnect your videoconference call.
- Restart your Enterprise Series TC according to the instructions in the TC User’s
Handbook.
- Reconnect your videoconference call.
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