Weird Pen behaviour

[AdamR1978]

This is a bit of a difficult problem to describe, so I do apologise if it's not clear. basically, what happens is, when you are working in ActivPrimary2, imagine you are trying to draw something on the board. the pen will draw it, but completely randomly, an extra line or an extra bit will be drawn on the board.

My only thought is, could the 2nd pen, in the holder, be causing interference?

[airskeeter]

Adam,

Assuming that you have all of your software at the updated versions, driver 3.05 , and the firmware on the board updated, I have not heard of this....you might want to call tech support.

The second pen, in the holder, should not cause intereference unless it is 1/2 inch away from the board.

[LouB]

Hi Adam

I had exactly the same thing happen in my classroom. I have figured out what the problem is in my room - the children used to use the same pen as me and whenever I wanted to draw a picture or write the pen would have a fit and draw random lines all over the place - especially when you took the pen away from the board - the children found this amusing - I found it frustrating!

Solution - 2 pens - 1 for the children and 1 for your use. Now I don't have any funny pen behaviour!

Hope this may help solve your problem!

[Barby Sampson]

Hello,

Glad to hear it's not just our pens behaving strangely. We have two boards where the pens just keep writing, making odd lines. I've been told it could be interference by a fan, mobile phone etc. but eliminating all possible objects has proved fruitless. I hadn't thought about another pen in the near vacinity and will try that out. Otherwise I'm told it's a new board :< !!!!

Barby
Worthing.

[Stuart Collins]

With issues like these it is usually far better to contact technical support. This problem could be be simple to fix.

I should just clarify that a pen in the pen holder will not interfere. What would the point of the pen holder be if it did.

You cannot use 2 pens at the same time on the board. You can use 1 pen, then stop using it, then use another pen, but not 2 pens at exactly the same time.

[Alison]

We have had this, but it's rare and fairly sporadic. We tend to just hit undo and then carry on.

One thing I will say is if the nib has been bashed in (usually by children - or teachers - banging the pen against the board too hard) then it's like having left click permanently down on the mouse. It will add extra stuff all over the place. You have to bring the pen right away from the board to stop it. In this case, we just have to replace the pens!

[Dug]

Until I found out how potentially damaging it is (and have since banned it), my kids used to love producing beautiful coloured 'sparkles' on the board by placing the pen on the surface of the board and then wiggling the mouse frantically at the same time. I could imagine a pen misbehaving under these circumstances - if, for instance, someone meddled with a mouse while you were 'busy' on the board.
Unlikely, I know, but possible.

[Mike Dawson]

This is a bit of a difficult problem to describe, so I do apologise if it's not clear. basically, what happens is, when you are working in ActivPrimary2, imagine you are trying to draw something on the board. the pen will draw it, but completely randomly, an extra line or an extra bit will be drawn on the board.

My only thought is, could the 2nd pen, in the holder, be causing interference?

Just a thought...you might try unplugging the board from the power source to reset and then after plugging it back in, hover each pen over the board (one at a time) for about 5 seconds or until the light on the board changes color momentarily. This registers the pen with the board. It worked for me.

[AdamR1978]

I'm so glad others are having similar problems with this. I actually tried to contact tech support today |(7.06.06), and after waiting 10 minutes, gave up as I'm using a mobile - the classrooms don't have a phone, and I should be near the board when talking to Promethean. And honestly, when you pay your own mobile bill, 10 minutes is too long to just wait.

A.

[Dug]

I think you're a bit unlucky, Adam. I regularly ring them and never wait more than a couple of minutes. I agree the mobile thing is a pain (especially if you are PAYG as opposed to contract) - I know some schools provide a mobile just for this sort of thing.

[AdamR1978]

My schools don't :(
I suppose I should mention that I don't technically work in one school, but rather, work for a company that does technical support in many schools in London. I am personally in charge of about 10 schools on a weekly basis, this school is just one of my weekly visits. And it's the only one with a dodgy board...

[Margaret Allen]

Not wishing to sound defensive about this because it is clearly upsetting to have to wait so long... but can I suggest you phone at a down time if you possibly can!! What I mean by that is not first thing, lunchtime or after school. I know that is a big ask as that is obviously when the board is not being used!! :eek: But if it is a pen issue then an initial contact might not necessitate being close to the board??


Sorry if I am stating the obvious or if you did ring outside these times.....+wave+

[CJLivesey]

I had same problem with my pen. I was told that pen was faulty and the problem was solved by getting a new pen.

[Trev]

Hi. I've had this problem numerous times. Tech Support know all about it, its known as "Spiking." If you ring them they will try to help. In my own experience, there have been just 2 solutions.
If you're lucky, a driver update may do the trick. I have been lucky this way several times. However, more often that not, it's been faulty pens. Sometimes they just wear out or someone might pull out the nib and push it back in. They never seem to function properly afterwards. The only solution then is a new pen, which can be purchased from Promethean.
In one solitary case when this has happened to boards that I service, the problem has been caused by interference from other electrically operated devices in the room. The cabling was at fault here, it was not a fault with the pen, board or anything supplied by Promethean. As for needing a new board, I have never known that and I do look after many schools with interactive boards. Hope this helps.

[Morphius]

Hi.

These problems really do tend to be a pain, I also work in 10 schools doing ICT Support, and have had it happen only once but luckily it was with a brand new board. It would either add random bits in, or just miss out parts of writing. In my situation, we went through everything whilst on the phone to tech support before we just gave in and changed the entire board. If you have a number of boards on site, you can eaily rule out the damaged pen at least by swapping pens that are known to work.
I think Promethean actually took a board from another room and attached it to that pc in the end to rule out any pc or pen related problems, before deciding on replacing the board.

Good luck though!!!!

[Daniel Turner]

OK the word "Spiking" is a very general word and can cause our Technical Support to go down the wrong route of diagnosis. If random lines are happening, power off the board, power it back on and see if the problem still exists otherwise call Tech Support, DO NOT replace the driver this does not have any effect on the boards behaviour and you may cause more problems by doing so.


Best Regards


Dan Turner
Promethean Customer Support