USB losing connection

[tai_ann2003]

"I've been dealing with it on a daily basis. My pen just stops working sometimes. I have to reboot the computer, and then re configure the pen to the board. what am i doing wrong. I am also trying to use the mouse on my laptop when i am not using the pen. Does that have anything to do with it?"

This was a question asked by a teacher I work with... and I was wondering if it sounded familiar to anyone. We already e-mailed Tech Support and are waiting for a response.

I know that for A+2's (which he has), the cable kits that were being used had USB cables that were bad. The connection was split up a couple times and it caused many boards to lose their connection to the computer... new cable kits have a better USB cable.

Any other tips/advice?

[Peter Lambert]

This may be due to USB extender cables. Before rebooting the PC just try unplugging and replugging the USB connector, this should be quicker if it works. Also try upgrading to the latest driver available via the support tab on prometheanworld.com

[tai_ann2003]

Thanks, Peter. I am fairly sure that it is his USB cables that came in the old A+2 kit from earlier this fall. The new kit is "better." He does have the newest driver and software version, and he is coming to a small user group that I will be conducting tomorrow... so hopefully switching to serial connection will temporarily solve this problem and hopefully Tech Support can send him a new USB cable that is more efficient since the serial cable does not fit nicely into the face plate for the AB+2 kit. :)

Thank you!! It is reassuring that you think it is possibly the cables as well.

[saha]

Hi Tai,
I cant offer much solace but perhaps this may help.
In the last 3 years, only on one occasion did it appear to me that the board had lost USB connection.

So without waiting, I just disconnected and rebooted and everything was fine.

The it apparently did the same thing again. But this time I looked at the laptop and found that the hard disk activity LED was on and lot of hard disk spinning. Apparently the CPU was being hammered..perhaps a virus scan.
When it stopped, the pen and board again became responsive.

[tai_ann2003]

Thank you, Guatam for the advice! I hadn't heard of or thought of that. I will pass this on to the teacher... maybe he knows more about computers then I do and will know how to check for the LED activity. Thank you! [clap]

[tai_ann2003]

Here is a new problem, completely perplexing to me and Technical Support. At 3 different schools this week who just had new AB+2 systems installed, some (not all) of their computers will NOT connect... I even used my laptop computer plugged in, switched USB cables, restarted the board, restarted the computers, downloaded newest drivers, restarted the boards and computers... etc. round and round I went for 30 minutes on one computer and board and a second one was doing the exact same thing. My computer has never had problems connecting via serial or USB and yet a couple boards will NOT connect....

Tech Support is going to send out new electronics, but I honestly do NOT think this is the problem. The USB cables that came in the box kit only had 1 booster, not 2 boosters - but even when we switched the USB cable we were using to the original USB cable it STILL would not connect... even on my laptop (which has always connected). I know I am repeating myself, but this just seems whacky. I was thinking that it might have something to do with recent Microsoft updates and our current (latest) driver... Microsoft's updates from a week ago or so crashed many computers in the school district out here... :(:(

I just don't think switching the electronics is going to solve the problem since we are talking multiple boards at a couple different sites - all that are using the newest software... Anyone else have similar problems? ????

[saha]

Is it on Win XP platform?

If this is the case, then when you go to hardware profiles, do you see any activ device with a ? sign.

If you do see a ? sign, then the board electronics is talking to the computer.

If no devices are showing up, then it is perhaps the board electronics.

Another approach would be to delete all USB ports from hardware manager and then rebuild them.

[tai_ann2003]

Here's the problem...

Our promethean boards are experiencing the following problem:
When we open a flip chart, the message we get it "Hardware Not Detected".
What we've done to try and correct it:
1. restarted the computer
2. uninstalled the program, reinstalled the newest version
3. uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers
4. installed updates
5. Restarted computer again (and again) :mad:

My reponse:
Go to www.prometheanworld.com/us/ (http://www.prometheanworld.com/us/) and click on SUPPORT. Click on DRIVER UPGRADES. Download and RUN the newest driver. It takes about 2 minutes (or less) to run the new driver. Microsoft recently had updates on their software that are conflicting with our driver – so we have a new driver to keep up with their changing software. Try this first and then if that still doesn’t work, make sure you update the software. I did show everyone in our class on the initial “Welcome” toolbar that pops up that there is a “Support” tab. If you click “Check for updates,” it will automatically update your software for you once you prompt it to download. Microsoft always performs updates and changes their software, our software and drivers must adapt and change to meet their needs… So try this first and PLEASE let me know if it solves the problem.

STILL NOT WORKING!!!! :mad:

Nothing fixed the computer. So, I moved a different computer in, installed the software, and all is MOSTLY well. However, I am still unable to use the board because it won't allow me to calibrate the pen. It creates a screen one and screen two, asks me if I want to calibrate each, and then they are blank screens (not calibration exercises). I'd love to call tech support, but my cell phone gets no service in my room and I can't call anything but local #s on my classroom phone.
Also, I have tried:
1. installing updated drivers (was successful)
2. Restarting the computer
3. Calibrating by putting the pen infront of the flame icon, AND choosing to "calibrate board" from the promethean menu.
Please advise.
I have checked on Promethean world, and can't find any help for this particular problem. This is day four of not using my board. I had flip charts ready, but some I've lost due to having to change computers. Frustration is mounting.

My response:
I highly suggest trying to use the Serial cable to connect then instead of USB. Also, because I am not a technical support expert, I highly recommend that these exact descriptions are posted on the Forum. I am absolutely positive that the past couple weeks things have been acting weird on many computers throughout the entire country because Microsoft had an update that created the USB connection to go whacky. The serial cable is not nearly as badly effected by it as the USB, so I highly suggest you try connecting that way. This is my best suggestion until a new driver is made by Promethean that is not negatively effected by the most recent Microsoft updates.