Shooting Line

[steve]

I will be writing on the smartboard and a line of ink will just shoot off across the bd. from my pen. It's irritating. Has anyone had this problem and solved it? It is random so I cannot predict when it will occur.

[Diane Foose]

Sorry I don't know the solution, but I have had this happen to me. I have wondered whether it was due to the fact that it usually happens when I am on a page with a flash file. If I close the notebook file and reopen, it is usually fine.

[steve]

Thanks. I'll start paying attention when it happens if a flash file is open. The kids just laugh now, but I'm tired of it.

[Obe Hostetter]

Take a pen and see if you can draw straight lines vertically and horizontally.  If the line goes crooked or you can't draw straight lines, your SMART Board is shorting out.

Then it is a electrical grounding issue (See pdf) Put a piece of cardboard behind the SMART Board where the line zig zags as well as put nylon washers before and after the screws that hold the pen tray to the wall.

If your SMART Board is still having issues, update the SMARTBoard Firmware by navigating to Applications-SMART Product Drivers-SMARTFirmwareUpdater.  If needed, Uninstall SMARTBoard Drivers Only and reinstall latest from http://www.smarttech.com/us/Support/Browse+Support/Download+Software

[Joanne Villis]

From my experience, this also happens  if you aren't aligning the board correctly (orientation). When you orient a SB660 series board or older model the best way is to touch the board drag you finger to the centre of the red cross and release in the centre of the red cross. With a SB 800 series board you can't do this, you simply need to touch the cross in the middle of the board.

Also, when you are testing your board (drawing straight lines and horizontal lines) it is always helpful to:

1. Align your board
2. Go to your gallery and type in large grid
3. Drag it across

4. Select full screen

5. Draw over every horizontal and vertical line

6. When you go to print this for records, you will need to use the camera tool to create a screen capture (otherwise the blue large grid will not show up when you print it off) or create page capture.

Typically, boards will loose their orientation as such (accuracy) in the corners of the board first. You will be able to tell this when you try to draw a straight line and it is curved. Another typical area is in the middle of the board just off  the left or right.

Hope this is helpful,

Jo

[steve]

Thanks for both of these ideas/suggestions. Our board is brand new, so it shouldn't be dying. I let my third graders orient, so maybe I need to do the orientation for awhile and see if the line extensions subside.