Smartboard Firmware downgrade?

[Scott Waldow]

Over the summer we upgraded to Notebook 11, everything seemed fine except for one board, the orientation was constantly off. The teacher would orient it in the morning and after about 15 minutes what she was writing was appearing a good 6 inches away from where she was actually writing. I updated the firmware on the board to 5.3.0.0 to see if that would help but it didn't. I downgraded her Notebook to 10.7.144.0 since that was working fine last year but that hasn't helped either. I'd like to try downgrading the board's firmware but whenever I run SC9-4.1.2.0 Flash.exe it says the firmware upgrade has failed. Does anyone know if I can downgrade the firmware? Thanks.

[Obe Hostetter]

Typically if your writing is off it is due to either the board being shortened out, screen resolution or needing firmware updated.  The version of Notebook shouldn't effect the orientation.  

Tips to try:

1. Change your screen resolution to 1024 X 768 and clone the displays.  Try different resolutions.  
2. If the above settings don't work, hold in the blue reset button on the right side of the SMART Board for 10 seconds and restart your computer. 
3. Take a SMART Board pen and draw straight lines vertical and horizontal on your SMARTBoard. If you can't draw straight lines, the SMART Board is shortening out. 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.

[Randy Tran]

I agree with Obe; while there's a possibility that firmware is the cause, 8 times out of 10, it usually isn't the problem.

However, not to discount the other 2 out of 10, you should be able to downgrade the firmware down to 4.1.2.0 using the steps you provided.  It failing that downgrade isn't a good sign.  

That said, try reflashing the controller to 5.3.0.0.  If you use the SMART Firmware Updater application in the same folder as SC9-4.1.2.0, you may notice that once it detects 5.3.0.0, it says the controller is up to date and won't let you do anything.  To get around this, and to allow you to re-enable flashing simply press Ctrl+Shift+F which will deselect all selected products but allow you to flash then again.

Try re-uploading firmware 5.3.0.0.  If this process fails just like your downgrading to 4.1.2.0, there might be chance the controller is busted.  At that point, give SMART Tech support a call or even send me a PM, and we'll do something about that controller.

#R

[Scott Waldow]

I was able to do the downgrade, thank you. Now we'll wait and see how it works.