Receiver issue

[Dodie Ainslie]

I'm getting more and more issues with the receivers not staying green, and not working... but can't seem to find a pattern.  So my question is- does anyone have any tips, or have had a similar situation and how did you solve it?

 

Is there a better order to starting an assessment? Do receivers work from one set of clickers to another (different models)? Does anyone else have issues or have you needed to get them replaced?

thanks for any input you can assist with-

Dodie

[Theresa Pierce]

Sometimes using the back USB port works better than the front ones (more power or something like that).  You might check with SMART support - it could be that the latest Response software update included a fix for that kind of issue.

[Diane Widmer]

Hi Dodie~

Are you in a Network environment? Teacher Tools will not load properly and the receiver will stay "red" if you are signed on to more than one computer in your network.

Hope this helps!

~Diane

[Dodie Ainslie]

Thanks Diane and Theresa- I will check which USB they are using.  We are also in a networked environment and I can see that being an issue with some being logged in in two locations.

 

Appreciate the fast response!

Dodie

[Vanessa Cassie]

Hi Dodie,

 

I can answer a few of your questions, although I'm not sure I'm going to be able to solve your problem 100%...

 

Receivers work across all models, with one exception -- the Response XE units (the ones with the full qwerty keyboard), need a specific receiver.  It looks slightly different than the others in that it has more surface area that is black.

 

In terms of getting an assessment started, so long as all students are connected and/or logged in prior to beginning the assessment, there shouldn't be any impact on connectivity.  

 

When you have problems, is it with just a couple of clickers at one time, or do you lose connectivity for the whole class?  If the latter is the case, it could be an issue with the wiring in the receiver, or a problem with your USB port on your computer (this happened to me once).  

 

A couple of things to try:

 

- As an initial step, and I know this is going to sound stupid, maybe just try changing the batteries in any clickers that have issues?  It could be that the batteries are getting low but not low enough to trigger a "low battery" signal.  It also could be that they're not fully "pushed in" properly, causing them to flake out once in a awhile.

 

- I'd also recommend looking at getting a powered USB hub.  Depending on how many things you have connected via USB to your computer, there may be an issue with power levels.  I know that often times people will have their SMART Board, their Response receiver, a doc cam and a usb memory stick all plugged in at once.

 

Those are the suggestions I have for you to try for now. Let me know how it goes!!

 

Vanessa

[Amanda Myton]

Hey Dodie, You might want to repost this to the SMART Exchange. The receivers are interchangeable, unless you have XE remotes in which case you'd need an XE Receiver. I've only experienced this problem on systems where the computers were very locked down by IT. The teachers had to always plug into the same USB port or they might not see their receivers at all. 

[Dodie Ainslie]

Thanks again for everyone's responses- I believe the problem was with being logged into two different computers in the network at a time. She tried using the same receiver with a different person logged on and the receiver worked so I don't think now that it was the receiver going bad. When I asked her to make sure she was logged off in the library it now is working fine... (yeah!)

Since it affected all the students, not just a few it wasn't a clicker battery issue.

I never thought about the different USBs and a power issue- so that is good to know and I will keep that in mind for future possible issues (and will mention at my workshop).

I'm glad to know the receivers are interchangeable (except for XE) I thought that was the case but figured I'd ask since you never know...

 

Thanks again- love the network here, I tell everyone I'm only as good as the people I surround myself with... and you guys are the best!

Dodie