Hello,
My sister-in-law is having trouble with her SmartNAV, bought 2 months ago. It had been working fine but suddenly 4 days ago stopped working. It has since (unexplicably) worked on a couple of occasions, once for as long as an hour, but then stopped working as suddenly as it started.
With the original software that came with the SmartNAV (Version 3.2 Build 13), the LED on the front stays green whether or not there is any reflective material anywhere near it. (You can block it with your hand and the LED stays solid green.) The software doesn't pick up any movement.
With the latest driver downloaded from the naturalpoint website, the behavior is different: the LED stays on about 500 ms, then goes off, and the software displays "no data" in the title bar.
The result is the same: nothing moves.
We have tried it on a second computer, and the result is the same.
Is there anything else we can try, or does it sound like we have a hardware problem?
Thanks,
Stephen
SmartNAV often doesn't work
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
Are you plugging in directly to the system, or are you using a hub?
Have you tried turn off any kind of power save feature for your USB ports?
In the "Device Manager" you can right click the "USB Root Hub"(s), that show, and then select properties. On the power management tab, uncheck the box that allows the computer to turn off the USB port to save power (i.e. uncheck the box). Sometimes that has an impact on the connectivity of the devices.
Which version of Windows are you running?
Have you tried turn off any kind of power save feature for your USB ports?
In the "Device Manager" you can right click the "USB Root Hub"(s), that show, and then select properties. On the power management tab, uncheck the box that allows the computer to turn off the USB port to save power (i.e. uncheck the box). Sometimes that has an impact on the connectivity of the devices.
Which version of Windows are you running?
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
Thank you for your help.
The SmartNAV is connected directly to the computer's USB port, and does not go through a hub. The computer is running Windows XP SP2. I don't know if power-saving is enabled for the USB ports, but I will follow your instructions to check on my next visit to my sister-in-law's (probably tomorrow.)
What is the tolerance of the device to elevated temperatures and/or humidity levels? The temperature in her room yesterday was about 26-27 degrees Celsius. I could acquire a hygrometer if establishing the humidity level is pertinent.
Thanks,
Stephen
The SmartNAV is connected directly to the computer's USB port, and does not go through a hub. The computer is running Windows XP SP2. I don't know if power-saving is enabled for the USB ports, but I will follow your instructions to check on my next visit to my sister-in-law's (probably tomorrow.)
What is the tolerance of the device to elevated temperatures and/or humidity levels? The temperature in her room yesterday was about 26-27 degrees Celsius. I could acquire a hygrometer if establishing the humidity level is pertinent.
Thanks,
Stephen
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
There is no specific temperature range for the SmartNAV to work in.
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
As it happens, the power saving on the "USB Root Hub" was turned on, so I turned it off (removed the checkmark.)
On that particular day, the device was working normally, and of course it continued to work normally so there is no way to know if the change had any effect.
Today, it isn't working again, though, so unfortunately, USB power saving does not seem to have been the root of the problem.
There being no specific temperature range indicated for the device, perhaps it is hard to say, but should I interpret your response as to mean that it's highly unlikely that a room temperature of 26-27 degrees Celsius would be at the root of the problem?
Anything else we can try?
Thanks,
Stephen
On that particular day, the device was working normally, and of course it continued to work normally so there is no way to know if the change had any effect.
Today, it isn't working again, though, so unfortunately, USB power saving does not seem to have been the root of the problem.
There being no specific temperature range indicated for the device, perhaps it is hard to say, but should I interpret your response as to mean that it's highly unlikely that a room temperature of 26-27 degrees Celsius would be at the root of the problem?
Anything else we can try?
Thanks,
Stephen
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
Do you have the latest motherboard bios, and chipset drivers installed?
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
We haven't touched the SmartNAV BIOS (I don't see any instructions on flashing the BIOS in the Support section of the web site.. please advise) but we have tried the most recent version of the drivers, i.e. 3.20.030 - Final B.
Per my original post, the behaviour is different with the latest version of the drivers (green LED stays off instead off staying permanently on), but the result is the same: the mouse fails to work most of the time.
Thanks,
Stephen
Per my original post, the behaviour is different with the latest version of the drivers (green LED stays off instead off staying permanently on), but the result is the same: the mouse fails to work most of the time.
Thanks,
Stephen
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
I was refering to the computer system motherboard bios, and chipset drivers.
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
Sorry for the delay in responding--I just switched continents.
The laptop in question has not had it's motherboard bios or chipset updated, but since the SmartNAV worked consistently well with it for 2-3 months before starting to act up, and no other part of the computer's behavior is causing us trouble, I doubt updating the bios/chipset would be advisable at this point. Especially since we also tried the SmartNAV on another computer and it failed to operate correctly there.
On the original laptop, it now seems to be falling into a pattern of working for 2-3 days, then not for 2-3 days. Rebooting the laptop/SmartNAV does nothing, but suddenly for no reason it will start/stop working and then stay in that state for days on end.
I do believe this is a hardware fault with the SmartNAV. If there is no further diagnostic information that we can get from the device itself, would you advise that we return it for repair/replacement?
Thank you,
Stephen
The laptop in question has not had it's motherboard bios or chipset updated, but since the SmartNAV worked consistently well with it for 2-3 months before starting to act up, and no other part of the computer's behavior is causing us trouble, I doubt updating the bios/chipset would be advisable at this point. Especially since we also tried the SmartNAV on another computer and it failed to operate correctly there.
On the original laptop, it now seems to be falling into a pattern of working for 2-3 days, then not for 2-3 days. Rebooting the laptop/SmartNAV does nothing, but suddenly for no reason it will start/stop working and then stay in that state for days on end.
I do believe this is a hardware fault with the SmartNAV. If there is no further diagnostic information that we can get from the device itself, would you advise that we return it for repair/replacement?
Thank you,
Stephen
Re: SmartNAV often doesn't work
Email support@naturalpoint.com, with your unit serial number - and overview of the issue.