Support Site
(if you were sent to this page while in a course, click on your browser's BACK button to return to your course)
Common Technical Issues specific to Blackboard 6
| Chat doesn't work. | Blackboard 6 uses a different way to do chat. A popup window is used and if you're using a popup blocker, you must disable it for the chat to work at the ilearn web site. If the chat still doesn't work, consult the chat troubleshooting page for other troubleshooting options. |
| Classes that used to be listed in the Course Catalog are missing. | FThe courses are still there, it's just a bug for now in the current version of Blackboard. Right now, only courses that have a starting and ending date set appear in the catalog, and ones set to continuous do not appear. To see all the courses within a section, use the search box and type in the number that appears at the start of the courses that do appear. For example, to see all of the courses for Buhler, type in 313 in the search box and click on Go. |
| I'm having a hard time reading the text in my courses. | This could be a problem with font settings within your browser and should be fixed by changing the font size setting within your browser. For example, in Internet Explorer 6, go to View, Text Size to see the different font size options. |
| Tests questions get rearranged when copying to another class. | When test questions are copied from one class to another, the questions will rearrange based on creation date and must be arranged manually. |
| When trying to download grades on a Mac, the grades appear on the screen and do not download. | This is a known bug with Blackboard 6 and only happens on a Mac. If possible, use a PC to download the grades instead. |
| When typing an announcement, pressing enter double spaces instead of single spaces. | If you create an announcement while online, it will create it using standard HTML formatting. In HTML formatting, pressing Enter inserts a <p> or paragraph command, while holding down the Shift key and pressing Enter inserts a <br> or line break command. The line break command does not insert the extra blank line like the paragraph command, so if you want something to be single-spaced, hold down the shift key and then press enter at the end of the line. |
| Other Common Technical Issues
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| An Email From ilearn@essdack.org Arrived In My Email And It Contained A Virus | The email did not come from ESSDACK and the ilearn server does not have a virus. The email actually came from a user who's computer is infected with the Klez virus or a similar virus. These viruses will search address books and web pages on an infected computer for any email address it can find and then send itself to others via email, randomly inserting email addresses it found in the To and From part of the email. Please click here for more information. |
| AOL and Blackboard | Rather than using the browser built in to AOL, it is recommended that once you are connected that you minimize your AOL connection and use a browser program such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape to view the Blackboard courses. |
| Batch Enroll Users - Proper File Format | The file that contains the user information must be a delimited file (comma, tab, or colon). You can not use an Excel spreadsheet - you have to save your spreadsheet as a delimited file. To do so, while in Excel, click on File, Save As, and change the file type to a delimited type. |
| Browser Cookies Disabled (Bookmark or Favorite Link Doesn't Work) | If you do not have cookies enabled, follow the instructions on the screen to enable cookies. If you do have cookies enabled and still get the page, erase the nocookies.html part of the web address and press enter. If you get the error as a result of clicking on a bookmark, visit this page to learn how to solve the problem. |
| Course Cartridge Information | If you decide to install a course cartridge for your course, the manufacturer may want to know which version of Blackboard you're using. Here is the information regarding the version of Blackboard being used at the iLearn site: Blackboard Basic Edition, 6.2.3.6 |
| Email Is In Hotmail Bulk Mail folder | The following is from Hotmail's web site and explains how to fix the problem - If you find that desired e-mail ends up in the Bulk Mail Folder, just click on the link "This is not Bulk Mail" and Inbox Protector will move that message directly to your Inbox. In addition, Inbox Protector will ensure that you always receive e-mail from that sender in the future. |
| Email Sent From Within Blackboard Comes Back as Undeliverable | Be sure that the email address is a valid email address. If it is a valid address, the email may come back because emails sent through Blackboard have a blank "To:" field. Some email servers recognize this as spam and reject the email. To work around the situation, you will have to email the user directly instead of using Blackboard. |
| Graphic Appears When Viewing On A Windows Machine But Not On A Mac | If a WMF file is used instead of a JPG or GIF, Mac's will not display the graphic. The problem is common if you use clip art from Microsoft Office on a Window's computer, because those files are mainly in WMF format. To solve the problem, you'll need to use a graphics program to resave the graphic as a JPG or GIF and then add that file to your course. |
| No Data Error Message | This appears to be a caching problem with the Netscape browser. The fix is very easy but it will require you to make an adjustment to your Internet browser. In Netscape select Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Cache -> Set both the Disk & memory cache settings to 0. If this solves the problem, you can reset these fields back to their original settings. If resetting these fields, to their original settings, causes the problem to reoccur, follow the steps above and set the disk & memory cache settings to half of their original value. |
| Other User's Information Appears | Your school or Internet Service Provider is using a Proxy server that is not configured properly. A proxy server caches pages that come from outside the school's or the ISP's firewall so that two people accessing the same page see the same result, even though they should see personalized information. In order to work correctly when a proxy server is in place, find out who provides your internet access. Get the phone number for your Internet Service Provider (if using a home account) or the school's network administrator (if accessing from a school's machine.) Request that the administrator make one or both of the following changes to the proxy server: 1) Don't cache pages coming from ilearn.essdack.org 2) Don't cache pages that end in the extensions .pl, .class, .cgi, .jsp, or .asp. |
| PowerPoint Slideshows Do Not Appear correctly when created and uploaded with a Macintosh computer | A PowerPoint slideshow created on a Macintosh and then uploaded to Blackboard as a .ZIP file will display an erroneous request to "open the default.htm file to view this presentation." Please note that this only occurs when the slideshow is both created and uploaded on a Macintosh. Workaround - either create the slideshow on a Macintosh and then upload it from a PC or create the slideshow on a PC and upload it from a Macintosh. |
| Teacher Does Not Receive Files Students Add To Drop Box | Students need to make sure they click on the SEND FILE button to send the file to the instructor. Clicking on the ADD FILE button only adds the file to the drop box, but does not send it to the instructor. |