[Mark P Promethean]

This thread is now closed, please see: https://community.prometheanworld.com/forums/topic/update-to-1st-generation-2nd-generation-ab100-ab300-ab500-bsod-windows-10-1903/ for the latest updates.

[Brian Davis]

So far so good on one board that has been having issues with BSOD. Going into the 2nd with no reported problems with blue screens or restarts using the Beta driver.

[Taylor Kopel]

We’ve started testing the Beta Driver this week on a handful of 1903 machines (Bytespeed H310M) that were having daily (and sometimes even hourly) crashes. We have seen ZERO blue screens or crashes on those machines since the Beta Driver has been installed. I did have to disable Driver Signature Enforcement in order to get the Boards to connect. Smooth so far.

[Michael Janke]

Hi,

thanks! I was able to successfully test the beta driver.

I also could deploy the driver via GPO and without disabling signed drivers. Therefore I imported the certificate as “Trusted publishers” also via GPO.

Best regards Michael Janke

[Matt Snead]

@michae-janke — which certificate?  Did you extract it from the exe or msi somehow?

[Michael Janke]

I installed the msi manually on one computer and exported it from the certificates console.

[Margaret Dalton]

I am following up on this post.  When will this ActivDriver be out of beta and posted to Promethean Planet for download?  I would like to deploy via SCCM as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Margaret

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi Margaret,

Promethean Planet hasn’t existed for a number of years now.

However with that being said, at this stage I do not know if this ActivDriver is going to be the final fix, or of it’s going to form a part of the final fix. Or if there is another solution being worked on.

There are a lot of moving parts that all need to come together.

We are aiming to provide an update on an ETA to the final fix by the end of this week.

Thanks

[Matt Snead]

@mark-phillipson

“We are currently aiming to provide an ETA on a final solution by the end of next week, and we will update this thread with details of that ETA once we receive it.”

Any update to the ETA??

 

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi Matt,

No update at this time. Though it is only Monday – as the statement says ‘aiming to provide an ETA by the end of next week’. That’s this week.

Thanks

[Nick Jacobe]

Same issue with us and our HP computers. We have some generic computers (bytespeed) that have 1093 and are not having and issue. Still our other symptoms match completely with everyone else. Hope a permanent fix comes out soon.

[Evan Sullivan]

Hello all!

Our district is having the same issue with 1903 and ActivDrivers.  Per the post above I was able to download the beta drivers.

When trying to deploy either the MSI or EXE the deploy fails with Error 1603 but I can install them manually.  Anyone else able to silently deploy them?  I did try and uninstall first but get the same result

 

Thanks!

[Margaret Dalton]

We use powershell script via SCCM to deploy ActivInspire along with the ActivDriver.  Here is the line used as part of our installation: Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList “/i ActivDriver_5_18_11_x64.msi /quiet /norestart” -Wait

[Evan Sullivan]

We use PDQ Deploy and are using the same parameters “/quiet /norestart” which always worked before until this morning when I am trying this BETA.

I also tried the MSI with all the default MSI parameters.

Odd that yours works.

[Nick Jacobe]

Evan,

I am able to push it silently via our end point management tool. Below is my command line:

msiexec.exe /i “ActivDriver_5_18_16_x64.msi” /qn ALLUSERS=2

Installs without an issue. FYI we used the 64bit driver so you might need to change it to match your file type.

Forgot to mention we are deploying the Promethean Ltd cert out via GPO to the computers before we do the install. Maybe that is why it’s failing for you.

[Evan Sullivan]

I have never had to install the certs but that is a good starting point.  Thanks!

[Evan Sullivan]

Exporting and installing the cert before works.  Strange I have never had to do this before for this driver.  Thanks a ton!

[Nick Jacobe]

Glad I could help! I REALLY hope Promethean fixes this issue. We are almost 50 computers and counting.

[Evan Sullivan]

Luckily we have not begun the update to 1903 yet.  We had 3 new math teachers this year and they got a fresh 1903 image, however.  Trying the beta drivers on those 3.

[Matt Snead]

@njacobe @esullivan

Is the certificate you guys are using the one that expired a month ago?  “Prometehan Ltd” Expired 8/28/2019.  And are you installing it to Computer Account \ Trusted Publishers \ Certifictes?

[Evan Sullivan]

I manually installed the MSI on a test machine and exported the cert that gets installed

[Nick Jacobe]

@mattsnead yup, That is the one in the MSI so that is the one I am using and the location I am putting it in.

[henriksen]

Any update or should we be expecting a final word by the end of the week?

[Evan Sullivan]

So the cert is expired for the beta drivers and all the boards are thusly not working.

Edit: The old drivers do not have a cert, which is why I never had to import one before installing before this beta.  This beta is not useable until the cert is updated

[Nick Jacobe]

Anyone else see this?? So far we haven’t had any reboots and the boards seem to work.

[henriksen]

I’m going to roll out a test computer to one of our staff in our district and see if anything improves. I don’t like the idea of disabling the Secure Boot in BIOS along with the other things mentioned at the top of this forum in order for this to work a little while or until the certificate expires according to some that have posted in this forum.  We have several staff members that are experiencing this similar issue and we are heading into the 4th week of school. It’s becoming more problematic and frustrating because this is the only technology that these staff have in their classrooms.

[Nick Jacobe]

I am not sure if this has been answered but is there an actual case with Promethean open? I’d like to call and reference that and add my self to the list, maybe others should as well.

 

As for the secure boot, I have not been doing that and the install went fine as long as the cert (even tho its its expired) has been working. I just need to give Admin someone else to target besides my department. Week 3 is almost over and we have 4-5 reboots a day on multiple computers across many schools.

[henriksen]

Same here on the reboots. We have a number of work orders in regards to staff computers restarting while teaching a lesson when Active Inspire is up on the board. Just a random reboots out of the blue.

[Nick Jacobe]

anyone check to see if the actual Inspire software? I know the dumps show activhidmi.sys (sp?) but I have teachers using Epson bright link projectors doing the same thing….. I also have other computers that are not HP that work just dandy on 1903 with an older driver. Just throwing that out there….

[Evan Sullivan]

Seems like the BETA drivers only really work on 1903.  When I install them on 1709 I get a cert error in the device manager

[Evan Sullivan]

Spoke too soon.  It’s working on one laptop with 1903.  Trying on another and I get a cert error:

Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52)

[SUHSD TECH]

Evan,

The Beta driver is not a signed driver. Windows 10 protects against unsigned drivers as they otherwise can be malicious in nature. What Mark posted originally is important. As this driver broke with changes in 1903, it’s likely the new one wouldn’t be backwards compatible. Windows 10 Pro 1709 is no longer a supported version of Windows 10, and those machines really need to be upgraded. See here: (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet)

See Mark’s original post here: (https://community.prometheanworld.com/forums/topic/1st-generation-2nd-generation-ab100-ab300-ab500-activboards-bsod-with-windows-10-update-1903-beta-activdriver/#post-17309) or scroll to the top of the page.

[Evan Sullivan]

That very link says it IS supported until April 14, 2020.  We are working on updating them but it is the start of the school year.  We cannot exactly as teachers to run a build update in the first couple weeks of school.

[SUHSD TECH]

April 9, 2019 is the cuttoff for Windows 10 Pro version 1709 as per the lifecycle fact sheet unless it is enterprise or education editions of Windows 10.

[Evan Sullivan]

We are running enterprise thus 1709 is still supported.

[Evan Sullivan]

Are you going to sign the full release driver?  I don’t feel comfortable turning that off, it’s a security risk.

[shannonwalker]

Hi all,

I just wanted to report that we have been using the beta driver since Friday the 13th (I know right?)  with success!

We followed the instructions above – verbatim and everything works without crashing the computer.  We found that if we did not turn off secure boot in the bios, the drivers would install but would not find the board.  Our testing covered Dell Optiplex 3050, Win 10 1903 with  Cumulative Update KB4515384, Beta Driver and 100, 300, 500, Active88 series boards with latest firmware.

Promethean, thank you for the help.  Looking forward to the official release.  Hopefully, we’ll get an update on this thread.

 

 

[Nick Jacobe]

I can confirm the reason to disable secure boot. The board isn’t seen by the computer. That is not a good option I’d you have 200+ computers to touch across a district.

[Evan Sullivan]

Manual or not it’s never okay to turn off security to make something work.

That’s something should work with the security. If not the product is not okay

[Matt Snead]

I am having an issue getting the driver to work.  I have the certificate imported to trusted publishers and I have disabled driver signing.  The driver installs fine but the board does not detect and that is due to the following issue in device manager.  I have NOT done the secure boot change as that is something that’s kind of a deal breaker if it needs to be done.  Others have said its not necessary.

Suggestions?

[Evan Sullivan]

Me too.  They also say to turn off signed drivers, which is also very not ok

[SUHSD TECH]

Evan, this is a use at your own risk / not supported BETA test! You are welcome to wait for a release driver as I am doing. They are hoping for an ETA on the release this week, and trust me, my teachers are definitely wanting this fixed. We run Windows 10 Pro 1809/1903 and no Windows 7 devices and a mix of various Promethean interactive whiteboards. We’re feeling it! Some of my teachers have their PCs restart multiple times a day, as many as 5 times in one day to my knowledge. It’s a good thing for sure to have Windows blocking the driver and disabling that feature as a test, but I wouldn’t go as far as some others that are pushing it out as a fix. I’m worried with the vast array we have, I’d potentially cause more issues.

[Nick Jacobe]

anyone find a solution to to the device driver not signed issue? I did disable the driver signing and 1 of the PCs I am testing it on gives that message.

[Nick Jacobe]

I agree with the previous. I’m not doing a mass deployment. Small amount for testing is ok or the people that scream the most.  They said they’d have an ETA for a fix by the end of the week but it could be a month before live release of a stable version.

I think promethean should have made a public announcement about this issue by now. Something we can give Administration.

[SUHSD TECH]

What I’ve told my admin staff is that my hands are tied. I could rush out with a Beta driver by disabling a crucial security feature of Windows but I would rather not. Besides that, it could cause more issues. Once a release driver hits, I’ll serve it up to my pc’s but until then I play the waiting game and peace talks with teachers.

[Brad Perdue]

I have had a ticket open for over a month now. The beta driver is working for me on a few test machines. With over 100 boards in my district, changing secure boot on all of those to install a beta driver would be irresponsible as an IT department.

We need a new version and quick. The longer this lingers the less likely my CTO wants to make any new/further purchases with Promethean.

[Nick Jacobe]

We are in the same boat. We can’t touch every computer to make this non secure change. With us building a new school this would seriously hurt prometheans chances of getting installed.

[Matt Snead]

I was the one that posted the picture above of the driver not loading due to the digital signature.  I had some more time to play with it today and I haven’t found away around secure boot.  I tried importing the cert (including the intermediary certs) to a couple different areas to no avail.  As soon as I disable secure boot everything works.  No one has any ideas around that?  bcdedit doesn’t work because it’s blocked by secure boot.

[Nick Jacobe]

We had that happen today with the digital signature message. We could not get it to go away. Also the new beta driver hasn’t been removing the old one and on those computers they still reboot. Manually deleting the folder and system32 files doesn’t help. they still reboot.

[Mark P Promethean]

UPDATE

As part of Promethean’s commitment to our existing customers using our legacy ActivBoard products, we have been extensively investigating a number of solutions for this issue.

A major part of this investigation centered around driver certification for these legacy products on Windows 10.

Users of 1st and 2nd Generation ActivBoards

Despite our best efforts, the change that has been introduced to Windows 10 build 1903 means we can no longer offer support for drivers or software for our 1st generation and 2nd generation ActivBoards when used with Windows 10 build 1903.

The following support article will allow you to determine if you have a 1st or 2nd generation ActivBoard: https://support.prometheanworld.com/article/1088/

As part of our investigation we have produced a modified ActivDriver, that appears to avoid the blue screen problem on 1st and 2nd generation ActivBoards. However this driver is not one that can be supported. Installation and use of this ActivDriver is entirely at your own risk.

IMPORTANT:  If you wish to access this unsupported ActivDriver please use the details below.

The link to the unsupported ActivDriver is here: https://promethean.box.com/s/vm0gqur9do6o24c0n1yfkbgkiel11p6j

 

The use of this unsupported ActivDriver may require you to perform one of the additional options detailed below in order to get a successful connection to your ActivBoards after the installation.

Option 1: Disable  ‘Secure Boot’ in your computer BIOS if it is supported by your computer/ operating system.

Option 2: Disable driver signature enforcement within Windows 10.

• Click the Start menu and select Settings.
• Click Update and Security.
• Click on Recovery.
• Click Restart now under Advanced Startup.
• Click Troubleshoot.
• Click Advanced options.
• Click Startup Settings.
• Click on Restart.
• On the Startup Settings screen press 7 or F7 to disable driver signature enforcement.

Please remember this modified ActivDriver is unsupported software. We recommend that you test this unsupported driver in your local environment before making a decision to roll out broadly.

 

Users of 100 series, 300 series and 500 series ActivBoards

The solution for 100 series, 300 series and 500 series ActivBoards is going to be an electronics USB firmware upgrade, which will change the drivers that we utilise with these legacy products. The drivers that the ActivBoards will use following this firmware update, will be Microsoft provided USB HID device drivers.

The firmware and update process is currently undergoing development.

We are making best endeavours to have this solution available for users of our 100 series, 300 series and 500 series ActivBoards by the end of October.

In the meantime the above ActivDriver can be used on these ActivBoards until we have the solution available.

 

[henriksen]

Hi,

Like most people replying to this thread, this updated release is somewhat confusing. So this unsupported ActivDriver that you released, do you need to uninstall the current ActivDriver before installing this or no? When you guys tested this unsupported driver, did you on your end have to do options 1 and 2 because your setting up potentially more and more security and driver issues down the road with the computers we use on a daily basis with equipment we use from your company. This has been a nightmare especially now that school just started a month ago.

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi henriksen,

do you need to uninstall the current ActivDriver before installing this or no? – On my machine, yes I did, simply because its better to carry out a ‘clean’ installation. Following this article: https://support.prometheanworld.com/article/1064

When you guys tested this unsupported driver, did you on your end have to do options 1 and 2 – On my machine – Yes I had to carry out EITHER option 1 or Option 2.

because your setting up potentially more and more security and driver issues down the road with the computers we use on a daily basis with equipment we use from your company –  The  equipment impacted by this change ‘down the road’  would be computers connected to our 1st and 2nd generation ActivBoards. ActivBoard 100, 300, 500 (once the firmware solution is implemented), ActivBoard Touch , and ActivPanel range are unaffected by this change.

Alternatively, you can use an earlier build of Windows 10 and use the current 5.18.12 ActivDriver.

[Matt Snead]

Firstly, the advanced startup option (your “option 2”) of disabling driver signing enforcement is only temporary as it’s only active for that windows session.  If you reboot without doing that again then it reverts back to not allowing it.  The only way (I have found) to make this permanent is to disable secure boot (your “option 1”) which not only requires physically touching every device to make the change, it makes the system vulnerable to other attacks.

Secondly, are you saying that there will never be a working driver for these 1st and 2nd generation boards using Windows 10 1903?  And the only way to make them work is to install an older version of Windows?  Please answer that clearly as it’s not clear from your post.

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi Matt,

To answer this:

Secondly, are you saying that there will never be a working driver for these 1st and 2nd generation boards using Windows 10 1903? – We are saying that there will never be a supported ActivDriver for the 1st and 2nd generation ActivBoards on Windows 10 1903.

And the only way to make them work is to install an older version of Windows? That is one alternative, or you could use the unsupported ActivDriver provided above, at your own risk.

Thanks

[Matt Snead]

“not supported” != “virtually uninstallable”

You could release a driver that can be installed without jumping through all of these hoops and still “not support” it.  e.g. If someone calls you about it not working, you say “sorry, it’s unsupported”.

So again, please clearly answer this question then: Is the current state of the BETA driver, requiring the disabling of driver signature enforcement, the only thing we are ever going to get for these boards?  Or will there be a regular driver released that can be installed normally (without reducing the security of the device) that you just “don’t provide support” for?

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi Matt,

Is the current state of the BETA driver, requiring the disabling of driver signature enforcement, the only thing we are ever going to get for these boards? –Yes, the change that is included in the unsupported driver requires driver signature enforcement turned off.

Or will there be a regular driver released that can be installed normally (without reducing the security of the device) that you just “don’t provide support” for? – Due to the way that Microsoft driver certification works, we will be unable to provide a driver for the 1st and 2nd generation ActivBoards that both resolves the problem and can be installed ‘normally’.

Thanks

[Nick Jacobe]

One of the questions I have is if we uninstall the bad driver does the BSOD stop? I know it kills the interactive part but will still allow inspire to open and flip charts to open correct? Might be an option.

 

EOLing the Gen 1 -2. Were expected but warning would be nice. At least one more “supported” update.

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi Nick,

One of the questions I have is if we uninstall the bad driver does the BSOD stop? I know it kills the interactive part but will still allow inspire to open and flip charts to open correct? Might be an option. – Yes, this would prevent the BSoD, but it will also stop your interactivity.

Thanks

 

 

[Nick Jacobe]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Nick Jacobe]

One more question. Would unplugging the USB from the PC also resolve the issue? Is having the driver installed without a connection still an issue?

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi Nick,

From what we have seen, the issue only occurs when the USB cable is connected. So removing the USB cable could also be an option.

Thanks

[Michael Janke]

To everybody who doesn’t want to disable driver signing:

1. Install the driver as Administrator and during install process click “always trust promethean”.
2. Then open certmgr.msc and export the Promethean code signing certificate
   Or skip the step by downloading the certificate here
3. Now either import the certificate before you install the beta driver or deploy the certificate via GPO
   IMPORTANT: use the local computer store and import it into “Trusted Publishers”
4. install or deploy the driver.msi via gpo

This are my (German) gpo settings and worked like a charme without disabling driver signing:

All teacher are happy again and I got some flowers 🙂
We have the 1st and 2nd generation boards and fully patched 1903. No recalibration was neccessary.

[henriksen]

Quick question for you… when you exported the certificate that Promethean provided did you update anything else such as the unsupported ActivDriver that they provided? As a test sample, we followed the directions that you provided and updated the ActivDriver to 5.18.16 but found from the staff member that driver still did not detect the board or sync up with the laptop. Long story short, I removed that driver and installed the 5.18.12 driver and it seemed to sync back up to the board. I’m just curious of what you did or your thought or anybody else that might still be struggling with this. I did not disable Secure Boot or any of the other changes they were recommending us to do. Also, speaking with another person it really seems if Promethean would simply just renew that certificate on their end that this problem most likely would not occur and nobody would be running into these issues. It really seems like Promethean dropped the ball on this or trying to lose customers. This has been very frustrating to explain to our staff especially starting up a new school year.

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi @henriksen,

I can’t advise on the deployment of the certificate as per Michael Janke’s comment but I did want to hopefully elaborate on part of your post :

“Also, speaking with another person it really seems if Promethean would simply just renew that certificate on their end that this problem most likely would not occur and nobody would be running into these issues.”

Unfortunately it is not as simple as renewing a certificate, we have looked into this extensively and if this could be done, please believe me, it would have been.

There are x2 certificates that need to be and have been considered:

Code signing certificate, which lets users know that the software comes from a ‘trusted source’.

• Our installers, including ActivInspire & ActivDriver, are signed with a code signing certificate.  Our certificate that provides this did recently expire, and was renewed.

Hardware device driver certificate, This certificate is provided by Microsoft and is embedded into third party kernel mode device drivers, and allows the driver to be run without any of the driver certification protection being turned off.

 

To elaborate on the issue further, Windows 10 1903 has introduced a different way of talking to, amongst other things, kernel mode device drivers; which is what the core of our ActivDriver is when it is being used with all of our legacy ActivBoards.

 

Whilst we do anticipate to be able to resolve the issue for our ‘newer legacy’ ActivBoards (AB100, 300, 500) this will not be with the release of a new ActivDriver but with new firmware for the ActivBoard which will no longer have a dependency on Microsoft’s hardware device driver certification. Because of the way that Microsoft now certify device drivers, it is actually impossible for us to achieve device driver certification because of the technology used in the older ActivBoards – hence why we are looking at changing the firmware to remove the kernel mode driver dependence and therefore remove the need for the hardware device driver certificate in the ActivDriver.

 

The reason why we can only look at this method for AB300 / AB500 and not ActivBoards manufactured before 2007 is purely down to the technology that those ActivBoards utilise. It means we cannot provide a firmware for 1st and 2nd generation ActivBoards to remove the kernel mode driver dependency for those ActivBoards.

Thanks

[Matt Snead]

@michae-janke — Do you have secure boot enabled?  Or, are you machines upgrades of Windows from previous versions?  e.g. Was once Windows 1703, upgraded to 1903 or something to that liking?  If so, that may be why it’s working for you.  More on that below.

We have the cert installed and do not have driver signing disabled (though I have tinkered with that too to no avail).  The driver installs fine.  But when the board is plugged in, Windows refuses to load the driver due to “cannot verify the digital signature”.  I’ve done extensive research on this and came to the conclusion that because this is a kernel mode driver, all kernel mode drivers since a certain version of Windows requires a Microsoft signature.  The only way I have found around that is to disable secure boot.

There are a few scenarios that I am working on that may circumvent that (like the upgrades that I mentioned earlier).  You can read about those here: https://www.geoffchappell.com/notes/security/whqlsettings/index.htm .  I have an initial test that worked and I’m working on finalizing my scripts to see if it will work on a fresh machine.

[Michael Janke]

It is important to import the certificate into the Local Computer Store + Trusted Publishers.
Otherwise it won’t work. (maybe also try my extracted cert)

Yes we have secure boot enabled and did not have to disable it at any time.

We upgraded from 1803 -> 1809 -> 1903. I don’t think that this has any impact.

 

 

[Evan Sullivan]

I tried this days ago, the certificate is expired and Windows will not start the hardware or the drivers.

[Matt Snead]

I imported it to the same location.  See below.  I also imported the entire chain of certs, just in case:

[Matt Snead]

PRELIMINARY SUCCESS FOR ME: Add the following registry key from an elevated command prompt and then reboot:

REG ADD “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CI\Policy” /V “WhqlSettings” /t REG_DWORD /D 0xC0000000 /F

Importing the cert to the computer\trusted publishers + enabling this registry key is enabling the driver to load for me without disabling secure boot.  I say preliminary because I’ve only tested it on 3 devices and have only tested the fact that it loads and will interact/calibrate the board.  I have not tested real-world use and stability yet.

This key comes from the article I referenced earlier and adds two flags: 0x80000000 for UpgradedSystem and 0x40000000 for WhqlDeveloperTestMode (0x80000000 + 0x40000000 == 0xC0000000).  You can read the article for why this is having an effect.

[Michael Janke]

Cool and thanks for pointing this out.
Maybe, I was just lucky that we had upgraded versions. But actually, it worked also on the only non-upgraded one. But maybe not and I will double check it.

In case you want to know, the registry key is not set for me. But maybe it is somewhere else set.

[SUHSD TECH]

My schools are simply removing the 2nd generation boards in favor of mobile devices. If this were at least supported through the end of this school year they could probably budget for it and make it work, but not this scenario. I think Promethean is making a bad decision to just drop support on these especially considering how expensive their glorified trackpads are.

[Evan Sullivan]

If you read their post, they are not choosing to not support it.  It literally cannot work with the changes in build 1903.

It’s disappointing however that this was not tested on their end by using the insider’s build and knowing about this months before official release and warning people.  Seems like something that should have been done.

[SUHSD TECH]

I find this hard to believe as the 2nd and 3rd generation boards are very similar and use the same “legacy usb drivers” as they’ve been branded for a while. I get it, they’re older boards but they are still basic input devices. I think it’s more a matter of Promethean making the push to cut off the older boards in favor of people upgrading, and not having to spend the time developing a firmware fix for the older boards which otherwise are still great devices. They stopped selling the pens for those last year. To me its more of a matter of timing, not what they want to discontinue. If they want to discontinue a model or series, it’s probably not going to go over well while school is picking up and many purchases by districts were on the July 1 train. That’s why were’ going instead with the option of phasing out the boards.

[henriksen]

I really wished there was a like button because we are in a similar situation where we are now going to have to transition faster to another display (most likely TV) where you use the iPad as the interactive board rather than going up to the board to write on it.

[Mark P Promethean]

Hi there,

Whilst you are correct, the 2nd and 3rd gen boards are similar, they are different…and the difference between the boards means we cannot produce an updated firmware for the older ActivBoards, and it’s not for want of trying.

An extract of an answer provided further above might better explain this:

Unfortunately it is not as simple as renewing a certificate, we have looked into this extensively and if this could be done, please believe me, it would have been.

There are x2 certificates that need to be and have been considered:

Code signing certificate, which lets users know that the software comes from a ‘trusted source’.

Our installers, including ActivInspire & ActivDriver, are signed with a code signing certificate.  Our certificate that provides this did recently expire, and was renewed.

Hardware device driver certificate, This certificate is provided by Microsoft and is embedded into third party kernel mode device drivers, and allows the driver to be run without any of the driver certification protection being turned off.

 

To elaborate on the issue further, Windows 10 1903 has introduced a different way of talking to, amongst other things, kernel mode device drivers; which is what the core of our ActivDriver is when it is being used with all of our legacy ActivBoards.

 

Whilst we do anticipate to be able to resolve the issue for our ‘newer legacy’ ActivBoards (AB100, 300, 500) this will not be with the release of a new ActivDriver but with new firmware for the ActivBoard which will no longer have a dependency on Microsoft’s hardware device driver certification. Because of the way that Microsoft now certify device drivers, it is actually impossible for us to achieve device driver certification because of the technology used in the older ActivBoards – hence why we are looking at changing the firmware to remove the kernel mode driver dependence and therefore remove the need for the hardware device driver certificate in the ActivDriver.

 

The reason why we can only look at this method for AB300 / AB500 and not ActivBoards manufactured before 2007 is purely down to the technology that those ActivBoards utilise. It means we cannot provide a firmware for 1st and 2nd generation ActivBoards to remove the kernel mode driver dependency for those ActivBoards.

Thanks

[SUHSD TECH]

I do appreciate you taking the time to elaborate on the issue.

[Mark Clark]

I followed the guidance from Michael and Matt regarding installing the BETA driver without having to disable Secure boot (not an option) or Disable Driver Signature Enforcement (not keen on that idea!!) by pushing out the Cert via GPO, then installing the driver (after removing previous version).

I’ve done on one PC as a test.

The driver went on and the ActivBoard detected and calibrated, no issues. So a success, from that perspective.

However, I left the teacher to use the ActivBoard this morning and within 3 hours of me updating the driver, the PC has done a BSOD. Worse, the Teacher wasn’t even using the ActivBoard.

This is in a school where they exclusively use ActivBoards and are waiting for the OFSTED call, any day now.

Being unable to utilise their main teaching tool is causing HUGE amounts of stress to staff.

Are we seriously expected to wait until the end of October for a fix to this issue? Given the scale of impact this is having on Schools across the globe??

[henriksen]

“Are we seriously expected to wait until the end of October for a fix to this issue? Given the scale of impact this is having on Schools across the globe??” This is the same thought I had too.

On a side note – Also, are there any testing going on with MacBooks before staff start upgrading their Macs to the newest operating system – Catalina? From what I’ve read or heard so far that the probability of Catalina working on these boards are as slim to none based on compatibility purposes. Please let me know that is not the case.

[Adam K Promethean]

Hi Henriksen,

It may be best to keep any additional topics of conversation in new threads so that this can stay purely about the BSoD issue with Windows 10 build 1903.

Thanks,
Adam

Promethean Support

[Matt Snead]

Long time no talk everyone… has anyone tried the beta driver on a fresh machine?  As in, never having a previous ActivDriver installed?  The reason I ask is that I recently discovered at least 1 machine (possibly more) that had the beta driver installed, but the ACTIVhidmini.sys file in the system32\drivers folder was not the correct version.  It was still version 5.8.46.1 when the beta driver supplies 5.8.48.0.  Even after uninstalling and reinstalling the beta driver, it did not want to seem to update the sys file.

So the next thing I did was try to delete the file and then reinstall.  I also noticed next to it a “ACTIVmouse.sys” file and decided to delete that too.  Upon reinstall I noticed two things;  Number one was the fact that neither file was put back after install.  Now, this machine I was using to test it was not connected to a board at the time.  So I took it to a board and connected it and then the file was installed.  I was able to calibrate the board but could not interact with the board.  Thats when I noticed number 2: the ACTIVmouse.sys file was still not there.  And sure enough in device manager there was a yellow “bang” on “promethean mouse driver” saying a file could not be found.

I had to go back and install an older driver (ActivDriver v5.9.27) to get that file put back and then re-apply the beta driver to it.

edit: and just a note: reinstalling the beta driver while connected to the board for another machine that had this issue DID update the sys file without doing anything extra.  it must only drop in the updated file upon connection to a board.  There is still the potential issue with the ACTIVmouse.sys file and fresh installs though.

[Joseph Shipley]

Are there any updates on the firmware fix/driver issue for the ActivBoards and Windows 10 1903.

[Joseph Shipley]

Are there any updates on the firmware fix/driver issue for the ActivBoards and Windows 10 1903?

[SUHSD TECH]

We are still waiting on a fix for 3rd gen boards I assume?

[Adam K Promethean]

Hi SUHSD TECH, Joseph Shipley

We are still awaiting an update from our development teams for this however we hope to have some news soon.

Kind regards,
Adam
Promethean Support

[Adam K Promethean]

Hi all,

Thanks for your patience whilst our teams have investigated this issue.

You can now see the below post which refers to the update:

https://community.prometheanworld.com/forums/topic/update-activboard-100-300-ab500-firmware-now-released/

Thanks

Adam

Promethean Support

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