Blackboard Collaborate Troubleshooting Guide
Audio and Video Issues for Windows and MacOS (older than X 10.14)
Windows
If you are having issues with your audio or video, please check your session and browser settings.
Are the audio or video controls on in Collaborate? A line through the icons means that a device is not enabled, and you will need to click on the icon to enable it?
Are you using the latest version of Chrome? Download the latest version of Chrome.
Does the browser have permission to access your camera and microphone?
To check this, select the audio/video icon in the URL bar to check the default audio and video settings.
- From the pop-up window, ensure that the Continue allowing https://eu.collab.com to access your camera and microphone is selected
- You also may need to check view site information icon (padlock) to the left of the URL to check nothing is blocked. When you click on the icon information a pop-up window about the site will be displayed.
- Within site information pop-up window, you will need to check that camera, microphone and sound is allowed.
Mac version older then OS X 10.14
To check permissions in browser, select the audio/video icon in the URL bar to check the default audio and video settings.
From the pop-up window, ensure that the Continue allowing https://eu.collab.com to access your camera and microphone is selected.
Audio and Video Issues for MacOS (OS X 10.14 and higher)
If you are having issues with your audio or video, please check your session and browser settings.
Are the audio or video controls on in Collaborate? A line through the icons means that a device is not enabled, and you will need to click on the icon to enable it?
Are you using the latest version of Chrome? Download the latest version of Chrome.
Does the browser have permission to access your camera and microphone?
To start, open your computer System Preferences.
Select Security & Privacy.
Select Privacy. Make sure your browser is a selected app for both the Camera and Microphone.
To check permissions, select the audio/video icon in the URL bar to check the default audio and video settings.
From the pop-up window, ensure that the Continue allowing https://eu.collab.com to access your camera and microphone is selected
Connection Issues
You can check the connection status for everyone in the session, including yourself. There are two places you can watch the status of network connections. From the Attendees panel
Click on attendees icon and a detail window will open.
The second method is from your profile picture on the main stage
Look for the connection status indicator and move your pointer over it. From the details that appears you can tell if the connection is great, okay, or poor.
An attendee’s network connection is either excellent, good, fair, or poor.
Excellent: Attendee can share, see, and hear everything with no issues.
Good: Attendee can share, see, and hear everything with little to no issues.
Fair: Attendee may experience some changes in their experience.
Poor: Attendee may have difficulty hearing, seeing, or sharing anything.
There are a lot of numbers but the main thing to look out for is the experience – if you are having Fair or Poor indicators then you will most likely have audio and video issues.
My Collaborate session freezes in the browser
The user sharing an application or their screen may experience the Collaborate tab, or entire browser, freeze for 1-2 minutes before becoming responsive again. In some instances the browser crashed or remained frozen indefinitely, requiring a force quit.
Resolution/Workaround:
Chrome users should disable “Hardware Acceleration” by going to chrome://settings > Advanced > under System turn off “Use hardware acceleration when available” > Relauch Chrome
Before the session
Bear in mind the following to help you to connect to the webinar
Please try and join the session 10 minutes before the start time to allow time for connection.
Use Chrome as your browser rather than Microsoft Edge or Safari.
Use a headset with microphone for the best experience, rather than built-in speakers and microphone this will avoid an echo.
If you are using wi-fi, try to be as close to the router as possible, but ideally used a wired connection.
Close any streaming services (such as YouTube, Netflix) before joining a session.
You can try joining the session from a mobile phone or tablet by downloading the Blackboard app.
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