Explains and provides solutions for issues you might experience within Virtual Classroom. Users completely new to Virtual Classroom may want to read the general overview here. Also, please be sure to review our Basic System Requirements and Common Troubleshooting Solutions.
Emergency Troubleshooting
If you are experiencing issues within a meeting now, please try the following:
- Reload the page.
- Restart the Browser. (Do not select the option to "Restore all Tabs" when reopening the browser.)
- Open the meeting in a different browser. The supported browsers are Chrome, Microsoft Edge (Chromium) and Firefox. Your Internet browser must be up-to-date (installed or updated within the last month).
- Close all other tabs and windows out of your web browser, as well as any web conferencing windows like Google Hangouts, Skype etc.
- Open the meeting in an Incognito or Private window.
- Disconnect from any connected VPNs/wireless hotspots.
- Try a different device, such as a phone, laptop, or tablet. To view our specific device compatibility with major features, click here.
- Leave and rejoin the meeting.
- Check your upload speed with this website's service to ensure it meets the required bandwidth speed for your session. Please refer to this article when calculating the bandwidth needed for a Virtual Classroom meeting.
Below are listed current known issues within Virtual Classroom. If you are experiencing one of these symptoms, please click on the tab to review the solution.
General Issues
The Symptom:
A user successfully opens the meeting with the Join button, but then gets stuck on a blank screen.
The Solution:
- Open the meeting in Chrome, Microsoft Edge (Chromium) or Firefox. If you’re in one, try the other.
- Ensure the browser version is up to date. Most browsers will update automatically (or have an option to do so). To check for pending updates, view Chrome instructions or Firefox instructions.
- Quit your browser application and re-open.
The Symptom:
Users encounter an “Internal Server Error” message when trying to enter the meeting.
The Solution:
- Open the meeting in Chrome, Microsoft Edge (Chromium) or Firefox. If you’re in one, try the other.
- Refresh the page.
- Wait a few minutes and try re-entering the meeting.
The Symptom:
Users are randomly denied access to part of a meeting or kicked out entirely, without action on their part or the part of a moderator.
The Solution:
Usually, when a user is kicked, it is most likely due to the browser not being responsive for a period of time. To troubleshoot:
- Reload the page.
- Close and reopen the chat window.
- Open an Incognito/Private browser tab.
Playback Issues
The Symptom:
A user can’t find a meeting recording.
The Solution:
This can happen if the moderator forgets to tap the Record button. If you are sure you clicked Record, you can submit a support ticket with the following information, and we can investigate the issue further:
- Meeting URL
- Meeting name
- Date/Time of session
- Name of user who scheduled meeting
- Instructor's name
The Symptom:
A meeting takes a long time to process.
The Solution:
- Wait for 1-2x the meeting duration for the processing to complete, as this is the normal duration.
- If your meeting still has not processed after more than 2x the meeting duration, please submit a support ticket and we can investigate further.
The Symptom:
The audio or video playback quality is unexpectedly poor.
The Solution:
- The recording quality will match the audio and video quality of the original meeting. If the quality was poor during the meeting itself, then you may want to investigate your network connection quality and speed for future meetings.
- If the recorded meeting quality is significantly poorer than the quality experienced during the meeting, please submit a support ticket and we can investigate the issue further.
The Symptom:
Parts of the meeting that should have been captured, such as a screen-share, webcam, or presentation, don’t appear in the recording playback.
The Solution:
Contact submit a support ticket and we will investigate the issue further. In your message, be sure to include the following:
- Meeting URL
- Meeting name
- Date and time of session
- Name of user who scheduled meeting
- Instructor's name
The Symptom:
At times, Virtual Classroom meetings may have the audio and video slightly out of sync during the live meeting due to network latency and congestion.
The Solution:
- Experiment with alternative audio and video devices, such as wired headsets, microphones, and webcams. Bluetooth and wireless devices have been known to sometimes introduce a slight delay.
Webcam and Microphone Issues
The Symptom:
The webcam fails; you and/or other participants are unable to see your camera.
The Solution:
- Make sure you are not sharing webcam in another app (Hangouts, Webex, etc) and close the apps if they are in use.
- Use this website service to verify that your browser has permission to use webcam. If you do not have permission, you will need to change the webcam permissions in FireFox (Options > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Camera) or Chrome (Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security > Content Settings > Camera)
- Try a different browser. We recommend Chrome, Microsoft Edge (Chromium) or Firefox.
- Try using webcam in another application (Hangouts, Zoom, Webex, Skype, your computer's camera, etc.) to verify that the webcam works.
- If you see a popup message stating “ICE negotiation failed”, try turning off Windows firewall (on PCs), disconnecting any VPN connections, turning off virus network protection, and disabling extra browser plugins/extensions.
- Check to see if your CPU is struggling to keep up with the webcam and other applications. Use Task Manager on PC and Activity Monitor on Mac to identify the applications and/or browser tabs that are using a high percentage of CPU, and close them down to reclaim CPU resources for you computer.
The Symptom:
Other users say your webcam quality is poor.
The Solution:
- Check your CPU usage on your computer, with Task Manager on a PC and Activity Monitor on a Mac. If it’s high, it may help to close some other applications and/or browser tabs.
- Check your upload speed with this website's service to ensure it meets the required bandwidth speed for your session. Please refer to this article when calculating the bandwidth needed for a Virtual Classroom meeting.
The Symptom:
- Other participants cannot hear you speaking.
- You see a popup message that says “ICE negotiation failed”.
The Solution:
- Check for other apps that use the microphone (Google Hangouts, Webex, etc.) and close those apps if they are in use.
- Use this website’s service to check that your browser has permission to use the microphone. If the browser doesn’t have permission, you need to change the microphone permissions in FireFox (Options > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Microphone) or Chrome (Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security > Content Settings > Microphone)
- Try a different browser. We recommend Chrome, Microsoft Edge (Chromium) or Firefox.
- You may have multiple microphones connected to your computer, such as a built-in microphone on a laptop and a pair of headphones with an inline mic. The default microphone may not be the one Virtual Classroom is listening to, so check your browser for default settings. (in Chrome you change the default in Settings > Privacy and Security > Content settings > Microphone, in Firefox it’s Preferences > Privacy and Security > Permissions > Microphone).
- Try selecting a different microphone in the menu in Bongo.
- If you see the “ICE negotiation failed” message, try turning off Windows firewall (on PCs), disconnecting any VPN connections, turning off virus network protection, and disabling extra browser plugins/extensions.
The Symptom
Other participants report poor audio quality from your microphone.
The Solution:
- Reposition the microphone closer to your face, as some microphones are directional and work better positioned in certain directions.
- Connect using a different microphone if available.
- Check your upload speed with this website's service to ensure it meets the required bandwidth speed for your session. Please refer to this article when calculating the bandwidth needed for a Virtual Classroom meeting.
Administration and Presentation Issues
The Symptom:
The Presenter in a Virtual Classroom meeting is unable to share their screen, or the meeting shares something different from what the user expects.
The Solution:
- Ensure that popups are not enabled.
- When using Google Chrome specifically, you have the option to share Application Window, Your Entire Screen or Chrome Tab. Please make sure to select the correct option for what you intend to share.
The Symptom:
A Viewer/Participant using Chrome in a Virtual Classroom sees spinning arrows or a black screen instead of the Presenter's Screen Share.
The Solution:
- Please disable hardware acceleration. (Settings > Advanced > System > Toggle "Use hardware acceleration when available" - set toggle from blue to white).
- If your network is not allowing for normal use of the screen-share function within Virtual Classroom, you have the option to force both the camera and screen-share traffic to use the TURN server withing the Virtual Classroom Settings.
The Symptom:
Using hardware graphics acceleration within Microsoft products may cause your screen share to appear as a black screen to the Viewers (click here for more information).
The Solution:
Disable hardware graphics acceleration within the Microsoft products that you are sharing in Virtual Classroom.
- Search 'hardware graphics acceleration' within your Microsoft application Help system to find the location for this setting.
The Symptom:
Presentation slides take longer than they should to progress from one to another.
The Solution:
- If the presentation wasn’t originally uploaded as a PDF, try saving the presentation as a PDF (outside the meeting) and uploading the PDF version into the meeting. This solves the speed issue for most users.
The Symptom:
New chat messages don’t display in the chat log right away, or the chat log is slow to respond to scrolling.
The Solution:
- Close and reopen the chat window.
- Refresh the page.
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