Blackboard Collaborate Issues - Students and Trainees

Collaborate can be quite demanding on your internet connection. Collaborate is smart and will dynamically adjust your experience to enable you to remain in the session for as long as possible but follow the steps below to ensure a successful session.

Improve your Collaborate experience

1. If sharing your webcam, turn it off
2. If you’re able to use a wired internet connection instead of WiFi, please do so.
3. Close all unused programs and browser tabs open on your computer that you’re not using. Pause any downloads or uploads on your computer.
4. Check to see if others are using the same internet connection in your house. If possible, ask them to minimize internet usage - especially if they are streaming video or doing other network intensive activities.
5. Try opening the session in an Incognito tab.
6. Try clearing your browser cache, and reloading the session.
7. Restart your computer.
8. Try using Firefox instead of Chrome.
9. Try dialing into the session using your phone. Calls are charged at the standard rate for phoning a U.S. landline.

If you are presenting in a session, you should use the Share File option to upload your presentation as a PDF, as this requires far less bandwidth than screen/application sharing.

If you cannot connect, have a poor connection, or make any changes suggested below:

• Leave the Collaborate session.
• Close the browser you were using to connect to Collaborate (the entire browser and not just the browser tab).
• Wait a couple of minutes and re-open the browser and re-join Collaborate.

• We recommend using Google Chrome* in the first instance and then Mozilla Firefox.
• Visit the Browser Checker to make sure your browser is supported
• A full list of supported browsers and operating systems is available here: Browser Support

• How to update Chrome
• How to update Firefox

If you experience problems with Collaborate while using Chrome, try Firefox. If you experience problems with Firefox, try Chrome.

Ensure that your web browser is allowing third-party cookies, these guides explain how:

• Chrome
• Firefox

The next step is to try using the session in a private or incognito window. This resets certain settings and can be an effective way to work around some configuration issues.

• How to open an incognito window in Chrome.
• How to open a private browsing window in Firefox

If that does not help the next step is to try clearing your browser cache. How to clear browser cache on Windows and on a Mac for different browsers.

• For Windows
• For a Mac

Collaborate uses a technology called WebRTC. The WebRTC Troubleshooter website tests that this is working for you and can pick up issues and help you to fix them.

• Close all programs & browser tabs you are not using while in Collaborate.
• Use a hard-wired (Ethernet) connection, if available.
• If you are using Wi-Fi, sit as close to the router as possible
• Use only supported up to date web browsers (see sections below)
• Use video during the session only when necessary.

If your connection is poor, a connection status indicator appears over your Collaborate profile picture. Move your pointer over it for the connection details. See the Connection status guide.

For additional best practices, please visit Blackboard Session Best practices.

The latest versions of OS X have extra security settings you need to make for devices to use the camera and microphone. If you use a Mac / OS X please read through this guide on how to set the correct permissions.

Some corporate and institutional networks may block the HTML5 Web Socket traffic upon which Collaborate relies. Try on a local connection to see if you get the same issues. If you do not, it could be an issue with the network in the institution or business you are connecting from.

For assistance contact the BCM IT Helpdesk: 713-798-8737 or it-helpdesk@bcm.edu.

View the Give Permissions Document for troubleshooting instructions.

We can be so used to clicking “no” that we may accidentally prevent Collaborate from having permission to use our microphone and web cam. If you find that people cannot hear you or see you, check that you have given permission for Collaborate to use your camera and microphone.

Review the Chrome guide.

Having reached the Site Settings page, choose “View permissions and data stored across sites” and search for bbcollab. Open all that appear one after the other and choose to allow Camera and Microphone.

Review the Firefox guide.

Blackboard Collaborate allows you to alter the microphone input and webcam settings, but not the audio output. Blackboard Collaborate will use the system default audio output / playback device, so ensure this is set correctly before opening Blackboard Collaborate. This is particularly important if you have multiple devices connected to your computer, such as speakers, headsets and external monitors.

• Change the default audio playback on Windows 10
• Change the default audio output on OSX

• Ensure that the correct audio device (speakers) is selected.
  • Windows 10 users, select your audio device by selecting the Speaker button near the clock
  • Mac users please refer to the following article: Change the sound output settings on Mac
• Ensure that sound volume on the computer is not muted or set really low.
• Ensure that sound volume on the desired audio output device (e.g., speakers or headset) is not muted or set really low. Some headsets have a mute or volume knob on them.
• Ensure that cables going to speakers or headset are all firmly plugged in.
• If the above do not work, try rebooting the computer and/or try another web browser.
• Try playing a YouTube video to see if there is sound. Collaborate will produce sound using the same audio device (e.g., speakers or headset) as other websites such as YouTube.

View the Windows 10 Sound Document for troubleshooting instructions.

Read through and try everything suggested in Blackboard’s support page for

• Chrome
• Firefox

View the Audio and Device Selection Document for troubleshooting instructions.

Still not working? Read through the Run Through the Wizard Again Document and check through everything it recommends.

If you are unable to launch Blackboard Collaborate with your .collab file, read the following topics in, order, to troubleshoot your issue.

If you are screen sharing in Collaborate, and your browser becomes unresponsive or crashes when using Google Chrome, please try using Firefox or Microsoft Edge. Alternatively, try disabling Hardware acceleration in Google Chrome.

If the image looks very dark, or greyed out in a Collaborate session, a dialogue box is covering the page. This can happen if you have no webcam or microphone available on your computer. Browse to the top right of the Collaborate window, and you should see a small white ‘X’ you can click to reveal the page.

If you are having difficulty joining a Blackboard Collaborate session, or your connection is disrupted, you may see an error message with a failure code. Below are some common Collaborate failure codes, what they mean, and recommended actions to take. 

Common Collaborate Failure Codes

• Failure Code A01: Your authentication attempt for the session timed out after 20 seconds. Check your network connection and use a wired internet connection or move closer to your WiFi router if possible. Also minimize other internet usage.
• Failure Code A05: You are attempting to join a session using a Join Link that has been copied and pasted into your web browser. Links to Collaborate sessions that include /join/ as part of the URL are single-use only. Connect to the session by clicking the Join session button in the Collaborate area of your Blackboard course, or request that the session organizer sends you a Guest Link.
• Failure Code A07: You have lost access to the session and tried to re-join but failed. Reconnect to the session by clicking the Join session button in the Collaborate area of your Blackboard course, or request that the session organizer sends you a Guest Link.

View the Getting Help Document for troubleshooting instructions.