Bugs & Issues

Active Bugs & Issues

These are bugs & issues that are pending with Blackboard, Inc., do not have a reasonable workaround, or are otherwise unresolved.

Blackboard Components Display "Error. Click for details" message

Date Reported

January 2014

Problem Description

Some Blackboard content modules, including Chat, the Formula Editor, and Virtual Classroom, are replaced with a "Error. Click for details" box. This will happen on systems running Java 7u51. Java Error Screenshot

Resolution Status

There is a patch under review for the Blackboard server, but in the meantime, a client-side workaround exists.

Workaround

  1. Go to the Java Control Panel under System Preferences (OSX) or Control Panel (Windows)
  2. Go to the Security tab and click "Edit Site List..." Java Control Panel Screenshot
  3. Click "Add" and then enter "https://blackboard.andrew.cmu.edu" in the text box Java Control Panel Screenshot
  4. Click "OK" to leave the "Exception Site List" window, and click "OK" to close the Java Control Panel
  5. Reload the Blackboard page with the error message on it

Students Can't Use My Grades

Date Reported

September 2013

Problem Description

Some students are unable to use the My Grades tool in a Blackboard course that has graded blogs, discussion boards, journals, or wikis.

Resolution Status

Blackboard provided a fix that was applied to our Blackboard server on September 20, 2013.

Workaround

None

Copy and Paste Functionality Does Not Work Properly

Date Reported

August 2013

Problem Description

Users working in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari on a Mac and Firefox 22 on a PC can not copy and paste text from within Blackboard into another area of the Blackboard course. PC users may receive an error that indicates they should use keyboard shortcuts.

Resolution Status

Reported to Blackboard, Inc.

Workaround

If on a PC try a different browser
If on a PC try using the ctrl+c and ctrl+v instead of using the right-click menu.
PC and Mac users can copy and paste content first into TextEdit or Notepad, respectively, and then copy and paste the content into Blackboard.

IE 10 only shows the header row in the Grade Center

Date Reported

May 2013

Problem Description

Users working in IE 10 only see the header row in the Grade Center. All student rows are missing.

Resolution Status

Reported to Blackboard, Inc.

Workaround

Blackboard is loading really slowly or not at all

Date Reported

September 2012

Problem Description

We have received several reports that Blackboard is loading slowly or not at all in some browsers. A message appears: "Please wait while the module loads..."

Resolution Status

Workaround

An error occurs when logging in to Blackboard using Safari

Date Reported

August 2012

Problem Description

An intermittent Shibboleth error message for an "opensaml::BindingException" occurs when logging into Blackboard on Safari. Example screenshot:

Safari Reverse Proxy Error Screenshot

See this post to the Shibboleth mailing list for more details.

Resolution Status

This is a bug with Safari and how it handles reverse proxies. It is not resolved as of Safari 6.0.

Workaround

Use a different browser.

An unexpected error message appears intermittently when working in Blackboard

Date Reported

August 2011

Problem Description

Error messages are appearing intermittently when users perform usual tasks like clicking "Submit" or navigating to another area in Blackboard.

Resolution Status

Reported to Blackboard, Inc.

Workaround

Refresh your browser or quit and relaunch the browser.

Formatting is lost and attempts to fix won't work

Date Reported

June 2011

Problem Description

Anytime previous content is copied into a new Blackboard course (regardless of which Blackboard version) some formatting can be lost. This is happening with Blackboard 9.1, but we are also finding that users attempting to make additional formatting edits may lose their changes when submitting.

Resolution Status

Reported to Blackboard, Inc. This problem is related to the html editor in Blackboard and how Blackboard handles html in general.

Workaround

Option 1 — Copy content from its original formatted text source file (e.g. Word doc) and paste it into a plain text format (e.g. using TextEdit or Note Pad), then copy and paste the plain text into Blackboard.

Option 2 — Try a different browser.

Resolved Bugs & Issues

These are bugs & issues that are pending with Blackboard, Inc., do not have a reasonable workaround, or are otherwise unresolved.

Instructors receive an error message after clicking "Users" from within the "Control Panel"

Date Reported

January 4, 2012

Problem Description

Any course that has disabled user accounts (which occur when a student officially drops a course) causes this error message which makes it impossible to view or manage users.

Resolution Status

Resolved

Workaround

N/A

I cannot download and view a PDF

Date Reported

August 2011

Problem Description

Users cannot display and/or download a PDF. When the PDF link is clicked, an empty window or a download plugin message appears. This is because PDFs that were uploaded using the "File" content type in Blackboard are not compatible with all browsers and versions and there is no one solution that will work for all browser types and for some browser versions there is no solution to the problem.

Resolution Status

Resolved

Workaround

N/A

Student cannot Submit a Test/Assessment

Date Reported

June 2011

Problem Description

Students taking a test will submit their answers and receive an error message directing them to refresh their screen. After refreshing, Blackboard will prompt the user to access the exam and submit again. Upon attempting this second submit, a message will appear explaining that the user no longer has access to the exam as it has already been completed.

Resolution Status

Resolved

Workaround

Students should save each answer as they go. When students have saved their answers, instructors can go into the Grade Center, view the attempts, and submit on behalf of the students. If there is not any work there (likely because students were not saving after each answer) it is necessary for instructors to clear the original attempt and students will need to take the test/assessment again.

Lost Work Because the Browser Times Out

Date Reported

June 2011

Problem Description

Instructors working in Blackboard for an extended period of time get logged out or receive an error message causing them to lose work. A generic Blackboard error message appears (e.g. "multipart/form-data not allowed").

Resolution Status

Resolved

Workaround

Consider saving work often and when performing tasks that are time consuming (as when using the Grade Center), save frquently, and then refresh the browser window.