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.
Resolution Status
There is a patch under review for the Blackboard server, but in the meantime, a client-side workaround exists.
Workaround
- Go to the Java Control Panel under System Preferences (OSX) or Control Panel (Windows)
-
Go to the Security tab and click "Edit Site List..."
-
Click "Add" and then enter "https://blackboard.andrew.cmu.edu" in the text box
- Click "OK" to leave the "Exception Site List" window, and click "OK" to close the Java Control Panel
- 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
- Try a different browser.
-
Change the Document Mode in Internet Explorer:
- Open IE 10
- Click on the Tools icon
- Select F12 developer tools
- Change Document Mode: to Internet Explorer 9 Standards
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
- We are actively working to resolve the problem and monitoring the system closely.
- We are gathering information from Blackboard, Inc. which has released several reports including references to performance issues with the "notifications" modules as one possible cause.
Workaround
- Try a different browser.
-
Try removing the following modules from your "My Blackboard"
page by clicking on the "X" in the header bar of each:
- Needs Attention
- What's New
- Alerts
- To Do
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:
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.