Please follow these steps for power-washing Boise School District Chromebooks. This can resolve a majority of issues (disk space, login window issues, etc) without the need to wait for IT to address the issue. This is NOT to be done on devices that do not belong to the District.
- Turn on the Chromebook
- Press and hold Esc + Refresh + Power keys at the same time - this will reboot the Chromebook into recovery mode.
- When at the recovery mode screen, press Ctrl + D which turns off OS Verification, then press Enter. The Chromebook will reboot and prompt to re-enable OS Verification.
- Press Space to re-enable OS verification and then Enter. This will cause all local data to be wiped and restored to factory settings.
- Upon automatic reboot, you will be prompted with a "Welcome!" screen. Press "Let's go" and then enter your wireless information. (if you are using a District hot spot enter the hot spot credentials)
- At the Google Chrome OS terms screen, press Ctrl + Alt + E (E = Enroll). You will likely not see anything change, Click "Accept and continue"
- Click "Done" after enrollment is complete. If you see a white background, this will be updated after a reboot.
If there are still connection issues a few things that can be checked at home that are not related to the Chromebooks but can cause issues:
Home DSL or Cable Internet
If the DSL or Cable modem is in the same room as the student, 5G connections work great. If it's in another room, use the 2G. For example in the list of available Wi-Fi you may see something like CenturyLink5161-5G and CenturyLink5161-2G. 5G does not go around corners or through walls very well, 2G does much better.
If the students are getting kicked from meets daily, it is very possible it could be related to their home internet connection. From what has been shared, if a student's internet connection drops even briefly, Google Meets sees that the same way it would if the instructor kicked the student from the class and it will not let them rejoin the meeting without a new invite. As I'm sure you know, if they leave the meet, they can come back. Since you have to re-invite them, it may be a connection problem. The older DSL cabling in the neighborhoods around Fairmont can have issues especially if there is rain or melting snow on the ground.
If the household is on a lower level DSL or Cable internet level, say 20mbps, we suggest not streaming anything else such as TV, YouTube or movies at the same time as the meet to reduce interruption.
Have the students try a different wireless source: hotspot instead of modem or vice versa, one they are not already using one such as a personal cell phone temporarily while you are testing connection to determine if it is the wireless or the device. If the student is using a District hotspot and is able to connect to a modem or cell phone hotspot try resetting the District Hotspot see here for steps.
Mobile Hotspot
The icon which shows 4 vertical bars is the one that represents cellular signal where as the one which is shaped more like a baseball field, is for WiFi. If you have less than 4 bars of cellular strength showing on the hotspot, try moving the hotspot to a window or another location where it may get a better signal.
Keep the Mobile Hotspot within about 10 feet of the laptop. These really are designed to have on the table in front of you at the coffee shop, not 20+ feet away or in another room.
As a last resort, if the students are using the same device that they were originally assigned, they can trade it in for a different unit to see if the problem persists. If this is the 2nd or 3rd device that has been assigned due to the same problem, then, they can try a different wireless source. The District has ordered additional hotspots but do not currently have stock or check to see if a their internet provider can monitor their lines for stability.