The following steps will help Chromebooks and/or laptops/PCs that are getting dropped from Google Meets and/or are experiencing poor video feeds. Please try these steps with your child before requesting a new device. The Chromebooks are all the same specs (with only 4GB of RAM).
Remember to sign-out AND shutdown the Chromebook AT LEAST once per week. You may want to do this more often, even a few times per day, if you are in and out of tabs all day.
Close your tabs! Limit your open tabs to those that you are actively using! The more tabs you have open, the slower your computer will run.
Delete any unused extensions. If you added a Chrome extension to try, but never use it, delete it.
Check weekly that your version of Chrome is up-to-date
- Open a Chrome Window
- Click on the 3 vertical dots in the upper right corner
- Select Settings
- On the bottom left side, click on About Chrome
- In the middle of the screen, click on Chrome OS Settings
- If the option appears, click on Check for Updates
- You will need to restart the Chromebook for the update to take full effect.
- On Chromebooks, it should be version 83.0.4 as of 10/1/20. Some Model 3180s and 3100s were only updating to 81 and it was a known issue, but should be fixed now.
Clear your cache.
- Follow the same instructions above to get to the Settings screen.
- In the Search Settings box, type in the word cache and hit enter.
- It will highlight the word where it finds it. You may have to scroll down the page to see the word highlighted.
- Click on the word.
- It will pop up a screen
- Click the drop down arrow to the right of Time Range and choose All Time.
- The bottom 2 boxes should be checked: Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
- Click the Clear Data button
You can repeat this same process under the Advanced option just in case.
Reset settings (chrome://settings/resetProfileSettings)
- Follow the same instructions above to get to the Settings screen.
- On the left side, click on Advanced
- Reset
- Restore settings to their original defaults – click on it
- Click Reset Settings button
- Sign out of everything Google – click your profile picture in a Google Window and Select Sign Out and then click in the bottom-right corner and select Sign Out.
Delete unused profiles and your profile off of the Chromebook
(you must be signed out first)
- When you are back at the screen where you normally enter your password to login, click on your profile picture and select Remove and then Remove User.
- Do the same for any previous users still listed on your login screen.
- Click in the lower left corner and select Shutdown your device so all settings and changes take effect.
- When you start the Chromebook back up, click Add User. Have your CPS username and password ready.
Test your bandwidth, especially upload speeds, when no one is on. You will need 3-5 Mbps for streaming.
- Go to a new window and Google “Speed Test”
- Click the blue button on the results page to “Run Speed Test.”
- Make sure you are near your wireless router and remember that if you have an extender, it still must be relatively close to your wireless router to grab and extend the signal. Click here for more information.
- You may need to contact your internet provider for an analysis of your wireless setup in your home.
Meet settings: If your Chromebook is lagging or you see line streaks in the video.
- In Meet, hover at the bottom of the screen to get the white Meet bar to display, and then click on the 3 vertical dots at the right end of the white bar.
- Click Settings, Video, and then select “standard” for both the Send and Receive resolutions.
- Clicking the 3 vertical dots again, select “Change Layout” and select the Spotlight or Sidebar view to reduce the amount of video feeds to render.
- These settings must be selected every time you enter a Meet.
Also, please know that Chromebooks are temperamental.
- Sometimes, we have to plug and unplug Chromebooks to get them to turn on. Other times, we’ve had to count slowly to 10 while holding down the power button.
- Always make sure the power cord’s A/C adapter (rectangle pack) is relaxed on a table, and not stretched out so far, causing the power plug in the Chromebook to bend down. Place the heavy power pack up on the table with the Chromebook if the cord is not long enough to be on the floor without pulling.
- Make sure the cord is securely in the Chromebook, and that there are no pieces of frayed plastic in the way.
- Ensure that the power cord is plugged firmly into the A/C adapter and the other end into an outlet.
- As a final note, please do not allow your child to eat or drink while using their Chromebooks.
You can also still follow these guidelines if you are on a laptop or PC running Windows, just go to a Chrome Browser Window.
For more tech support access the South Loop Parent Tech Support presentationhttps://tinyurl.com/SLTechSupport