I've never logged into Blackboard before, but I'm pretty sure I have an account. How do I log in?

If you have an account on the Blackboard system, logging in for the first time is easy. Your username is the same login you use for your e-mail (e.g. "jsmith2"). Your password is "Bb" followed by your ID card number. Your Blackboard login information would be as follows:

Username: jsmith2
Password: Bb1234567

After you log in the first time, please be sure to change your password immediately. Click on "Personal Information" on the "Tools" menu on the left hand side of the screen.

If this step does not work, you may have already changed your password and forgotten it. Also, you may not have an account set up on the Blackboard system. You can request an account online by submitting a Help Desk Request or calling the Help Desk at 614-236-6508.

When I try to log into Blackboard, I get an error that looks like this one:

Base64Decodeerror '800a0001'

Bad Base64 string.

/bin/n_libBase64.asp, line 45

What do I do?

Very recently, I.T. has received calls concerning the error message above. This same message appeared consistently when certain students clicked the Login button for our local Blackboard server and also on a few other Web-based applications that require logins.

What our department discovered is that this happens when a piece of "ad-ware" known as "CommonName" is installed. Whenever a user clicked the login button on an infected computer, they were redirected to www.commonname.com and would then see this error message. Upon further investigation, we found that this program can be automatically installed simply by clicking a malicious link. We believe that this could be happening without the knowledge of the user.

The good news is this error can be circumvented by simply un-installing the CommonName program on infected computers.

On a Windows system:

• Click on the "Start" button
• Click on "Programs"
• Then Click on "Settings"
• Finally, click on "Control Panel"
• Find the "Add/Remove Programs" icon or name and double-click on it
• Then locate the "CommonName" program in the list.
• Click the Remove button
• Reboot your computer

You can then browse to your course site and everything should work properly again.

I'm still having trouble logging into Blackboard. What am I doing wrong?

Double check that you are logging in with your correct Blackboard username and password. Also make sure you are entering both of these in the correct case. If there is still a problem, then you probably need to have your Blackboard password reset or you don't have a Blackboard account set up. Call the Help Desk at 614-236-6508 or submit a Help Desk Request.

I'm not able to access anything in my Blackboard class. What am I doing wrong?

Did you enroll in the class? Before you can access areas of your class, other than Announcements, you must enroll in the class. Check the Blackboard Help Topics for Students for instructions on how to enroll. Call the Help Desk at 614-236-6508 for additional assistance.

Where can Blackboard Instructors look for help on using Blackboard?

Check out the Blackboard Online Help for Faculty at http://www.capital.edu/cc/it/bb_faculty_help.html

Where can Blackboard Students look for help on using Blackboard?

Check out the Blackboard Online Help for Students at http://www.capital.edu/cc/it/bb_student_help.html