AI Companion not responding

After a number of re-installs and hard resets, I keep getting the following error message. Can you please provide me with some other steps I might take to remedy the solution? I'm hoping to use this with students. It works fine on my computer but I can't get it working on students' laptops. If I am unable to get this to work, is there another emulator I could use to have students test their programs? Since I have gotten it to work on my computer there aren't any problems with out school's network. 

1) The message you receive may mean you have to press the Wait button and wait.  If the emulator is working on a PC with limited RAM and a slow cpu, users may frequently see that message.   The emulator is struggling to process the code.  Is your PC a bit fancier?

2) This is probably not true "Since I have gotten it to work on my computer there aren't any problems with out school's network."   You probably have Admin privileges on your PC and your account within the network may make you a superuser; however the students' PCs may not be set for Admin privileges.   Admin privileges are required to install the emulator software.   This could be your issue. 

3) Another emulator?    Yes, there are many available, but if #2 applies, they will not help you.  The emulator provided by AI2 is Google's stock emulator.      

4) Another probable issue is that the school network may be blocking port 8004 on the student PC with a firewall.

5) What to do?  Without knowing a bit about the student PCs ...are they too Win7   or are they Xp? Are they hooked to the network with WIFI or an Ethernet connection?   ...it is difficult to provide advice.    Have you discussed your problem with the person responsible for IT at your school?  They probably can help.  There are resources here they would use http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/library, especially here  

• SCHOOL IT/NETWORK ADMINS: Information specific to school networks (also helpful for conferences and hotel situations)    

Try some things, check with IT to see if the student PCs are blocked.   They probably are.  Yes, the issue could be something else.    If you don't get stuff working, return and tell us what you tried.   If you get the PCs working, please tell us and we will celebrate with you and your students Tracy.

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