Is this a Tivo or Cable Company issue?

[aswann]

I just had 2 cable cards installed Wednesday. It was the first time Charter has done one in my area, but they got it working. On Wednesday both cards showed channels when doing the Test Channels. I reran guided setup and everything was great on both tuners.

When I came home on Thursday I had nothing but a black screen on every channel, both tuners. I called Charter and they sent a "Reset Signal". After rebooting the Tivo Box it started working again. A couple hours later it stopped again - just in time to NOT record CSI. I tried rebooting, but it didn't help. I called Charter again and they again tried the Reset. I rebooted the Tivo - No go. Then about 10 minutes after I hung up with them, it started working again. Both tuners, signal strength of 95+, all good operation.

This morning I got up and both tuners were showing Live TV just fine. UNTIL I tried to change the channel. On each tuner: Once I changed the channel I just get a black screen on analog or digital channels. If I go to the CableCard Menu it will not let me test the Signal Strength as it says I have no digital channels. If I try to test channels it says there aren't any.

I have a service call with Charter scheduled for today, but wanted to see if anyone here has any tips or ideas what is going on.

Thanks.

[TydalForce]

CableCard issues seem to *mostly* be the cable company's problem

How long have you had your S3? A few weeks ago, TiVo released an 8.0.1C update whereas most of the boxes shipped with 8.0.1B (I think - at least mine did).

Check what version you've got
If you've still got B...
Force an update through Settings -> Phone & Network and see if it grabs the update, let it reboot, and see if that helps?

[aswann]

Thanks for the tip - Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm already on the "c" revision. I've had the Tivo for a little over a week. It worked flawlessly with Analog cable - problems started when I went digital. Hopefully the Charter installers can figure something out. They told me Wed that I was the first in the area to do this.

[dwblessed]

I have had no luck AT ALL with charter. They brought out cards which they had no idea how to install. The tivo series 3 kept rebooting itself with no premium channels working. Second guy came out put in 2 more cards, they didn't work either. We learned from charter tech, you should not remove cards, as it will render them useless. I have had ten days of agony, on the phone, another guy came out without cards so waste of another day off of work. On Friday, i was assured someone would be out to bring cards and would know how to deal with tivo. I got a call at 4:30 saying they are backlogged 1500 cards and don't know when they will be able to get my service going! I had one person hang up on me, one hung up on their own technician! I have had charter internet but am appalled at the service i have received (NOT) from charter cable tv.

[2farrell]

I have had no luck AT ALL with charter. They brought out cards which they had no idea how to install. The tivo series 3 kept rebooting itself with no premium channels working. Second guy came out put in 2 more cards, they didn't work either. We learned from charter tech, you should not remove cards, as it will render them useless. I have had ten days of agony, on the phone, another guy came out without cards so waste of another day off of work. On Friday, i was assured someone would be out to bring cards and would know how to deal with tivo. I got a call at 4:30 saying they are backlogged 1500 cards and don't know when they will be able to get my service going! I had one person hang up on me, one hung up on their own technician! I have had charter internet but am appalled at the service i have received (NOT) from charter cable tv.
I had some of the same problems when I rebooted and found that the Guide was messed up and the TiVo was messing up.
I'd get double channels.
If you check the Channel List you may or may not find this.
Anyway, try re-running the Guide Set Up but answer Not Sure when it asks you whether you receive certain channels.
It will then show the possible Guide Listings for your area (for me it showed Garner or Cary and Digital Standard or Extended for both - 4 possible selections).
Just select the listing you know is the one for you.
There is a problem where the S3 will select the wrong guide in some areas and mess up on a reboot.
Also, I now mark Favorite Channels and select the Guide to only show that.
This has now worked for me for the last three weeks.

[tigervegas]

I had somewhat of the same problem....somewhat. Started getting occassional video"streaks" after installing cards. Later, audio would blank out for a second or two. I would call the cable guy back tomorrow I said. Later the same day, video and audio would blank out for a second or two. I guessed it was the cable cards. Until......my tivo started rebooting itself. In the middle of the NFC championship game no less! All was fine for a while. Watched the last quarter of the game. Then, while in the Tivo menu, the screen went black for about 15 seconds. I assumed that the cable cards shouldn't screw up the tivo screen.

Called Tivo. They told me that my box was defective. Hardly no questions asked. Stated that several boxes are having the same glitch. Sending it in for exchange tomorrow.

[aswann]

Update: Charter spent a couple more hours at my house Friday. Different tech this time. He was on the phone with his tech support. They were in turn on the phone with Tivo. Bottom line: One of the cable cards was bad (flaky). He replaced it and everything has been rock solid all weekend.

So now I'm off to order a HDTV.

Thanks everyone!

[ScubaCat]

Update: Charter spent a couple more hours at my house Friday. Different tech this time. He was on the phone with his tech support. They were in turn on the phone with Tivo. Bottom line: One of the cable cards was bad (flaky). He replaced it and everything has been rock solid all weekend.

So now I'm off to order a HDTV.

Thanks everyone!Dumb question alert: My series 3 will arrive tomorrow but my HDTV will not arrive for another week. The post above indicates that you can hook a "old" TV to the S3 and get your cable hookup going before the HDTV arrives. Do you use the old A/V (3 plug, red/yellow/white) cables to make the connection?

Glad to hear you've got it working Aswann!

[srea]

Dumb question alert: My series 3 will arrive tomorrow but my HDTV will not arrive for another week. The post above indicates that you can hook a "old" TV to the S3 and get your cable hookup going before the HDTV arrives. Do you use the old A/V (3 plug, red/yellow/white) cables to make the connection?

Glad to hear you've got it working Aswann!

Yes, my S3 is currently running analog with composite video (red,white,yellow cables included with S3). Works fine while I search for HDTV funding...

[ScubaCat]

Yes, my S3 is currently running analog with composite video (red,white,yellow cables included with S3). Works fine while I search for HDTV funding... Thanks for the info! I can go ahead and call the cable company today. :)