Lost almost all of my channels [Philly Comcast]. . .

[ferky1]

Just got back from being away for a week and I've found that a good portion of my channels are not coming in. The strange thing is that I have dealt with the pixelation problem in the past and this is entirely different.

Tivo thinks everything is alright and is showing the signal at 100 and SNR at 37-38 (same as the channels that I am getting), but roughly 90% of my channels show as just a blank grey screen. I do get the networks (analog and HD), and a handful of others in the 1-99 range. Other than the networks, I do not think that I am getting one channel over #100.

Please someone save me from having to contact Comcast CSR. I did a quick search before posting this question but unfortunately do not see anyone else in the same predicament.

[crazi4tv]

Just got back from being away for a week and I've found that a good portion of my channels are not coming in. The strange thing is that I have dealt with the pixelation problem in the past and this is entirely different.

Tivo thinks everything is alright and is showing the signal at 100 and SNR at 37-38 (same as the channels that I am getting), but roughly 90% of my channels show as just a blank grey screen. I do get the networks (analog and HD), and a handful of others in the 1-99 range. Other than the networks, I do not think that I am getting one channel over #100.

Please someone save me from having to contact Comcast CSR. I did a quick search before posting this question but unfortunately do not see anyone else in the same predicament.

Here is a link from the TiVo website which covers the problem you are having.

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/hdandcablecards/Troubleshooting_CableCARD_Activation_and_Channel_Issues.html #Troubleshootingchannelsthataresuddenlymissing

Post back what you see on the CA (Conditional Access) screen

[ferky1]

Thanks for the prompt response. Conditional Access screen is a bit complicated for me, but here's what I've got:

Tuned to any of the channels that I am not getting, and looking at the 2 lines that the .pdf indicates are of some importance, I see:

Con:Yes EBCP:Yes Val:V 0x00

Auth:? CCI:0x00? Epoch:0x00

This shows up even when tuned to the premiums that I've subscribed to. Any thoughts? Guess I need to contact Comcast?

[crazi4tv]

Thanks for the prompt response. Conditional Access screen is a bit complicated for me, but here's what I've got:

Tuned to any of the channels that I am not getting, and looking at the 2 lines that the .pdf indicates are of some importance, I see:

Con:Yes EBCP:Yes Val:V 0x00

Auth:? CCI:0x00? Epoch:0x00

This shows up even when tuned to the premiums that I've subscribed to. Any thoughts? Guess I need to contact Comcast?

If you have Motorola cards (which is looks like you do) then Con:Yes means that the Cablecard is connected to the cable system EBCP:Yes Val:V 0x00 means the card is paired, 0x00 means the channel is not copy protected. Auth:? means whatever channel your TiVo was tuned to when you went to the conditional access is not authorized for viewing. This is typically caused by several issues: billing codes on your cable account have changed or are incorrect, or the cards lost the authorization required for the card to decrypt the encrypted channels. The card may need to be initialized.

This should not require you to schedule an appt. for a service technician.

[ferky1]

Update:

Useless Comcast CSR claims that there is nothing they can do remotely and I need a service tech to come out. From everything I've read, this seems to be an issue that they should be able to clear up on their end. . . . will they try to charge me for the visit?

[esb1981]

I would try calling again and getting a better CSR. They should be able to at least try to re-pair or re-authorize the cards remotely.

I had problems with my cards losing their authorization, and Cox was at least able to send a signal that tried to re-authorize. No, it didn't work, and ultimately they would send out a tech and I would get all mad because of that, but they said it usually worked for most people. The tech would then call in to the local dispatch and they would be able to re-authorize the cards immediately without a problem.

[Rikkster]

I'm having the same problem. A reboot of TiVo fixes the problem, but I should not have to reboot TiVo every week just to get my channels. I have missed programs due to this. Is there any fix to make this NOT happen?

[ferky1]

I'm having the same problem. A reboot of TiVo fixes the problem, but I should not have to reboot TiVo every week just to get my channels. I have missed programs due to this. Is there any fix to make this NOT happen?

Son of a ........ I don't know why I didn't try this before, but the restart just fixed the problem! So now my question is the same as Rikkster: how do we stop this from happening again?