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Bolt vs FIOS vs Cablecard

2K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  snerd 
#1 ·
Hi.

I have multiple Tivos and they were all working fine. I upgraded my router and internet, when I did, one of my Bolts lost connection to the cablecard and I couldnt re-pair it. I had another card I was going to send back, I tried but couldn't pair that. FIOS sent me two more cards, couldn't pair them. During all of this I've been on support a dozen times with Verizon and Tivo. Sometimes with Verizon I got great help and they knew exactly what my issues was without much explanation on my part. Not so much with Tivo, clearly customer support has a checklist of things and they cannot deviate much from that script. Each told me it was working from their end. It is not.

I'm not sure what to do. Im perplexed because everything was working, I even reset the Bolt back to factory settings. The fact that I have tried multiple cards with the same results makes me think its a Tivo issue but I can't be sure and I'm sort of in no man's land in between the two. None of the cards show Authorization through the conditional access menu so Tivo says its not them. FIOS doesn't know enough about the Tivo to do anything other than readdress the card. HAs anyone ever had a similar issue? In Tivo's Knowledge base it says they will make a third party call with cable company to rectify but I can't get anyone at Tivo to do so.
 
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#12 ·
You might be able to just replace the connectors on each end of the coax rather than run a new line. If the coax is old, the internal insulation (the white part) might have "pulled in" leaving a gap, which can cause problems. If that is the problem, putting on new connectors will fix it.
 
#2 ·
Hi.
I have multiple Tivos and they were all working fine. I upgraded my router and internet, when I did, one of my Bolts lost connection to the cablecard and I couldnt re-pair it.
Sorry for your problem, but your network has no connection to the cable card. I could be just bad luck. BTW, did you get an error about the cable card or just lose channels? IOW, how did you decide you card was bad. I'm probably on my 10th router and I power off every component in my system monthly. The factory reset will un-pair a card. I did that last week. But I am still using the TiVo. Pairing will affect premium channels, but once your channel list is received, it doesn't go away.

Despite what your cable company tells you, they can not tell if the card is paired from their location. Who is your provider?

As for networking, can you access the problem Bolt from other TiVo units?
 
#3 ·
Verizon FIOS. and part of the internet upgrade was to get rid of all our premium channels since everything is transitioning to streaming services

I got no error message error other than the sort of standard Tivo V52 not authorized error. It was all working prior to this.... I just read your reply and I thought of something else to try. The Tivo that was not working was on its own coax run apart from everything else. I physically moved the box to another room with a working tivo and set it up. I got some channels and I am having the automated service reinitialize the card.

Whats curious is that when the service first stopped working I had a few channels, when they reinitialized the card the first time I got nothing since. Even stranger FIOS could see that box even though the card couldn't see the network.

If this works I will just have a Verizon tech come out and rerun that line.
 
#4 ·
The website DSLReports has a "Verizon Direct" forum where you can post PRIVATE messages directly to Verizon techs. They are dedicated, highly trained folks who can usually resolve even difficult problems; they can access far more high-level settings on your account and adjust settings that may not be visible to or adjustable by the regular Verizon tech support. They can easily manage cable card pairing issues. And are FAR more knowledgeable than the usual truck-roll folks about cable cards.

Note that the Direct forum postings are Private, only the topic you post is visible to other users, nothing more. And also note that the "Direct" forum is the only section that is private, the regular forums are open postings, so be sure that you are posting in the correct section.

DSLReports is a reputable website. I've used the Direct support several times over the years with various provider issues and have always had exceptional results.
 
#5 ·
If you upgraded your FiOS service ...are you sure the start date if your new plan has passed? I had an issue where I tried to activate everything (cause it arrived early) a day early and while internet worked the cablecard would not until the next day. I'm still having a problem with FX channels but it did eventually work.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
SO I took the box in another room. I hooked it up and the card synced. I suspect for whatever reason the coax line to that machine which is separate from all the other machines in my house is somehow at fault. I just called Verizon to have them send out a technician to rerun the coax line. They pretty much flat out refused and said it wasn't their equipment, which I understand to a point but it was all working fine before their technician showed up. If they sent out a tech I would need to pay for the house call.
 
#9 ·
So you're up and running again?

Just FYI. Cable card pairing.
3 key numbers:
Card S/N
Host ID: Tivo itself
Data ID: Hard Drive

I've done many changes of Hard drives during MFSTools troubleshooting.
Even putting back same HDs later, the Data ID would change almost every time. Call FIOS to verify numbers.
Comcast auto online pairing tool works like a gem.

I've got a 5T drive 15mm Seagate now inside bolt-vox with 800 HD hours 5513 SD hours.
500G to 1T & 2T keep all the shows when copying-expanding. But expanding to the 5T always loses them.
Small price to pay for 800HD. :)
Thanks to jmbach and all the other wizards.
 
#11 ·
I had an issue like that with Spectrum, luckily I had one of their STBs and hooked that up in the faulty location and had issues with their STB too, so they came out and ran the new line for me.
 
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