Swapping Cards into Exchanged Tivo S3 = No ESPNHD or TNTHD

1475 Views 20 Replies 7 Participants Last post by jrm01, Sep 16, 2007

jbjust

Discussion Starter · Sep 14, 2007

If anybody remembers, my Tivo S3 was the one that apparently had its HDMI outputs fried in a lightning storm last month and I finally did an advance exchange with Tivo.

So... I read the threads on how others had been able to swap the cards into a new Tivo without the truck roll and I called Comcast (of Chesterfield, VA) to tell them that I had to replace my Tivo under warranty and needed to set up my cablecards on the new Tivo.

I followed the Tivo instructions to a T. I inserted the first card, waited until the grey screen came up with the information, gave that information to the Comcast person who then "hit" the card. I checked channels throughout the range and everything looked good. I then did the same thing with the second card and everything looked good too.

Seemingly satisfied, I got off the phone and started watching TV. When I got to ESPN HD (channel 242) I had a great picture for about .7 seconds and suddenly the "Call your Cable Company" gray screen came up. The same thing happened with TNT HD on channel 249, though it took several seconds to get the same effect with TNT HD and one time I was able to watch TNT HD for several minutes before the "call your cable company" gray screen came up.

So I called Comcast again (these people have never heard of a DAC operator, btw) and had them hit the cards again. We did it several times and it never resolved the issue. I looked through the Tivo website and saw that sometimes the SA cards take a while to get fully authorized, so I went to bed.

This morning, have the same issue. I tried to get the person to give me the technical support that the technicians call when they do a truck roll, but they refused.

Any ideas of what else I can have Comcast do? This is the rare instance in which I KNOW it's not the cards, since they were working in the old Tivo up until I swapped it out last night.

If I have to do a truck roll, I think I'll just use it as an excuse to switch to FIOS rather than deal with the idiots that Comcast sends out.

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aaronwt

· #2 · Sep 14, 2007

Comcast here ties the cards to the box. They won't decrypt anything if I were to put them in another box. Comcast would need to get the new info for them to work.
Also here the CSR thinks that they can hit the cards to activate them but they can't. The only way to activate them here is to get the proper person at the headend that can enter the info. IN my area there is one person that does this and the techs need to contact that person while on site so that person can enter the proper info for the cable cards to work.
It's a PITA process compared to how FIOS does it. They both need a tech on site but with FIOS the tech can enter the info herself. With Comcast they end up repeating the info several times over the phone before they get it correct. But for me once it was right I haven't had any problems. I'm going on 9 months with my 6 Comcast cable cards.

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jrm01

· #3 · Sep 14, 2007

You say that you gave the info to the CSR. Did that include the host & data numbers? If so, are you sure that you didn't switch the cards when re-installing them? In other words, are the card serial numbers correctly matched to what Comcast has in their system?

In a new system there are two types of "hits" that have to be made. One to activate the cards (they need serial number, host and data numbers) and one to Authorize them (specify the channels you should get). If the pairing isn't correct, the Authorization won't work. Many times the CSR that you call only does the Authorization hit and it takes the dispatch person to do the Activation Hit. I have been able to talk to a Supervisor (I have his direct dial number now) and he can do both hits.

jbjust

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 14, 2007

That's great to hear. I just wonder how I'm going to get past the two women I spoke with last night to get to the person at the head-end. I asked to speak to the DAC operator and they hadn't heard of that and I asked to speak to the dispatch person but they said they can't do that unless it's with a roll.

Should I just ask for the supervisor, then? Does anybody know the exact technical term for what I'm asking them to do. Are there any other Richmond or Chesterfield folks on this forum that can help?

d_anders

· #5 · Sep 14, 2007

jbjust said:
That's great to hear. I just wonder how I'm going to get past the two women I spoke with last night to get to the person at the head-end. I asked to speak to the DAC operator and they hadn't heard of that and I asked to speak to the dispatch person but they said they can't do that unless it's with a roll.

Should I just ask for the supervisor, then? Does anybody know the exact technical term for what I'm asking them to do. Are there any other Richmond or Chesterfield folks on this forum that can help?

Make sure they are doing all the appropriate types of hits too. The person I spoke too said they had to do a very heavy initialization hit (don't know if it's the same as the activation hit to the cards in order for specific channels to be utilized (i had the same issues as you, but only with all my hbo channels). CSRs hit and rehit the cards multiple times, but then if finally can down to having the right person on the headend who did a completely different type of hit before it worked.

Once they hit it the right way, I got a very specific error on the TiVo that is considered a "Good" error...4xx (can't remember the number but search the comcast card card thread)...and from that point it worked great.

demon

· #6 · Sep 14, 2007

d_anders said:
Once they hit it the right way, I got a very specific error on the TiVo that is considered a "Good" error...4xx (can't remember the number but search the comcast card card thread)...and from that point it worked great.

I assume you mean 161-4 (that's what I got with my Moto cards).

jbjust

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 14, 2007

I've got the Scientific Atlanta cards, so I'm not supposed to get any error messages, I think.

We had the same issue when Comcast installed my cards initially back in January, but of course I don't know what he was saying to the person on the phone to finally make it work.

Has anybody ever heard of any term other than a "heavy installation hit?"

larrs

· #8 · Sep 14, 2007

aaronwt said:
Comcast here ties the cards to the box. They won't decrypt anything if I were to put them in another box. Comcast would need to get the new info for them to work.
Also here the CSR thinks that they can hit the cards to activate them but they can't. The only way to activate them here is to get the proper person at the headend that can enter the info. IN my area there is one person that does this and the techs need to contact that person while on site so that person can enter the proper info for the cable cards to work.
It's a PITA process compared to how FIOS does it. They both need a tech on site but with FIOS the tech can enter the info herself. With Comcast they end up repeating the info several times over the phone before they get it correct. But for me once it was right I haven't had any problems. I'm going on 9 months with my 6 Comcast cable cards.

I bought an upgrade drive from Weaknees AFTER my install. Exactly the same here. Trouble tickets opened, etc. etc. I kept losing HD channels, then digital channels then they would work then I would lose them again. Every time I called I tried to tell the CSR that it needed to be redone as if the cards had never been installed, but she kept trying to "hit" the cards. After weeks, I fiannly got someone to get ahold of the right guy and got it fixed.

jbjust

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 14, 2007

Did you ask for the supervisor or did you just keep calling hoping you got somebody with two brain cells?

megazone

· #10 · Sep 14, 2007

'Hitting' the cards does nothing. What you describe is *exactly* what I saw when Charter didn't update my info properly after a swap. The cards *must* be paired - and since you swapped units, your Host ID changed. I'd almost guarantee that is your problem. You need to get them to re-pair the cards with the new Host IDs (each slot has a unique ID), then they'll re-authorize.

jbjust

Discussion Starter · #11 · Sep 14, 2007

Thank you Megazone. How did you ultimately explain to them the need to re-pair? Did you get a supervisor?

d_anders

· #12 · Sep 14, 2007

demon said:
I assume you mean 161-4 (that's what I got with my Moto cards).

Yes, that's it. Thanks. Per megazone, I believe (at least on the Moto cards) that's the result of both a successful pairing, and a full activation/inialization hit for the channels I was authorized for....

In my case I had my card's paired, I got a lot of my subscribed digital channels, but just did not get my specific HBO channels.

It would be god send if the folks at TiVo's Cable Card Support Group would publish a troubleshooting sheet by cable provider (which we could print out and hand-over)...utilizing the cable company's own internal technical language and process which we can then hand to the installers (and then include in any new boxes being packaged, etc.).

megazone

· #13 · Sep 14, 2007

jbjust said:
Thank you Megazone. How did you ultimately explain to them the need to re-pair? Did you get a supervisor?

After running into a brick wall on the phone - I had someone claim they re-paired and and changed the numbers, only to not have it fixed. Then I called back and the next person read the *old* numbers off the account and then claimed to be unable to change then and wanted a truck roll - I wrote down all the numbers (Card number (off the card), the MAC, the Card ID (off the screen - not the same as the number on the card), and the Host ID) and took them to my local office. I calmly explained to the person at the counter what I needed, and she got a supervisor. The supervisor understood what I was asking and made the right calls - fixed.

And I was smart enough to get her business card with her direct email and phone number - I had another issue recently and she helped me out again, piece of cake.

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jrm01

· #14 · Sep 14, 2007

As megazone said, getting the supervisor is the key. As I mentioned earlier I now have his direct dial number and he has been able to solve many problems. In fact, he looks upon it as a challange and won't give up until he gets it to work. He is on my Christmas card list now.

larrs

· #15 · Sep 14, 2007

The way I ended up getting the right guy was to tell them I had replaced the unit with a different one. The CSR finally asked the engineer what to do. That finally did it.

jbjust

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 15, 2007

Well, I finally got the right person since he said that he has dealt with this issue several times before and he asked me what my Data ID number is (in addition to the Cablecard # and the Host ID). I see where the Data ID is supposed to show up on the same screen as those other two pieces of information, but it's just not there. It doesn't even say Data ID: [blank]. Am I missing something here. Did I screw something up or is this a Comcast issue?

aaronwt

· #17 · Sep 15, 2007

The PID number is the first number on the page. I know that's what FIOS called it but it wasn't listed as that. But it was the first number listed.

jbjust

Discussion Starter · #18 · Sep 16, 2007

There is no other number on that page other than the telephone number of my cable company. This seems extremely weird.

jrm01

· #19 · Sep 16, 2007

jbjust said:
There is no other number on that page other than the telephone number of my cable company. This seems extremely weird.

I do not believe that the SA cards show the pairing information on the diagnostic screens. Perhaps (I'm just guessing) if you pop out the card and re-insert it it may bring up the pairing information screen.

jbjust

Discussion Starter · #20 · Sep 16, 2007

I popped them both out and reinserted them and didn't get any diagnostic information. Any other ideas?

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