CATV issue- box freezing and reboots.

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SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1	CATV issue- box freezing and reboots. I'm hoping the mods let this fly, as I'm not getting any responses in the appropriate non-direct support cable forum, and I think some in here might be able to offer some help (and this is a "home improvement" if I can get it straightened out ). I'm having a weird, nagging problem with my CATV (Charter), and I, along with their Charter Direct team and local techs are trying to figure this out... below are cut from the other forum, but include the relevant info... any ideas? Thanks in advance! Just to give you my setup (which was installed by Charter), the main drop off the pole is RG-11 in underground conduit to the Charter box on my house, then coupled to RG-6 and runs into my home's utility room. It is then split by an Antronix splitter (CMC3003V) with the -3.5db leg servicing the CATV. Signal leaves the splitter and enters an 8-output amp (Extreme Broadband IPA1008D-RSVF, supplied by Charter) and then leaves via RG-6 to service the various television outlets and cable boxes in my home, each outlet having its own home run back to the amp in the utility room. Cable is high quality, shielded properly and adequately, and has the high quality quad shielded coax fittings that have been looked over by Charter techs in the past. I currently have 3 cable boxes: a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC, a CISCO Explorer 8640HDC, and a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3200. Here's the issue(s): Most of the time, all three cable boxes seem to work well, but something happened today that somehow demonstrates an intermittent problem that all three have (but the 3200 seems to be most problematic). I was trying to access Sprout programming through On-Demand on the 3200, but the Sprout programming would not load. It searched and searched, but no program. While that was happening, I went to both the other cable boxes in the house, and both were able to access the same On-Demand Sprout programming that the 3200 could not. Then, the 3200 spontaneously rebooted, and after it reset itself, I tried again to access On-Demand, and I could not. I then unplugged the 3200, and switched it with a functioning DVR, trying to see if the outlet was the issue. Both boxes rebooted, and the 3200 refused to get On-Demand from the new outlet, and the DVR was good to go, immediately getting the programming and streaming it to the DVR. I accessed the diagnostics screen in both the SA DVR and 3200, and both showed SNR strength of 35 db, and no errors. I rebooted both again, and still no On-Demand on the 3200. Finally, the 3200 lost all channels. I could see the programming bar telling the program that should have been playing, but no TV whatsoever. Both DVRs were working fine at that moment... HSI was up and running normally... and Tel had dial tone. I called Charter Tech support, and a helpful young lady asked a few questions and then sent a "hit" to the 3200, and magically, the box's TV programming reappeared, and On-Demand worked as normal. My question: why is this happening? I've had techs here in the past and my signal strength and clarity has consistently been solid. This was a case where somehow one box went renegade while the others were working fine. And I would write this off as a lone defective box, except to say that the other boxes act up occassionally as well. The SA and CISCO DVRs tend to have the screen "freeze" in place, requiring me to use the remote to change the channel up, and then back, and things are back to normal. This tends to happen on Sprout in the afternoon (1pm - 3pm typically). It's not an isolated event.. it happens once a day or every other day. The funny thing is.. I have tuned both DVRs to Sprout in the past around that time.. and one will freeze and the other will be normal as if nothing is wrong- and there is no consistent box that does it always.. sometimes it's one, and sometimes it's the other, and sometimes it's neither. Bottom line: HSI running fine, Telephone running fine, and signal quality from the diagnostic screens on all boxes is good (even during and after an event), as has been the measurements of the techs. This seems to be a cable box issue. Why do these boxes do these random reboots/freezes, and one signal reset by a Charter tech can clear a box that unplugging and plugging cannot fix? Any thoughts? Is this just the typical service from these boxes that I need to expect going forward? Is this a video compression issue or maybe crummy box quality? Please let me know. Thanks! And then I posted this follow-up: Well, I'll throw this out there and see if anyone has some ideas.. I just had a tech visit my home, and he thought the problem was probably one of two things: either my 8-port amp (which was an older model and known for problems), or the amp on the pole that services my street. He swapped out the Extreme Broadband amp with the latest generation, and then used his meter to see what kind of signal measurements he was getting at the amp. Measurements at the amp were dead on the money with SNR of 34-36 and perfect signal strength on all frequencies. So pole drop, grounding block, splitter, and amp checked out fine Coax in the house is a star formation with all home runs back to the utility room. Coax from amp to each outlet is Belden 1829A with high-quality compression fittings on all the runs. Some outlets have runs as short as 5' from amp to outlet, and some are longer, but all exhibit the same behavior (video and audio freezes requiring the channel to be changed to restore video and sound). Meter was used to test outlets, and signal strength and SNR were dead on the money for all outlets- showing SNR of 34-36, signal strength on the money, and no errors whatsoever. So coax runs to all outlets checked out fine RG-6 with compressions fittings is then used from the outlet to the cable boxes. And the cable boxes report on their diagnostics screens no errors, SNR of 34-36, and signal levels in the sweet spot of tolerances. With the amp switched out, I thought we had it at first, but last night a random freeze-up happened to one DVR, and this morning, a random reboot happened to the other DVR. So no luck... problem still exists. Neighbor says he rarely sees a freeze-up, maybe once a month, and that freeze-up requires a reboot, it's not correctable by the remote. Since our symptoms are different, I would think that rules out the street amp, but truck will be rolled to take a look early next week. Only 2 other possibilities I can think of if street amp checks out as good: 1) Flaky tap. My neighbor and I are on the same amp, but different taps. I would think this isn't the case since it's so infrequent and random, and I'm getting uptimes on my cable modem of 20-40+ days usually. 2) Charter's boxes are just problematic. I had a DVR when I first got Charter that was horrific, and had it swapped out, and this replacement is just annoying. That makes me suspect that these Scientific Atlanta/CISCO boxes are just not up to the compression that Charter's downstream video is sent at. When it gets overwhelmed... it hiccups, and a freeze-up or reboot occurs. That's my theory anyway. Any ideas or things I haven't thought of? This is really baffling. Any thoughts?
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-01 19:50:52 ·
beachintech There's sand in my tool bag Premium join:2008-01-06 kudos:5	Does your amp allow return to pass through? If you hook one TV up to the modem outlet (bypassing the amp) do you get the problem? -- Ex-Comcast Tech at the Beach. I speak for myself, not my former employer.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-01 22:15:20 ·

djrobx join:2000-05-31 Valencia, CA kudos:1 Reviews: ·VOIPo ·Verizon Wireless.. ·RoadRunner Cable ·AT&T U-Verse	reply to SwedishRider Simplify to troubleshoot. Try connecting directly to a cable box without the amp, and use an appropriate splitter. Temporarily leave some boxes disconnected if your signal strength is too low without the amp. You can rule the amp out as being the culprit this way. Keep an eye on your signal strengths, both upstream and downstream. Look for changes after you experience a problem. In other words, perhaps you normally see +3db signal strength, and then following a freeze-up, see -3db. A sudden 6db shift can cause a tuner to get confused, even if it's still within spec. I had this problem - it took the cable company forever to track it down to a bad wire in the node. It was hard to get them to accept there was a problem in the first place, because the numbers were always within spec before and after an event. It wasn't until I looked at the signal strengths over time that I was able to identify the issue. You'd think you'd see these issues on your modem as well, but it may be more tolerant of line issues. Also make a note of the time, and outside temperature when freeze-ups happen. In my case events would happen in the morning and evening when it got to a certain temperature outside. -- AT&T U-Hearse - RIP Unlimited Internet 1995-2011 Rethink Billable.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-01 22:34:40 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1	reply to beachintech said by beachintech: Does your amp allow return to pass through? If you hook one TV up to the modem outlet (bypassing the amp) do you get the problem? Yes, amps have been supplied by Charter, so they're high quality (I would hope) and allow for return pass. I have not experimented with bypassing the amp. I think that will be my next step. But no amp has mad the difference yet and my neighbor has the same amp and does not have my issues... so I am suspecting that the root of this problem is not the amp...
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 07:08:04 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1	reply to djrobx said by djrobx: Simplify to troubleshoot. Try connecting directly to a cable box without the amp, and use an appropriate splitter. Temporarily leave some boxes disconnected if your signal strength is too low without the amp. You can rule the amp out as being the culprit this way. Keep an eye on your signal strengths, both upstream and downstream. Look for changes after you experience a problem. In other words, perhaps you normally see +3db signal strength, and then following a freeze-up, see -3db. A sudden 6db shift can cause a tuner to get confused, even if it's still within spec. I had this problem - it took the cable company forever to track it down to a bad wire in the node. It was hard to get them to accept there was a problem in the first place, because the numbers were always within spec before and after an event. It wasn't until I looked at the signal strengths over time that I was able to identify the issue. You'd think you'd see these issues on your modem as well, but it may be more tolerant of line issues. Also make a note of the time, and outside temperature when freeze-ups happen. In my case events would happen in the morning and evening when it got to a certain temperature outside. What is a "bad wire in the node"? I have a rudimentary understanding, but that is on the headend I believe, correct? Wouldn't others on my street be seeing similar problems if that was the case? Interestingly, problems tend to happen early, early morning, and in the early afternoon... and that's if they happen at all. This is more of a nuisance issue that a full-blown problem. But it's enough of a nuisance to hope it can be tracked down and fixed.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 07:09:30 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1	reply to SwedishRider Okay, interesting piece of the puzzle. Sprout just froze this morning on the non-DVR box at about 7:40am. I immediately went to the diagnostics screen while Sprout was frozen to see what it was reporting. Sprout here is 741MHz, but the diagnostics screen was showing a frequency of 5XXMHz... which was not Sprout!! I went to a DVR, fired it up, and went to Sprout. Sprout ws playing fine, and the DVR Box showed 741MHz, 7dBmV, and SNR of 35- while the screen was still frozen on the other box. Question: why did the frozen box report it was tuned to a frequency other than Sprout?!? As soon as I changed the channel and changed it back, Elmo's world returned and the diagnostics then reported the correct 741MHz. But that is interesting... could some kind of forced channel switch be causing this? Very baffling!
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 07:56:23 ·
beachintech There's sand in my tool bag Premium join:2008-01-06 kudos:5 Reviews: ·Comcast	Because DVR's have two tuners, and you were looking at the other. You have a wiring issue that needs to be corrected. Either a bad fitting, drop, splitter, etc. Can't tell you without being there with a meter. -- Ex-Comcast Tech at the Beach. I speak for myself, not my former employer.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 12:54:45 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1	said by beachintech: Because DVR's have two tuners, and you were looking at the other. No, the box that froze was non-DVR. Sprout broadcasts on 741 MHz, but when I checked the diagnostics on that box, it was trying to look at 5XX MHz (don't remember the exact number... should have written it down). Once I changed the channel on that frozen box and changed it back, diagnostics showed Sprout on 741 MHz with a normal signal. I'm sure that the frequency was not Sprout's... and that box is not a DVR and only has one tuner.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 13:00:38 ·
Pacrat Old and Cranky Premium,MVM join:2001-03-10 Cortland, OH	reply to SwedishRider Is the installation yours or the cable company's? It appears to me that if all the equipment is theirs and the installation was made by them, that you have every right, as a paying customer, to demand that they fix the problem! Frustrating as it may be, the answer may lie beyond your control. If it were me, I'd wait until it freezes up again, and leave it alone 'til they come out and see the condition. Many times, an intermittent problem is nearly impossible to diagnose unless the diagnostics take place while the problem is "active" and obvious. -- Keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, your nose to the grindstone, and your ear to the ground. Now, try to work in that position!!!
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 13:25:36 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1	I have inside wire protection on my bill, but they did not install the wires inside the house (that was done during the house build), they installed the compression fittings on the CATV runs, measured the signals at the outlets (and said the signals are great multiple times), and installed everything from the pole to the amp including coax, grounding block, splitter, and the amp itself. I'm thinking of doing exactly what you say... wait for a day that I know a truck is going to roll, and then let the box stay frozen until they arrive. At least whatever the box is reporting can be seen firsthand. It doesn't always give this freeze on command though... with my luck, that'll be the day when it doesn't happen.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 13:37:28 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1	reply to SwedishRider BIG UPDATE: Charter just left, they rolled a truck today to do diagnostics (on a Sunday no less), and the tech used his meter to test at the house before the ground block (cutting the entire house out of the equation). Result: serious errors racking up. He then went on the pole and tested at the tap, cutting the coax drop out of the equation. Result: serious errors racking up. He said that was as far as he could go. He said he would call it in, but it appeared something was wrong with the tap, the street amp, both or something else chased back to Charter's end, but his test ruled out the house wiring as the culprit. I'm glad someone finally found the issue! Now I'm hoping this can get resolved expeditiously!
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 14:16:20 ·
Pacrat Old and Cranky Premium,MVM join:2001-03-10 Cortland, OH	reply to SwedishRider Cable companies are funny... at least Time-Warner is. A few years ago the city was installing new curbing in our neighborhood. In the course of digging the the old stuff out, it was frequent occurence that the backhoe "disturbed" unmapped cables from time to time, causing widespread outages throughout the neighborhood. One day, my cable suddenly went out and I looked out my window and saw where the backhoe was working, about a block away. I walked down to the site and saw the ends of the severed cable trunk, sticking out of the ground about 8 feet apart. I called it in to TWC and they made an appointment for a technician to come to the house. I tried to explain to the idiot that sending a tech to my house would not begin to solve the problem, that the trunk had been severed, and no installation techy was going to be able to fix it. I even gave her the exact location of the break... x feet from the stop sign at the NW corner of "Such&Such" St. and "Whatsit" Dr. She still insisted on scheduling a "service call" at my home for the next day. I noticed that a service crew was at the break site within a couple of hours to, at least, splice in some new cable. Eventually (weeks later), they replaced the whole trunk run around the neighborhood... they had so many repair splices in the line, there were almost daily outages for some homes. I know my frontage (90') contained no less than three splices in it before they replaced the entire run. -- Keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, your nose to the grindstone, and your ear to the ground. Now, try to work in that position!!!
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 14:36:25 ·
Jack_in_VA Premium join:2007-11-26 Mathews, VA kudos:1	said by Pacrat: Cable companies are funny... at least Time-Warner is. A few years ago the city was installing new curbing in our neighborhood. In the course of digging the the old stuff out, it was frequent occurence that the backhoe "disturbed" unmapped cables from time to time, causing widespread outages throughout the neighborhood. One day, my cable suddenly went out and I looked out my window and saw where the backhoe was working, about a block away. I walked down to the site and saw the ends of the severed cable trunk, sticking out of the ground about 8 feet apart. I called it in to TWC and they made an appointment for a technician to come to the house. I tried to explain to the idiot that sending a tech to my house would not begin to solve the problem, that the trunk had been severed, and no installation techy was going to be able to fix it. I even gave her the exact location of the break... x feet from the stop sign at the NW corner of "Such&Such" St. and "Whatsit" Dr. She still insisted on scheduling a "service call" at my home for the next day. I noticed that a service crew was at the break site within a couple of hours to, at least, splice in some new cable. Eventually (weeks later), they replaced the whole trunk run around the neighborhood... they had so many repair splices in the line, there were almost daily outages for some homes. I know my frontage (90') contained no less than three splices in it before they replaced the entire run. It's not just the cable companies. A couple of years ago I called one of our local tv broadcasters engineering about a sync problem with their OTA audio and video. She didn't know they broadcasted a signal over the air using a transmitter and antenna and thought it was all cable and satellite.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-02 14:58:18 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1 1 edit	reply to SwedishRider Okay, another piece to the puzzle. Work was done on the lines to my home, and two problems were found, one at the headend and one on an amp on a pole down the street. We thought problem was caught and done with ... however... I came home and rebooted all 3 cable boxes (2 DVRs and 1 regular set-top) and rebooted my MTA and cable modem. Everything started with a clean signal... and I tuned all 3 cable boxes to Sprout (Channel 88) so that all three would be tuned to the same channel, and after some time passed, I'd be assured that problem was fixed. Within an hour or so, ALL THREE boxes froze audio and video at the exact same moment. The last image as they froze stayed on the TV screens of all three boxes, and it was the exact same image on all three. I changed the channel and then went back to Sprout, and Sprout continued fine on all three boxes as I changed the channel and back on each of them. So I kept it on Sprout on all three boxes, and about an hour later.. ALL THREE boxes froze audio and video at the exact same moment on all the boxes again! Exact same thing as before. Tech came back out and measured at the drop... everything crystal clear. He came in and measured an outlet hooked to a cable box... crystal clear again... To make sure all info on the table, there are times I'd be watching Sprout, and another TV is on NBC HD (channel 785), and NBC HD will freeze, but Sprout will be fine.. so all the boxes don't freeze at the same time... but clearly it's happening on the same channel at the same time to all boxes tuned to that particular problematic channel. Any ideas? This is a stumper.. Charter Techs are thinking this one over and will be back in the mornning for round 3.. any takers?? EDIT: And one other thing.. cable modem and MTA have had rock solid connections all throughout this process... the only time they've been down or shown errors is when the drop has been disconnected for diagnostic purposes.. otherwise internet and phone have been solid.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-03 20:18:54 ·
nunya Who is John Galt? Premium,MVM join:2000-12-23 O Fallon, MO kudos:8 Reviews: ·Charter ·surpasshosting	reply to SwedishRider Back when I had the TV portion of Charters service, frozen channels with good signal was a common problem. Moxi boxes were the worst. I actually found that there was a "sweet spot" signal-wise: Too much (too hot) signal was just as bad as not enough signal. I've not seen this issue on Motorola boxes, and have no experience with SA boxes. An amplifier can add a deceptive variable into the equation. Your STB or CM may report "good" signal levels. But, crap amplified is still crap - just stronger. You mentioned the channel is in the 741 MHz range, which is probably the higher end of Charters spectrum usage (in the olden days, 741 MHz was channel 115). How long is the drop to your house? You did mention it's RG11. Is it over 300 feet? RG11 is great when RG6 just wont cut it, but it does have it's limitations as well. It's not really that significant a step above RG6 (contrary to what many people, even CATV techs, believe). What I'm driving at: even if you have a nice acceptable signal at the tap, send it down 350' of RG11 and the upper frequencies are going to slide off. You'll have around a 10db loss @ 741 MHz over 300' or RG11. If the originating signal is nice enough, you can add an amplifier first thing and boost it back up. But if the originating signal (and this could even be in the CATV distribution plant) is crap that's just been cranked up - you see the problem. I would ask the technician specifically what the signal levels are at the ground block. Especially in the 700-800 MHz range. Another "habit" that I am guilty of, as are many cable installers, is keeping the modem off the amp. E.G., splitting the signal to the modem first, and then sending everything through the drop amp. This is because many amplifiers do not play well with modems (yes, I know they should). -- If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-03 23:03:28 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1 1 edit	said by nunya: You mentioned the channel is in the 741 MHz range, which is probably the higher end of Charters spectrum usage (in the olden days, 741 MHz was channel 115). I asked about the frequencies, as every time I checked the diagnostics screen after an issue, the frequencies changed! I thought that was a symptom, but tech said that is normal, it's called digital switching cable (I think..) where the cable box locks onto a different frequency if someone else is using that frequency. Sprout, where I saw these freezes happen yesterday, reported to be on 741, 570, 591, and 753 MHz... all within the same day! But apparently that is normal given the infrastructure. And the freezes happened on both 5XXMHz and 7XXMHz. How long is the drop to your house? You did mention it's RG11. Is it over 300 feet? RG11 is great when RG6 just wont cut it, but it does have it's limitations as well. It's not really that significant a step above RG6 (contrary to what many people, even CATV techs, believe). Pole to house is about 110'. I have 2" underground conduit running to the house and I specifically had it at least 12" away from house electrical conduit. I think it's almost 2' away underground actually. RG11 is used here for underground installs, even in conduit apparently. EDIT: And the drop has already been replaced once in the past... this happened both before the drop change and now after. So coax drop is not the problem. What I'm driving at: even if you have a nice acceptable signal at the tap, send it down 350' of RG11 and the upper frequencies are going to slide off. You'll have around a 10db loss @ 741 MHz over 300' or RG11. If the originating signal is nice enough, you can add an amplifier first thing and boost it back up. But if the originating signal (and this could even be in the CATV distribution plant) is crap that's just been cranked up - you see the problem. I see what you are saying. I recorded power levels as reported by the boxes over the day... here's what I got: 579MHz 3dBmV 591MHz 3dBmV 753MHz 7dBmV I didn't record the 741 MHz power level.. but I would think it's around where the 753MHz level is. Tech checked power signals at the house immediately before the grounding block yesterday (in a variety of MHz ranges, including 700+), and they tested at appropriate levels, and checked for errors and got none (at least at the moment it was checked). He did say it was a short run for RG11, but didn't see anything that would be causing a problem. I would ask the technician specifically what the signal levels are at the ground block. Especially in the 700-800 MHz range. Another "habit" that I am guilty of, as are many cable installers, is keeping the modem off the amp. E.G., splitting the signal to the modem first, and then sending everything through the drop amp. This is because many amplifiers do not play well with modems (yes, I know they should). Yeah, my modem and MTA are split immediately before the amp, and they've been flawless as far as I can tell. Tech and I went round and round with theories, but he said he thinks we both were overthinking this one. He said if something is fouled up in the head end... and given that all three boxes locked up simultaneously... a big "tell" if you will), then chasing down house wiring isn't going to help... but it may be needle in a haystack time at the head end.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-04 03:38:53 ·
nunya Who is John Galt? Premium,MVM join:2000-12-23 O Fallon, MO kudos:8 Reviews: ·Charter ·surpasshosting	reply to SwedishRider Being on SDV throws a huge monkeywrench into the scenario. The only thin I might recommend is using a tap instead of a splitter for the CM. SDV, IMO, is still very Beta. Yes, it's being implemented - like it or not. Being that one of your boxes "timed out", and all three boxes shit the bed at the same time, I'm more apt to believe that it's a carrier or return path issue. E.G., the STB can't let the node "know" that you are still watching that program. The channel times out, and all you see is the last image. The only portion you have control over is the amplifier in your house. Some amps that claim to be "digital ready" only pass the upstream return, they don't actually boost the upstream return signal. As far as return path is concerned it's just a passive device. Check the specs on your particular amp. Make sure it's truly bi-directional. It could very well be an LE improperly adjusted or failing between you and the node. -- If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-04 12:04:19 ·
SwedishRider Rider on the Storm Premium join:2006-01-11 Connecticut kudos:1	said by nunya: SDV, IMO, is still very Beta. Yes, it's being implemented - like it or not. Being that one of your boxes "timed out", and all three boxes shit the bed at the same time, I'm more apt to believe that it's a carrier or return path issue. E.G., the STB can't let the node "know" that you are still watching that program. The channel times out, and all you see is the last image. The STB return is on 19 MHz, and I checked the power levels on all three boxes. They are showing about 34-35 dBmV at each box. Tech thought that was pretty good... maybe a hair low, but he then went in the truck and looked at the noise on the node... and there was nothing that could have interrupted communication... it was pretty clean overall. I will say that I have had some difficulty in the past with On Demand... when I select a program, it will search and search and come up empty handed... like it's looking for something it can't find. not sure if that is directly related to my issue, but he did think that may be a piece of this issue. The only portion you have control over is the amplifier in your house. Some amps that claim to be "digital ready" only pass the upstream return, they don't actually boost the upstream return signal. As far as return path is concerned it's just a passive device. Check the specs on your particular amp. Make sure it's truly bi-directional. It has 0.0 forward gain, and 0.0 reverse gain, so it simply repeats in and out what it's sent with no loss. Tech said they set up a sling box in the headend, hoping to catch a freeze event, and then take it from there. he said that ironically, the head end was watching a SDV channel last night, and they shut off the TV but forgot to shut off the cable box. They came in this mornning... box was frozen on a picture with no audio... just like my problem. They investigated and learned that 360 minutes is the timeout... but are not sure how often the STB needs to communicate with the headend to keep the stream going. And if that is the reason... why is my return not able to communicate with the headend to keep the stream, but a quick channel change instantly fixes the problem?!?
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-04 17:47:28 ·
nunya Who is John Galt? Premium,MVM join:2000-12-23 O Fallon, MO kudos:8 Reviews: ·Charter ·surpasshosting	You might consider one of these: »www.cabletvamps.com/Products/ERA-4100.htm to use in conjunction with your existing amp. -- If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-04 18:20:44 ·
beachintech There's sand in my tool bag Premium join:2008-01-06 kudos:5	reply to SwedishRider Ingress that seems to be taking out that QAM possibly. Again, without a meter that's hard to diagnose over the web. -- Ex-Comcast Tech at the Beach. I speak for myself, not my former employer.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-12-04 19:33:27 ·

Technical > Home Improvement > CATV issue- box freezing and reboots.