RickNY
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New York
1 edit | reply to mbernste
Re: [iO] SDV/Tuning Adapter Troubleshoting Advice
Are you using the pass-through from the adapter to go to your Tivo, or are you splitting it? IIRC, the Series 3 is very sensitive to a hot signal, and from what I understand, the pass-through ends up delivering a hot signal to the box.
Try splitting your cable before the Tivo with a 2-way splitter.. Put one in the 'Cable In' on the Tivo.. The other leg should go to the 'Cable In' on the adapter. The 'Cable Out' on the adapter should be empty. See how that works out for you. Thats how I have it hooked up to my TivoHD and I've yet to encounter any issues.
Also -- have you gone to the Tuning Adapter diagnostics screen on the Tivo? That should give you a screen very similar to the Cablecard diagnostic screen -- the screens that are available resemble the same screens that are on a regular Explorer box. |
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mbernste
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| said by RickNY  :Are you using the pass-through from the adapter to go to your Tivo, or are you splitting it? Nope no pass-through, no splitters and getting excellent digital signal on the digital channels and no splitters.. The signal isn't hot (e.g. exceeding the "SMR-like" number.. It is a direct coax connection from the wall. The connection goes to the main junction in the house.
said by RickNY :Also -- have you gone to the Tuning Adapter diagnostics screen on the Tivo? As stated:
said by mbernste :Obviously I never got the "downloading channel listing" prompt illustrated on the TiVo site and nothing on the T/A diagnostics screen. The tuning adapter every so often goes through the solid light, blinking light solid light, off process (total time of the series, 30-60 seconds). When it's "off" (e.g. no lights) it is "off" for several minutes befre trying again. |
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mbernste
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| reply to RickNY
Tuning Adapter Error | 
Signal level |
I also justnoticed that last status briefly says "fatal error."
So is it a bad TA? |
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mbernste
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1 edit | reply to RickNY
Fatal error says, "time out---waiting for..." and the rest is cut off. I'm thinking the TiVo is waiting for the T/A to do something. I also swapped out the USB cable with, ironically enough, the one that came with my Cablevision provided cable modem. |
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RickNY
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New York
| reply to mbernste
I think I am misunderstanding you... If you're not using the pass-through, and not using a splitter -- where is the signal coming from that goes to the tuning adapter?
When I say pass-through -- that is the method in the tuning adapter instructions. It tells you to plug the cable from your wall into the 'cable in' on the adapter. Then use the included short length of coax to go from the 'To Tivo' output of the adapter to the 'cable in' of the Tivo. -- that method is the pass-through that I dont reccomend.
Second.. Under Tivo.. Messages & Settings.. Account & System Information.. Tuning Adapter -- do you get the menu I posted above? If the adapter is being recgonized, you should be able to choose 'Tuning Adapter Diagnostics' and get the 2nd screen that I posted.
Rick |
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mbernste
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2 edits | 
Like I said... |
I configured the tuning adapter as instructed by TiVo and Cablevision. If you want to call it "passthrough" then that's what it is. External cable line to line in on the TA. Provided coaxial patch cable from the cable line out to the cable line in on the TiVo. I do not want to get a signal degradation by using a splitter since it could adversely affect some of the channels I currently receive very well. |
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mbernste
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3 edits | reply to RickNY
said by RickNY :Try splitting your cable before the Tivo with a 2-way splitter.. Put one in the 'Cable In' on the Tivo.. The other leg should go to the 'Cable In' on the adapter. The 'Cable Out' on the adapter should be empty. See how that works out for you. Thats how I have it hooked up to my TivoHD and I've yet to encounter any issues. OK. Not to be stubborn, if I understand you correctly, I'm trying your suggestion.
This is how I have it:
1. External coax to "in" on splitter
2. From splitter coax to "in" on TA & coax from splitter to "in" on TiVo
3. Nothing from the cable out on the TA |
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mbernste
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3 edits | reply to RickNY
After configuring as stated previously, I then rebooted the TA (unplugged it, waited 10 seconds plugged it in). Green light was solid for several seconds, then blinked for 5-10 seconds then went off. Still nothing in the TA diagnostics and in the DVR diagnostics I have the same status.
The TA continues its pattern of solid, blink, off every few minutes. I also tried a soft reboot (select restart/three thumbs down) of the TiVo. I even tried a different USB cable.
One thing I am wondering, should I not have the USB plugged in to the TiVo? Maybe keep the USB unplugged, reboot the TA, wait for it to get updates (like 15-20 minutes) and then plug it in. It seems to me that the TA is in some kind of reboot loop (which I know has been widely reported). |
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RickNY
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New York
| said by mbernste :One thing I am wondering, should I not have the USB plugged in to the TiVo? Maybe keep the USB unplugged, reboot the TA, wait for it to get updates (like 15-20 minutes) and then plug it in. It seems to me that the TA is in some kind of reboot loop (which I know has been widely reported). You can give it a shot of leaving the USB unplugged.. But you said at some point, it did go to solid, but then starts blinking every few minutes.. If its not too much trouble, I would exchange the TA.. They gave you an instruction set, I am assuming (I had a sealed Cisco box when I got mine). I do recall that when first hooking it up, you were only supposed to hook up cable to the TA and power -- and then let it boot - THAT part I had to wait about 30 minutes for to complete the first time. After that, they gave you a number to call at CV, where they were supposed to activate it. Once that was done, then you were supposed to plug in the USB to the Tivo. |
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mbernste
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| Yeah, its probably a bad box. I was given a cardboard box with the TA in it and the other cmponents were sealed. I just have to decide if its worth the bother disconnecting everything, packing it all up and going to the Optimum Store to swap it out or just wait until the tech comes on the 3rd. |
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RickNY
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New York
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I know its not much consolation -- but hoping you just got a bad TA.. Mine has worked fine since I got it -- with the exception of the Tivo telling me 'A tuner adapter has been connected' any time the TA has rebooted for firmware updates or whatever. |
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mbernste
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| said by RickNY :I know its not much consolation -- but hoping you just got a bad TA.. Still hoping it's a bad TA. I kept the USB unplugged from the TA for hours today. I noticed that when the USB was out, it didn't do the reboot thing. I am unsure what significance that holds, but it is interesting nonetheless. I know the TiVo is "seeing" it since it says "initializing" when its plugged in and "not connected" when the USB is disconnected. While I do hope it's a TA issue, my mind is starting to consider the possibility is on the TiVo side, but what on the TiVo side is what I don't know. FYI, I have version 11 software on the Series 3. |
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RickNY
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New York | I cant help you with experience on the Series 3.. I have the TivoHD. And you did call the 800 number that was on the instruction sheet to have the TA activated, right? |
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mbernste
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| said by RickNY :And you did call the 800 number that was on the instruction sheet to have the TA activated, right? Yes I did, which is standard customer service. They're the ones who transferred me to a "digital specialist" who worked with me for a good 25 minutes trying to get it to work. He also mentioned to me that the box was pre-activated at the Optimum store, since I was curious about that. |
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mbernste
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Piscataway, NJ | reply to RickNY
It looks like neither tuning adapter 1 or 2 never does the initial link up to do the download, so it seems like it is a plant-side/Cablevision-side issue. |
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mbernste
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Well, after almost three hours of solid work and beign transferred to like 10 different people, he couldn't get it working. Despite all of this, the guy was EXCELLENT! Why? Despite getting flak from his boss who not only told (well, yelled at) him to go on to his next call and insisted it was the TiVo, the tech told him it isn't because the boxes did the same thing when not connected. He spoke to dispatch, and a couple of 2nd and 3rd tier people without luck. They tried sending hits to the box, rebinding the cablecards, etc. Ulitmately he gave me a case number after having a trouble ticket opened for someone in engineering or some other area within Cablevision to investigate. Factoring in the holiday, if I don't see any progress by Wednesday, I'll call up and give them the case number.
Right now I have a different TA which he verified was activated on my account. The TA is just sitting there valiantly going through the reboot process just like its predecessor did. This reboot happens regardless if the USB cable is connected or not. |
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mbernste
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I got everyone really stumped on this. Today I worked with someone from "executive support" and he couldn't get it working. Being totally baffled and me reiterating that this problem is reproducible even without the USB cable connected to the TiVo he scheduled someone to come out tomorrow morning to take another look. What this person will do that the guy on Friday didn't do is up to anyone's guess. Supposedly he will come out with a third tuning adapter since as of right now the thought is that I may have gotten two bad tuning adapters, as unlikely this may be. I know it is not the TiVo since the TA goes through its motions so quickly.
We shall see, but my confidence in Cablevision being able to resolve this is diminishing rapidly. |
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Tursiops_G
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| Maybe CV bought their TAs from SONY?
(Warning: The Following Content is rated "M" for Mature Language):
»www.theonion.com/content/video/s···piece_of
(Sorry, just couldn't resist)... 
Seriously though, I hope that CV can resolve your TA problem... 
-Tursiops_G.
--
If You're Unsure, "RTFM"... If You're SURE, "RTFM" Anyway. |
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