# V=? Pairing



## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

Hi! We recently purchased a new Roamio. We were so excited at first but now so disappointed. We have Cox cable. Our setup stopped at 75%. It says Con=YES and Val=? . Tivo said it is a pairing issue. Cox says it is a tivo issue. After many 3way calls,five cable cards and two technicians in my home Tivo finally agreed to send a new Roamio. I'm nit sure what is causing the problem. I know Cox has no incentive to help us if it is on their end and Tivo can't do anything about the signal that cable sends out.

Have any of you had this issue? Was it always a problem with cable?

So now I find myself trying to plan for worst case scenario (or over likely scenario)..what will we do if the new Roamio does not work? We have the option if sending it back and going back to our old Humax. Or we could ditch cable and try an antenna. I'm so ticked at Cox that I'm actually tempted. The only thing holding me up is that my son watches shows on Disney. Is there a way to get Disney? Also, if we get an antenna, what about the other tv's in the house? So much to think about. Thanks for any advice.


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## Tico (Dec 10, 2002)

Cable card pairing should not stop the setup. What setup stops at 75%? Guided setup?
It would only stop you from seeing your channels after setup is done.


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## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

Tico said:


> Cable card pairing should not stop the setup. What setup stops at 75%? Guided setup?
> It would only stop you from seeing your channels after setup is done.


Sorry. My husband said the Tivo setup is complete. It shows all the channels but it says it is not authorized. He said once we put the card in it shows aquiring cable channels at 75%. Then when they look on the screen under Con it says Yes but under Val it says ?. Tivo said it will not work until we have a V instead of a ? Under validation.


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## Tico (Dec 10, 2002)

DO you have a tuning adapter?


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## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

Tico said:


> DO you have a tuning adapter?


Yes.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Try calling the cable card activation line for Cox, 877-820-8202


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## sakaike (Jan 22, 2002)

Although not directly related, I would check out the Cox info in the Tuners 5 & 6 Not Authorized thread to make sure that you have the latest cable card and firmware version for that card. That might help. If nothing else, it will eliminate one avenue of investigation and troubleshooting...


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

Have you tried taking your Tuning Adapter completely out of the equation?

I mean not having it connected to anything at all, and just trying to get the cablecard fully paired and authorized first. The TA should ALWAYS be the LAST thing set up, especially on the FIRST pairing of a cablecard. I've even had to take the TA out of the loop on re-paring a cablecard, sometimes.

What brand is it the TA?
Are you using the IN and OUT ports of the TA to get the coax to the TiVo?
What model Roamio?
Are you using MoCA networking, or is is MoCA enabled on anything?

One thing that seems to be a "must" these days with TAs is NOT using the OUT port of the TA. The often more reliable way is to use a splitter, using one output leg to go to the TA IN (sometimes a MoCA PoE filter is required on this leg), and the other output leg to go directly into the TiVo.


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## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

ThAbtO said:


> Try calling the cable card activation line for Cox, 877-820-8202


We called the cable card activation lines several times with no luck. Thank you for your reply.


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## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

sakaike said:


> Although not directly related, I would check out the Cox info in the Tuners 5 & 6 Not Authorized thread to make sure that you have the latest cable card and firmware version for that card. That might help. If nothing else, it will eliminate one avenue of investigation and troubleshooting...


Okay. We will check that. Thank you for the suggestion.


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## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

nooneuknow said:


> Have you tried taking your Tuning Adapter completely out of the equation?
> 
> I mean not having it connected to anything at all, and just trying to get the cablecard fully paired and authorized first. The TA should ALWAYS be the LAST thing set up, especially on the FIRST pairing of a cablecard. I've even had to take the TA out of the loop on re-paring a cablecard, sometimes.
> 
> ...


The last tech support person did ask us to remove the tuning adapter from the equation until after the cablecard was authorized/paired so we did that.

The tuning adapter is a motorola mtr700. My husband said yes to the in and out ports. He is not sure what you mean about MoCA networking. He said he will look that up when he has access to a computer.

He said they did try it with splitter and straight to the wall without the splitter.

We have the Basic Roamio (base model).

Thank you for your reply. We appreciate any possible solutions that could help us. Thank you.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

What's the 0x?? number following the Val: ? on the configuration screen (assuming it's a Motorola card). The actual number doesn't matter, just if it's 0x00 or something else.

*Generally Speaking - there can always be exceptions*

If it's 0x00, it has not received any pairing information, right or wrong. They may have the serial number wrong, the unit address wrong, or something is preventing the hits from making it to you (such as routing the coax through a UPS that unknowingly doesn't pass that frequency). Or they never got the pairing hit properly sent.

If it's some other number, it has received pairing information, but that information wasn't right. You're back to checking and doublechecking CardID, HostID, DataID, and other settings at their end until the cows come home...

Not that it should be your problem. But sometimes this hints in the direction of the problem. And sometimes not....

[I spent the weekend fighting a similar (but not identical) problem. Their inability to get hits to that card was the heart of the issue, so it's fresh in my mind...]


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Side thought. If they were comcast (I know they're not), you could request a Hard (or Cold) Init. They're not supposed to send them to cablecards, they only really apply to cable boxes these days (or so they say, I don't really know).

The point is, if you convince them to send one, and it reaches your cablecard, your cablecard will reset. (You'll get a "M-Card removed" message, and 30 seconds later, a "M-Card Inserted"). It's unlikely to solve your problem. But, if it does reset the card, you'll know they can address hits to that card. If it does not reset... that's more evidence there's something wrong with their ability to get hits to you...


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

kdmorse said:


> Side thought. If they were comcast (I know they're not), you could request a Hard (or Cold) Init. They're not supposed to send them to cablecards, they only really apply to cable boxes these days (or so they say, I don't really know).
> 
> The point is, if you convince them to send one, and it reaches your cablecard, your cablecard will reset. (You'll get a "M-Card removed" message, and 30 seconds later, a "M-Card Inserted"). It's unlikely to solve your problem. But, if it does reset the card, you'll know they can address hits to that card. If it does not reset... that's more evidence there's something wrong with their ability to get hits to you...


Comcast tech at my home needed to do that hard reset to my cable card that would not pair. after doing the hard reset the card paired without problems.


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## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

FIRST OF ALL: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REPLIES!!!

UPDATE: The nightmare continued until this morning. I have had 4 technicians out since the last time I updated this thread. Finally yesterday after the technician had been here for over SIX hours, he decided to check the outside lines. He said that there was some fluctuations in the line and that could be causing the problem. Outside technicians came out today. Right after they left, I called to get a representative to pair the new card that the guy put in yesterday. She did it and we still had the error messages and no channels. So once I got off the phone with her, I decided to drive over to the cable place to get a new card. Anyway, once I got home, I popped it in and before I could call to pair anything the channels started coming in. I was overjoyed. I was still missing higher channels (like HBO) but I honestly did not care at the point. I was thrilled to see channels. Anyway,I still have error messages:

CON: YES
VAL: ?
AUTH: NS (this was S briefly but I think it changed when I got on the phone with the rep to inquire about HBO).

Tivo is still saying that it is not successfully paired. Have any of you had your channels come in but still have error signals? 

I'm scared to touch the tuner or reset the TIVO because I'm concerned that I might lose the channels that I have now. I basically have all my channels but HBO. 

Also, the tivo make this clicking sound when I change channels. There was an audio under settings. I turned that off. However, I still here THREE clicks whenever I change a channel.

THANKS again for your help. All of you are great!


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## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

Spoke too soon. Woke up this morning and more than half the channels were gone. Cox Communications said they did not do a thing. They do not understand why we are missing channels. So 5th field support person headed to our house tomorrow. So sick of this. Beginning to wonder if the Roamio is worth all of the hassle............


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

I had always thought that Val=? was a sign of not being paired (it seemed to be on all my Comcast activations), but I just put one of my TiVos on Verizon FIOS this morning, and that cablecard is paired and has Val=?. It does have Auth=S.

From other reports, FIOS has an intermediate not-quite-paired stage where it can decode all encrypted channels but not receive HBO or some other Premium channels - I wonder if that's what I'm seeing (I don't have HBO).

In any case, from my experience it sounds like you should concentrate on the Auth=S setting (as you have been looking at) and not rely solely on Val=?


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## allboyz123 (Jun 12, 2014)

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I will concentrate more on getting an S under authorization instead of the ?. Thanks again.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

CrispyCritter said:


> I had always thought that Val=? was a sign of not being paired (it seemed to be on all my Comcast activations), but I just put one of my TiVos on Verizon FIOS this morning, and that cablecard is paired and has Val=?. It does have Auth=S.
> 
> From other reports, FIOS has an intermediate not-quite-paired stage where it can decode all encrypted channels but not receive HBO or some other Premium channels - I wonder if that's what I'm seeing (I don't have HBO).
> 
> In any case, from my experience it sounds like you should concentrate on the Auth=S setting (as you have been looking at) and not rely solely on Val=?


For Comcast in CT the VAL with a ? will stop you from getting any HBO type stations, and OD that I do get in CT, all other stations do come in. I have an extra cable card (an extra $1/month for me) and a Premiere that has no TiVo activation in a guest room, I could pare the card but for a guest room, why bother, and I use the card in any new TiVo I may get for testing and moving the cable card will take the pairing away.


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

CrispyCritter said:


> I had always thought that Val=? was a sign of not being paired (it seemed to be on all my Comcast activations), but I just put one of my TiVos on Verizon FIOS this morning, and that cablecard is paired and has Val=?. It does have Auth=S.
> 
> From other reports, FIOS has an intermediate not-quite-paired stage where it can decode all encrypted channels but not receive HBO or some other Premium channels - I wonder if that's what I'm seeing (I don't have HBO).
> 
> In any case, from my experience it sounds like you should concentrate on the Auth=S setting (as you have been looking at) and not rely solely on Val=?


Val=? does mean that the card is not paired. Auth=S means that it is authorized to decrypt the channels in your subscription package but without being paired it will not decrypt any copy protected channels. On FiOS that means HBO and Cinemax. On TWC that means almost everything except the local broadcast channels. So, depending on your cable provider and your package of channels, your Cablecard may or may not need to be paired. It would seem the OP is having trouble with both authentication and pairing, and perhaps with the TA as well.

I don't have a solution to the OP's issue. It almost certainly is a problem on Cox's end, but it can be nearly impossible to get them to admit it. Perhaps trying to get TiVo and Cox on a 3 way call might help?


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