# TWC SW OH: Do you get TA 8-blinks every month?



## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

If you are in the TWC SW Ohio system (Dayton/Cincy region) please post here telling whether (or not) you get 8-blinks (and have to call TWC) at least once every month (if you use a Tuning Adapter).

One of the TWC National Cable Card Support desk people told me that TA's are programmed to require re-authorization every 30 days and he suspects our system isn't doing this. If this is correct everyone with a TA should be getting 8-blinks once a month.

*If *this really is what's happening it's probably worth trying to make a stink about it with higher ups at TWC.

It's conceivable that rebooting a TA might force a refresh of it's authorization, so if you DON'T get 8-blinks every month but you DO reboot your TA more often than that, please include that info in your post.


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## ontherebound (Jun 18, 2008)

Hello!

I'm in Dayton and for the last two months, possibly three, I've been getting an 8-blink error about every 30 days, now that you mention the timing. Doing a reset of the tuning adapter does NOT resolve the problem. I've had to call customer service and get a tier 3 rep down in Blue Ash for them to send both reset and provisioning (authorization from the billing system) signals to the tuning adapter for it to work again. Even doing that, it sometimes takes the TiVo HD and/or the tuning adapter to be power-cycled to get all of the SDV channels working again.

At least I'm not the only one with this problem. I had an tuning adapter firmware upgrade not complete correctly that I basically had the tier 3 reps stumped (all of them in Blue Ash, at least, that have been trained for handling CableCARD and tuning adapter troubleshooting). I agreed to have a truck roll scheduled for two days later, but when the nightly channel list update occurred (around 3am), the tuning adapter was fine from then on. So, I was able to cancel the truck roll. 

I'm glad that the new FCC mandate (issued around 3/17/10) requires MSOs to allow people with CableCARDs and broadband internet connections to get rid of their tuning adapters and handle what was the normal tuning adapter communications to happen via IP instead by "this Fall". Now, TiVo needs to update their software to do the work of the tuning adapter (which may delay implementation), but the infrastructure has to be ready on the MSO end. It was something that I never understood why we needed an external box to do this, when I already had an internet connection that could request anything from TWC (including OnDemand and PPV, which is something that will be possible supposedly by the end of 2011, according to the same FCC ruling). 

I'm on my third Cisco tuning adapter since their release here in February 2008 and they're horrible. One had to be replaced because it took one of the head end managers in Dayton to hook up a couple of terminals and talk with me (not the tech he sent because he didn't really understand CableCARDs or tuning adapters) to figure out that the tuning adapter couldn't request a channel. If it wasn't already active on the local tap in my area, I couldn't get the SDV channel. The second one just bricked itself entirely. I can't wait to get rid of it.

Let me know if you have any questions or need help in calling or e-mailing a certain group of TWC people. I'm always up for arguing with them about their total lack of knowledge personally! 

Thanks!
Jim


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## ohporter (Aug 1, 2007)

dlfl said:


> If you are in the TWC SW Ohio system (Dayton/Cincy region) please post here telling whether (or not) you get 8-blinks (and have to call TWC) at least once every month (if you use a Tuning Adapter).
> 
> One of the TWC National Cable Card Support desk people told me that TA's are programmed to require re-authorization every 30 days and he suspects our system isn't doing this. If this is correct everyone with a TA should be getting 8-blinks once a month.


FWIW, many of us on the TWC Northeast Ohio system have this problem as well. I've had to call in monthly to have the national cable card support center send a hit to my TA to reauthorize it. The last two times they said that they are eagerly awaiting a software update from Cisco to fix this issue so a monthly reauthorization hit is not required.

Conveniently this always happens when I'm on travel or on vacation.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

ohporter said:


> .......The last two times they said that they are eagerly awaiting a software update from Cisco to fix this issue so a monthly reauthorization hit is not required.
> ........


NCCS told me a month ago they were expecting an update but were very vague about what it should fix. Did they tell you it would address this specific problem? I sure hope so, since the other alternative is each TWC system has to implement an automatic procedure (a script I guess) to do the re-authorizations every month, and I have very little confidence in that ever happening in SW Ohio.

When SW OH updated the TA software from .0801 to .1001 a few months ago they apparently botched their script and it knocked out all TA's for almost a full day.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

ontherebound said:


> ................
> I'm glad that the new FCC mandate (issued around 3/17/10) requires MSOs to allow people with CableCARDs and broadband internet connections to get rid of their tuning adapters and handle what was the normal tuning adapter communications to happen via IP instead by "this Fall". Now, TiVo needs to update their software to do the work of the tuning adapter (which may delay implementation), but the infrastructure has to be ready on the MSO end. It was something that I never understood why we needed an external box to do this, when I already had an internet connection that could request anything from TWC (including OnDemand and PPV, which is something that will be possible supposedly by the end of 2011, according to the same FCC ruling).
> ...........


That FCC mandate is news to me. It sounds promising. Do you happen to have a link where we can read about it?

Unfortunately TiVo updates have been few and far between, and they are probably putting most emphasis on the new Premiere. The only hope I would see for a timely Series 3 modification would be if the software changes are easily ported from the Premiere. SDV channel assignments have to be handled on a per-node (i.e., neighborhood) basis, so I wonder if the required cable co infrastructure changes might be considerable.

EDIT: The FCC mandate you mentioned is part of the National Broadband Plan, in Recommendation 4-13:



> On an expedited basis, the FCC should adopt rules for cable operators to fix certain CableCARD issues while development of the gateway device functionality progresses. Adoption of these rules should be completed in the fall of 2010.


And this particular item:



> Ensure equal access to linear channels for retail and operator-leased CableCARD devices in cable systems with SDV by allowing retail devices to receive and transmit out-of-band communications with the cable headend over IP


Note this is just a recommendation and Fall 2010 is just the date for (rule) adoption. I doubt the implementation deadline given in the rule would be anywhere near that soon.


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## ontherebound (Jun 18, 2008)

@dlfl:

This was an update released on or about 3/17/10. Here's a link  to the information I found on on Engadget HD. I hope the link will help. The final residential gateways are not required until the end of 2012, not 2011 -- which seemed way too soon to me. Maybe this is a rehash of the current guidelines that are already in place, but it seemed like it was new and there were specific changes that had to be done by this Fall, like replacing tuning adapters for those UDCP device users with broadband connections. It seemed to read from their comments that it was more specific than the National Broadband Plan and put specific dates on goals the FCC wanted. I'm not sure if it was a ruling (or what the technical name was for it), but I have not checked the FCC website for any additional information yet, though. Since you obviously have more knowledge about the FCC, maybe you can clarify this a little even for me.

They did botch that upgrade because I remember the tier 3 rep saying they were up to three people at that time in the morning that had the same issues. Like I said, they seemed to be fixed by the next night. But, it was basically the blind leading the blind, even at tier 3 with their CableCARD "experts" in Blue Ash.

Can you give me the number for the National CableCARD Center for TWC? It would cut down on some of the arguments I get into when the local people in Kettering want to think they know more about tuning adapters than I do and that tier 3 only deals with telephone issues and I have to get a supervisor to transfer me (which adds up to 20 minutes just to get to a darn tier 3 rep). I'd appreciate it.

I hope my link helps and gives some good news the way you read it, as well. I'm hoping the infrastructure to allow tuning adapters to be done away with by this Fall will at least be in place, but it will take TiVo some time to catch up for their software to handle the work of the tuning adapters (and every region's own little infrastructure and plant issues will cause them a boatload of problems I'm guessing, too). Maybe not. I can be blissfully naive, can't I? 

Have a great day! Take care!


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

ontherebound said:


> This was an update released on or about 3/17/10. Here's a link  to the information I found on on Engadget HD. I hope the link will help.


Did you notice my edit on post #5 ? I found the original text in the National Broadband Plan....but thanks anyway!


ontherebound said:


> Can you give me the number for the National CableCARD Center for TWC? It would cut down on some of the arguments I get into when the local people in Kettering want to think they know more about tuning adapters than I do and that tier 3 only deals with telephone issues and I have to get a supervisor to transfer me (which adds up to 20 minutes just to get to a darn tier 3 rep). I'd appreciate it.


The NCCS number is 866-532-2598 but, as I guess you are aware, they DO NOT like you calling it directly. However I've found it helps to tell the local support people this number and ask them to connect you, if they are clueless (as they frequently are).


ontherebound said:


> I hope my link helps and gives some good news the way you read it, as well. I'm hoping the infrastructure to allow tuning adapters to be done away with by this Fall will at least be in place, but it will take TiVo some time to catch up for their software to handle the work of the tuning adapters (and every region's own little infrastructure and plant issues will cause them a boatload of problems I'm guessing, too). Maybe not. I can be blissfully naive, can't I?


As I hinted in my edit to Post #5, I don't see much good news here. I'm doubtful TiVo will ever implement this for the HD/Series 3 models and Fall 2010 is just a goal for getting the FCC reg in place. But I applaud any way you can be blissful!


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## dulac97 (Sep 7, 2009)

I am in Cincinnati and I have the 8 blinks every 20 - 30 days. I have had them replace my tuning adapters. That didn't help. I've had them take the Tivo's coax off of the amplifier and that didn't help. No one at TWC tech support has ever heard of a tuning adapter when I call in and most of the reps either disconnect me because they don't know how to fix my problem or they transfer my call to the HD TV or RoadRunner department. I even had one rep say that there is no way I have a Cable Card from TWC because they don't carry that product. When I told her that I have 2 cable cards from TWC and that TWC must carry them per the FCC. She put me on hold and disconnected me.

I have a TWC rep come out every 3 - 4 weeks to reset my adapters (he calls the national cable card phone # because he never knows what he is doing either.) I feel like banging my head against the wall every 3 - 4 weeks. At least they put those blue shoe covers on before they come in the house.


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## squiddohio (Dec 21, 2001)

I'm in Cincinnati, and have 2 TAs on 2 different TiVos, 1 an S3 and 1 an HD.
They both revert to 8 blinks every 30 days or so, and I have to call in for "hits." Recently the phone techs are getting better at this; last week the call only took about 20 minutes or so, but it's a major PIA. 
On one call a few months ago, the tech said that they go off line because of signals sent out generally by TW that seem to have this side effect. Since they both go off line at exactly the same time, this would make sense. What does not make sense is why such signals continue to be sent out, or why a corrective hit cannot be automatically sent out as a follow up.
Lately, I have noticed that some stations are "unavailable" and recordings are blank. If I try to record the 3 hours of Imus (FBN; ch 353), the first hour or so is generally is blank, but then the signal is acquired and the next 2 hours will record - with no intervention by me. This morning, it started to pick up the signal in hour 2, but lost it again 20 minutes later. (This is reflected on both systems, which are in different rooms, which makes me think this is a problem with the signal rather than with the TA or the TiVos.)
Also, the TA boxes will not pick up (any longer - they used to) CH WGA America (or something like that), although my S2 analog box gets the program fine on CH 74. Again, this seems to be a SDV problem or a signal problem. And MGM HD is almost never available on either TA, even though it was there all the time 2 months ago. Again, both boxes will act the same, which indicates it's not a problem with the TA, unless it's due to a design flaw. (Really - could that happen?)
From where I sit, it looks like the whole SDV system is not working very well with the TA at all. It's a small problem, as things go. 
I would be furious if this were a problem with one of the Network HD signals, or HBO, or even one of the big cable stations like USA or FX, all of which are fine and none of which, I think, is SDV.


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## Saturn (Apr 10, 2001)

I'm in SE Wisconsin and my tuning adapter goes out every 30 days. I heard from a Tier 3 rep that they've pulled Cisco in to try to figure out what's going on.


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## ikey78 (Feb 14, 2005)

I am in SW Ohio and also get the 8 blinks about once a month. I have used the direct Cable Card support number and the techs have always been very helpful in sending out the hits to fix the situation. 

It is a major nuisance and anything anyone can do to get this resolved would be appreciated.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

ikey78 said:


> I am in SW Ohio and also get the 8 blinks about once a month. I have used the direct Cable Card support number and the techs have always been very helpful in sending out the hits to fix the situation.
> 
> It is a major nuisance and anything anyone can do to get this resolved would be appreciated.


Are you calling the NCCS number directly, rather than having local support connect you? Don't they resist that?


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## ikey78 (Feb 14, 2005)

I called the direct 866 number mentioned earlier in this thread and elsewhere, not being transferred. No resistance from them any of the 3 or 4 times I have called. They go through the standard request for phone number, address and last 4 of the social. 

Always courteous and apologetic about the problem.


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## Grumock (Dec 16, 2008)

ikey78 said:


> I called the direct 866 number mentioned earlier in this thread and elsewhere, not being transferred. No resistance from them any of the 3 or 4 times I have called. They go through the standard request for phone number, address and last 4 of the social.
> 
> Always courteous and apologetic about the problem.


sounds like they have given up on the locals ever getting it together. LOL


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

I get this quite often. I haven't timed it, but I guess it could be about every 30 days. Now that I have another TA, I do know that they both stop at different times. I got one reset and the other one needed reset a week later. Some techs are actually good at it. I had one guy fix it within 5 minutes while the last time I called, it took quite a long time to get someone that knew how to fix it. The last guy I talked to actually remembered helping me with a problem about 4 months ago and was very helpful, but I had to talk to 2 other people before I got in touch with him.

Re: Ontherebound-I had one that couldn't request a channel, and I was able to get it working by using the other USB port on my Tivo.


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## bobrt6676 (Dec 31, 2007)

I also get the 8 Blinks about once a month. Sometimes I get lucky and the 1st
CSR knows what to do. But usually I have to get transferred. Time 10 min to 45 min


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

So far no one has posted they DON'T get 8-blinks every month or less. Although this would go counter to my theory, I definitely want to hear about such cases, since it's important to know whether this is really happening to everyone. (Unfortunately people not having trouble are less likely to even be on the forum.)


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

I'm on TWC SW Ohio and I get the 8 blink outage every month. I have two tuning adapters that were both recently reset on the same day, April 13th. 

I'm not sure if this has ever been covered by anyone but, you can actually find out when your tuning adapter will lose its authorization by looking at the tuning adapter diagnostic screens under Settings and Messages menu on your Tivo. 

You can get to the TA Diagnostic screens by following these menus on your Tivo:

Messages & Settings ->Settings->Remote, CableCARD, & Devices->Tuning Adapter->Tuning Adapter Diagnostics

Once you are in Diagnostics Navigation Map screen choose PowerKEY Information with the select button. Then press select twice more on NextPage. On this screen is a field called Sub Expires that shows the date and time that your tuning adapter authorization will expire. Mine currently shows 0513.123200, which means on May 13th at 12:32 PM it will lose its authorization.

Here's a little history on how I discovered this. Back in March after I had the TA refreshed by the CSR, I was paging through the TA Diagnostics I noticed the Sub Expires field had changed to 0413.1544 from what it was previously. I suspected that this was the expiration date and wrote it down and made plans to see if the thing would lose its authorization on April 13th at 3:44 PM. When April 13th came around I made sure I was watching the tuning adapter. At exactly 3:44 PM both Tuning Adapters started their 8 blink sequence.

This, of course, doesn't do squat to stop the TA from screwing up but at least this screen will let you know when to plan for your monthly call to TWC now!


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

SASouth said:


> I'm on TWC SW Ohio and I get the 8 blink outage every month. I have two tuning adapters that were both recently reset on the same day, April 13th.
> 
> I'm not sure if this has ever been covered by anyone but, you can actually find out when your tuning adapter will lose its authorization by looking at the tuning adapter diagnostic screens under Settings and Messages menu on your Tivo.
> 
> ...


Excellent info!

Another way to reach the TA Diagnostics screens is:

Messages & Settings ... Account & System Information ... Tuning Adapter ... Tuning Adapter Diagnostics

There is a PDF document on the TA Diagnostics screens that you can download **here**. Unfortunately it was written with the Set Top Box GUI in mind, so it doesn't fit the TiVo screens exactly -- but still pretty close.

On page 33 of that doc is the item you described.


> *Sub Expires *: Date and time that the subscription authorizations expire (MMDD.hhmmss)
> Notes:
>  Subscription authorizations generally expire 20 to 30 days from the previous renewal date.
>  A date less than 20 days into the future indicates a problem.


I see my sub expires May 4th, which is less than 20 days in the future.  Not sure what the logic for the 20-days-is-a-problem comment is.


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## ontherebound (Jun 18, 2008)

dlfl said:


> There is a PDF document on the TA Diagnostics screens that you can download **here**. Unfortunately it was written with the Set Top Box GUI in mind, so it doesn't fit the TiVo screens exactly -- but still pretty close.


Thanks for the number for the NCCS! Also, thanks for the Cisco Tuning Adapter Guide link. They had published a document called something like, "Field Troubleshooting the STA 1520 Tuning Adapter" back a year or more ago, but I've never been able to find it and I've contacted Cisco who then sent me to their Scientific Atlanta division who actually handles this product, but I never got a response because I'm not an MSO. At least this guide explains what all of the abbreviations and results mean (for the most part). It should be helpful.

My TA is set to expire on 4/25 at 9:20am, but that's less than 30 days than my last call to TWC to reset the provisioning last time. I can't wait to deal with either the Tier 3 group or the NCCS on an early Sunday morning. They'll all be happy to be there, I'm sure!  NOT! Just so they send an update to the authorization and I'll be happy...

Thanks again for the phone number and the link to the TA Guide, dlfl!


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## Grumock (Dec 16, 2008)

ontherebound said:


> Thanks for the number for the NCCS! Also, thanks for the Cisco Tuning Adapter Guide link. They had published a document called something like, "Field Troubleshooting the STA 1520 Tuning Adapter" back a year or more ago, but I've never been able to find it and I've contacted Cisco who then sent me to their Scientific Atlanta division who actually handles this product, but I never got a response because I'm not an MSO. At least this guide explains what all of the abbreviations and results mean (for the most part). It should be helpful.
> 
> My TA is set to expire on 4/25 at 9:20am, but that's less than 30 days than my last call to TWC to reset the provisioning last time. I can't wait to deal with either the Tier 3 group or the NCCS on an early Sunday morning. They'll all be happy to be there, I'm sure!  NOT! Just so they send an update to the authorization and I'll be happy...
> 
> Thanks again for the phone number and the link to the TA Guide, dlfl!


Why dont you try calling before it expires?


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Grumock said:


> Why dont you try calling before it expires?


Yeah, I thought of that too. Hopefully if they re-authorize it before it expires, we get by seamlessly, i.e., no blinks, no TA reboots, re-acquring channels etc.


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## Grumock (Dec 16, 2008)

dlfl said:


> Yeah, I thought of that too. Hopefully if they re-authorize it before it expires, we get by seamlessly, i.e., no blinks, no TA reboots, re-acquring channels etc.


Seems that it would make sense. Oh Wait, lol there I go trying to make sense.


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## squiddohio (Dec 21, 2001)

There is a good chance that won't work, but I guess it's worth a try. Remember, we are dealing with people who sat around a table thinking this up, and somebody said "Hey, why don't we set this thing up so it goes dead every month or so, and the customer has to call in to get it going again?"
Now, you may ask: who ever thought that was a good idea, but my guess is that this guy was the only guy in the room with any idea at all.


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## Grumock (Dec 16, 2008)

squiddohio said:


> There is a good chance that won't work, but I guess it's worth a try. Remember, we are dealing with people who sat around a table thinking this up, and somebody said "Hey, why don't we set this thing up so it goes dead every month or so, and the customer has to call in to get it going again?"
> Now, you may ask: who ever thought that was a good idea, but my guess is that this guy was the only guy in the room with any idea at all.


funny, but that's not the attitude I would use with those on that desk. They tend to be very adept with TIVO, & seem to be the only ones that help. Remember if TIVo had of been progressive maybe they could have worked on the equipment so the Tuning adapter is not needed. I was sad to see that the new s4 still needs a TA.


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## squiddohio (Dec 21, 2001)

That's not the attitude I take when on the Phone getting my monthly hits to the TA; I am very understanding and helpful, as often I seem to know as much about the TA than they do. 
In fact, when 2 technicians were at the house yesterday for a signal strength problem, I showed them the date when the TA would go dead next month, and they were also curious as to how that design ever got past the initial memo. Had these folks thought this through, they would not have the mess that now appears to be going on to as they scramble to fix this 30 day cutoff. I still cannot figure out what problem they were trying to solve by having the TAs require a monthly phone call to customer service. Don't they get enough calls as it is?


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

squiddohio said:


> ........Had these folks thought this through, they would not have the mess that now appears to be going on to as they scramble to fix this 30 day cutoff.


Are they really "scrambling" to fix this? I hope so, but do we have evidence of that?


squiddohio said:


> I still cannot figure out what problem they were trying to solve by having the TAs require a monthly phone call to customer service. Don't they get enough calls as it is?


It does make you wonder. But remember TA users (i.e., essentially TiVo users) comprise about 0.5% of their digital subscribers, which means they probably approached the whole situation as an afterthought.

*I hope other SW Ohio users will continue to post on this thread that they either are -- or are not -- getting 8 blinks monthly (or more often).*


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## drhendrix (Jan 3, 2003)

Yes, I get the 8 blinks of death about once a month. My next expiration date is 5/20 at 06:40.

I also have the same problems as SQUIDD with several channels reported as unavailable such as Speed, UHD and several others. It is somewhat intermittent, but Speed HD is rarely tunable.

SQUIDD, did you contact TWC about the unavailable channels?

Dennis
Loveland


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## squiddohio (Dec 21, 2001)

I did, and the boys from TWC showed up at the house yesterday with their tools and their testers. After nosing around and testing things, they jiggled some splitters in the basement (where there a number of splits, originally set up when cable was all analog). My dropped stations were, it seems, due to low signal strength. By making some un-splits, they boosted the signal about 4 or 5 db, and everything now seems to be working fine.
The guys didn't know much about the TA, and said that they did not, but they were very good at testing the cable and figuring out my system, and I enjoyed their visit.


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## drhendrix (Jan 3, 2003)

Thanks Squidd. It seems I can't avoid a truck roll. I'm going to try reconnecting all the cables first.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

This is an old issue but the short coax cable that comes with the tuning adapter used to be notorious for bad quality. My installers last June (July?) knew almost nothing about TiVos but they did know about this and made a new cable for me without me even suggesting it. Just something else to check on.


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## Grumock (Dec 16, 2008)

squiddohio said:


> Had these folks thought this through,


I think that is the real issue. no real thought was put into it.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Has anyone successfully avoided 8-blinks by calling in and getting their TA re-authorized before the expiration date? If so, did you have to reboot either the TA or TiVo in the process?

Also, please see the first post. *If you use a TA in the TWC SW Ohio region and haven't already responded, please post.*


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

My TA auth was scheduled to expire at 11:44 pm tonight so I decided to see if I could get it re-authorized BEFORE then.

Called NCCS directly (they didn't complain). They hit it three times -- no change in the date. They called my head-end and had them hit it -- no change.

Waited a few minutes then rebooted the TA just to see if that did anything -- it didn't.

Called local TWC support. While talking to the CSR, the call was dropped -- don't know what if anything he did, but the date didn't change.

Called back to TWC support (different CSR). While talking to her, I noticed the date had changed to 6/3/10. She said she hadn't done ANYTHING.

So it looks like my preemptive strike worked, but I don't understand what happened. I don't think rebooting the TA did it, since the date remained the same after that. Was this a delayed reaction to a hit sent by NCCS? Or by my head-end? Or the first CSR? 

The date was only updated by just over 29 days, taking the hours and minutes into account.

BREAKING NEWS:
As I was composing this post, I got a call from "Larry" at TWC, who made several very interesting comments:
1. If you call TWC SW OH with a TiVo-related problem, you should select the menu item that you are having trouble with your PHONE service (!). He says they are the group that has been trained to troubleshoot TiVo's.
(At that point I was having very skeptical thoughts.)
2. He was listening in on one of my CSR calls and he actually sent the hit to my TA because he could tell the CSR didn't know what to do!
3. THIS IS THE BIG ONE: They send reauthorization signals to TA's (and STB's) every night! One or two may be missed, but at least every few days the expiration date should be pushed out 30 days hence. If this isn't happening there is a signal problem which they can diagnose. (Note this is consistent with the comment in the TA document about a date less than 20 days out being a problem.)

He suggested that if you have the 8-blink problem, call into the phone suppport CSR's and give them a chance to troubleshoot it before reauthorizing.

Well, it's plausible anyway........I hope someone else will give this a try and report back what happens!


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## haleysj (Jan 10, 2003)

Kettering, OH area - have gotten the 8 blink problem approx every 30 days for a while now. TA replaced, no help. If I fiddle around with it (unplugging, replugging, hitting the power button), sometimes it will go into a continuous slow blink mode - not the typical 8-blink, pause sequences.

Some of the techs at the regular cable support have handled the call well - off the phone in 5 mins once I get off hold, others it is excruciating to get them to help or transfer to NCCS. Once a manager finally got on the line and told me they were transferring me to the TW NCCS, and sent me to the Tivo general support line instead.

The good techs I've asked if there was a technote or knowledgebase article I could give the uninformed techs to get me to a resolution faster - all they've said are they send 'hits to the cablecard'

I'll check my expire date when I get home. I've also gotten screen shots of all the diag screens off the Tivo in a 'working' mode to compare the next time it is in the 8-blink mode.

Steve


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

(See my post #34 for background info.)

Larry the TWC guy said that signal level problems were the primary suspect when TA's don't respond to the nightly reauothorizations, and he said the problem could either be in their system or at your house.

There are three signal levels that can be read from the TA Diagnostics screens, and which are discussed in the TA Diagnostics PDF:

1) Tuner:
(Note all signal levels are in dBmV units.)
Acceptable range: -16 to +15, Recommended range: -8 to +8

2) FDC:
Acceptable: -16 to +15, Recommended: -10 to +10

3) RDC:
Acceptable: +25 to +55, Recommended: +27 to +53

All three of these levels have always been comfortably in the "Recommended" range on my system. If there is a signal level issue in my case, it must be in their end of the system!


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## Grumock (Dec 16, 2008)

dlfl said:


> (See my post #34 for background info.)
> 
> Larry the TWC guy said that signal level problems were the primary suspect when TA's don't respond to the nightly reauothorizations, and he said the problem could either be in their system or at your house.
> 
> ...


I find those acceptable ranges laughable! LMAO


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

This morning I couldn't tune 2 of my SDV channels. Rebooting the TiVo and reacquiring the channel list from the TA didn't help. DVR Diagnostics indicated the channels were tuned just fine. I believe this means an account balancing problem.

So I tried "Larry" the TWC guy's advice -- what a fiasco.

1. First there is no way to access TWC internet phone service support via the telephone menu system. I tried every possible menu combination. I don't use TWC internet phone service but Larry said it should still be on the phone menu.
2. A CSR transferred me to Tier 3 support.
3. The Tier 3 guy said what Larry told me was a crock, and he never heard of Larry.
4. He sent all five kinds of hits on his menu, which rebooted my TA.
5. After rebooting the TiVo again, and reacquiring channels again, the two channels were still missing.
6. While I was talking to him and after verifying some other channels did tune OK, I tried the two missing channels again and they DID tune OK.
7. He read my FDC and RDC signal levels. Although they didn't agree exactly with my readings, they were well within the good range.
8. He never heard of the NCCS, but thought that would be a better place to get support than Tier 3.
9. I questioned him about what kind of troubleshooting he could do on the problem of failure to re-authorize the TA. Other than reading the signal levels he had no clue.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

I decided to contact "Larry" to discuss how his advice was "not correct". I was able to get him to call me again by going through a CSR.

1. He said the 3rd tier guy (who denied what Larry had said) was wrong and had been "instructed" (or something like that).
2. The internet phone support group he told me to contact actually is just the 3rd tier support, which was part of the confusion. 3rd tier is supposed to handle CableCARD and TA support.
3. He hadn't realized there was no "digital phone" support choice on the phone menus. Thus if you have a TiVo (i.e., CableCARD or TA) problem you call regular cable TV support and they should escalate you to 3rd tier. (My comment: if they don't, ask!)
4. He said unfortunately not all support people remember everything they have been told about TA stuff because only about 1,000 of their subscribers have them, out of 400,000 total in SW OH. I didn't think to ask him if the 400K number included analog-only subscribers. This number (0.25%) is in the ball park for national estimates however.
5. He thinks that rebooting your TA will force a re-authorization (i.e., push the expire date out further). I will be testing this soon, but I did reboot my TA this morning and the date did get pushed out a few hours. (I thought it might be because an overnight refresh actually worked.)
6. He still thinks there is some signal quality problem required to explain TA's that don't get re-authorized automatically (and thus go into 8-blinks).
7. Thus he offered to investigate further immediately if I wanted to, commenting it would probably require a truck roll.
8. I opted to sit it out for now and see what develops and told him that a lot of us are not thrilled by truck rolls where the tech doesn't know about TA's and CableCARDs. (If and when I have a truck roll for this, I will contact him again and try to ensure the right techs are sent out.)
9. I tried to get him to say something about NCCS, policy-wise but he was non-commital.

If it turns out that rebooting the TA will handle re-authorization I will be tempted to just do it that way, especially since we can see the time it will expire in the TA diagnostics. However, I'm now wondering if the need for occasional tuning retries on SDV channels could be related to a signal problem that is also causng the re-authorization failures (?).


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## Grumock (Dec 16, 2008)

dlfl said:


> I decided to contact "Larry" to discuss how his advice was "not correct". I was able to get him to call me again by going through a CSR.
> 
> 1. He said the 3rd tier guy (who denied what Larry had said) was wrong and had been "instructed" (or something like that).
> 2. The internet phone support group he told me to contact actually is just the 3rd tier support, which was part of the confusion. 3rd tier is supposed to handle CableCARD and TA support.
> ...


So what did he say about your 2 channels missing?


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Grumock said:


> So what did he say about your 2 channels missing?


Oh that!  Well he had no theory on that, and neither do I. It appeared they just decided to return -- but not as a result of anything anyone had done.  My theory was that when they were sending a scheduled overnight refresh to my TA, they also sent a signal that unauthorized those two channels. (?).

He did point out these channels (MNBCHD and CNBCHD) are not on any premium tier, i.e., EVERY digital cable subsriber is authorized to get them. Thus he couldn't see how any signal they sent out could have told my system I wasn't authorized for them. Seems to make sense, I guess.

The more you try to understand this stuff the more it feels like the Twilight Zone.  My take on the big picture is this is what you get when you try to force a complex, hard-to-diagnose, technical system on a company for the benefit of only 0.25% of its customers.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

dlfl said:


> ..........
> 5. He thinks that rebooting your TA will force a re-authorization (i.e., push the expire date out further). I will be testing this soon, but I did reboot my TA this morning and the date did get pushed out a few hours. (I thought it might be because an overnight refresh actually worked.)
> .......................
> If it turns out that rebooting the TA will handle re-authorization I will be tempted to just do it that way.............


As I suspected, rebooting your TA does NOT extend its expiration date. It's been 3 hrs since I rebooted mine and the date remains unchanged.


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## dlramsey (Feb 19, 2006)

dlfl said:


> As I suspected, rebooting your TA does NOT extend its expiration date. It's been 3 hrs since I rebooted mine and the date remains unchanged.


I hate to disagree, but there might be something to the whole reboot thing.

And not just restarting either (I tried that too, it did nothing) but pulling the plug on the TA, pulling the plug on the Tivo, resting for 30 secs or so, plugging in the TA, and plugging back in the Tivo.

I've noticed that the CA Time field now increments about every 60 seconds. Where previously it was stuck on 0428.somethingsomething, now it represents the current time.

And the Time GBAMs and App GBAMs increment about once every 15 seconds and have for the past 30 minutes or so. Before I rebooted, these numbers hadn't changed in days.

Though, in fairness, the sub expires date hasn't changed from 0520.0640 but that looks like an early morning thing based on the timestamp.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

dlramsey said:


> .........
> Though, in fairness, the sub expires date hasn't changed from 0520.0640 but that looks like an early morning thing based on the timestamp.


I think sub expires is the one that counts, however. Let us know if it updates or not.


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## Stone1555 (Dec 19, 2008)

The sub expires time is what determines your authorization date. if you do not get re-authed before that you will either get the 8 blinks or solid light but disabled.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Stone1555 said:


> The sub expires time is what determines your authorization date. if you do not get re-authed before that you will either get the 8 blinks or solid light but disabled.


Yes, as reported by SASouth in Post #18 of this thread, but thanks for the additional confirmation.

Since you seem to be pretty up on this stuff and have just joined the thread, what do you think of my TWC contact saying the lack of frequent refreshes of sub expired must indicate a signal quality problem or a bad TA? My RDC and FDC signal strengths are both quite nominal (43 and -4 dBmV) and have always been so. I see no other signs of TA malfunction unless you want to say the occasional failure to tune an SDV channel on the first try is "unusual". (TiVo doesn't think it's unusual -- they cover the manual tuning retry work-around in their support web pages.)

I suspect the problem is simply TWC failing to send the required hit.


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## Stone1555 (Dec 19, 2008)

Lol

Not true


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Stone1555 said:


> Lol
> 
> Not true


 Your post crossed my edit, so I'm not sure what you meant isn't true(?)


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## Stone1555 (Dec 19, 2008)

The information you were given is anything but flaky, signal issues would only be a problem if your adapter wasn't working at all. Since it goes from working to non-working usually after 20-30 days as depicted by the sub expires that indicates the auth is not registering with your piece of equipment. All digital equipment is on the same system (auth that is) and all need a refresh of authorization before 30 days.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Stone1555 said:


> The information you were given is anything but flaky, signal issues would only be a problem if your adapter wasn't working at all. Since it goes from working to non-working usually after 20-30 days as depicted by the sub expires that indicates the auth is not registering with your piece of equipment. All digital equipment is on the same system (auth that is) and all need a refresh of authorization before 30 days.


Yeah, he pointed out that STB's are auth'ed by the same signals as TA's (and they aren't having problems with STB's) so that's apparently why he suspects something in my TA or signal quality. Does that sound right?


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## Stone1555 (Dec 19, 2008)

nope.


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## dlramsey (Feb 19, 2006)

dlfl said:


> I think sub expires is the one that counts, however. Let us know if it updates or not.


My sub expires time is now 28 days in the future after forcing a hard reboot of my tuning adapter. (0604.133600) I'm not sure what time it updated last night, sometime between midnight and 7 am.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlramsey said:


> My sub expires time is now 28 days in the future after forcing a hard reboot of my tuning adapter. (0604.133600) I'm not sure what time it updated last night, sometime between midnight and 7 am.


I just did a hard reboot of my TA and Tivo and my sub expires remains as it was. No change.


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## dlramsey (Feb 19, 2006)

SASouth said:


> I just did a hard reboot of my TA and Tivo and my sub expires remains as it was. No change.


It didn't happen right away. I rebooted at about 6pm yesterday evening. The first thing I noticed was that Time and App GBAMs were incrementing upwards about once every 15 seconds. Then I noticed that the CA time field matched the current time and incremented about every 60 seconds, but before the hard reboot it hadn't updated since 0428.somethingsomething.

And then this morning, my TA must have processed whatever signal gets sent because my sub expires date went from 0520 to 0604.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlramsey said:


> It didn't happen right away.  I rebooted at about 6pm yesterday evening. The first thing I noticed was that Time and App GBAMs were incrementing upwards about once every 15 seconds. Then I noticed that the CA time field matched the current time and incremented about every 60 seconds, but before the hard reboot it hadn't updated since 0428.somethingsomething.
> 
> And then this morning, my TA must have processed whatever signal gets sent because my sub expires date went from 0520 to 0604.


I'll keep my eye on it and report back. Hopefully, mine will do the same.

If my TA/Tivos can duplicate your results it will be a somewhat acceptable workaround if it lets me avoid that monthly call to TWC!


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

As reported in my post #42 I tried a (hard) reboot of my TA on the morning of 5/6. I periodically checked my Sub Expires date through late yesterday (5/7) and it had not changed. However this morning it had pushed out one day to 6/4/10. If this change is related to my reboot, it sure is a "loose" relationship, having occured at least 36 hrs after the reboot. (?) It seems more consistent with an overnight "hit" by TWC actually succeeding.

BTW, I checked the TA boot time just to verify it hadn't rebooted itself since my manual reboot. Although I have it on a UPS, there have been electrical storms.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> As reported in my post #42 I tried a (hard) reboot of my TA on the morning of 5/6.


Did you reboot the TA and the Tivo at the same time?


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## dlramsey (Feb 19, 2006)

dlfl said:


> As reported in my post #42 I tried a (hard) reboot of my TA on the morning of 5/6. I periodically checked my Sub Expires date through late yesterday (5/7) and it had not changed. However this morning it had pushed out one day to 6/4/10. If this change is related to my reboot, it sure is a "loose" relationship, having occured at least 36 hrs after the reboot. (?) It seems more consistent with an overnight "hit" by TWC actually succeeding.


I'm just guessing here, but it sounds like your expiration date was already current when you did your reboot, so there really wasn't anything to update since your sub expires date was already 28 days out.

Another thing I noticed after forcing a hard reboot--I had a whole page or two on the diagnostic screens that looked like debugger/error code. Those messages are gone completely. I'm thinking maybe there's some error in just the program on the TA handling the expiration date causing execution to halt which is resolved on reboot--because my channel map stayed current and I was able to decode SDV channels just fine throughout.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

SASouth said:


> Did you reboot the TA and the Tivo at the same time?


I'm not sure, but don't think so. When I get 8-blinks and have to call TWC, I always end up rebooting both boxes, in order for the TiVo to reacquire channels but this was different.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

dlramsey said:


> I'm just guessing here, but it sounds like your expiration date was already current when you did your reboot, so there really wasn't anything to update since your sub expires date was already 28 days out.
> ...........


Could be. Another week should tell the story. I'll wait five days or so and reboot again, assuming it doesn't update on its own.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

SASouth said:


> I'll keep my eye on it and report back. Hopefully, mine will do the same.
> 
> If my TA/Tivos can duplicate your results it will be a somewhat acceptable workaround if it lets me avoid that monthly call to TWC!


No change in Sub Expires in 48 hours after hard rebooting the TA and the Tivo. It's still set at 0513.123200.


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## dlramsey (Feb 19, 2006)

SASouth said:


> No change in Sub Expires in 48 hours after hard rebooting the TA and the Tivo. It's still set at 0513.123200.


Interesting, for what it's worth, mine hasn't updated in the past two days either. I've been checking daily to see if I can figure out if there's something that would be an easy flag to indicate it's time to reboot.

Do your GBAM counters increment if you refresh after 15-30 seconds?
What's your CA time field? is it current or is it a past date/time?

For comparison, my GBAM counters currently are incrementing, but before my forced reboot they were not; also the CA time field before my reboot was stuck on 0428.something but after the reboot is now more/less the current time.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlramsey said:


> Do your GBAM counters increment if you refresh after 15-30 seconds?
> What's your CA time field? is it current or is it a past date/time?


The GBAM counters and the CA Time field are incrementing on mine. The CA Time field is current.


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## dlramsey (Feb 19, 2006)

SASouth said:


> The GBAM counters and the CA Time field are incrementing on mine. The CA Time field is current.


Hmmm... I haven't seen my sub expires time increase in the last two days either so maybe you haven't missed anything, it might not actually be a daily process.

I'll continue to watch mine daily and post something when (if?) I see my sub expires date increment.


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## filmont (Jun 29, 2008)

Lots of good info posted here!

I get the 8-blink issue _maybe_every two months, but it hasn't been that bad of an issue. If I can't get it to "resync" by various forms of rebooting on my own, I call TWC. I've only had one tech that was able to answer any question I through at him, that was great. Usually I have to explain the SDV technology and how it benefits the cable industry plus the CC tech to every CSR I speak with, which is infuriating. But, luckily, I don't have to speak with tech support all that often.

My setup:
1 Series 3
1 TiVo HD
Both have TA's
There is a 4 way splitter before them and I think a 2 way somewhere else (apartment living sucks, can't know what's running in the walls) I know the building is wired with RG59 unfortunately.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

I'm still getting this problem roughly once a month or so. I never checked the dates before this thread so when this thread was started I checked and my subs were set to expire on 5/20 & 5/29 which sounded about right. I know that one went out a week before the other one last month. I didn't reboot or change anything, and today, I saw that the expirations were 5/20 (no change) and 6/5 (previously 5/29 and it hasn't been rebooted since 4/20). I suppose it could be a signal issue, but the one that updated has a splitter before it while the other one does not. Tuner -4, FDC -10, & RDC 43 on the one that updated. Tuner -2, FDC -8 & RDC 35 on the one that did not update. Also, I've never had trouble receiving hits sent to the boxes when calls are made to have them reset. It seems that if it was a signal issue making it fail 28/28 tries that these would occasionally fail as well.

I tried rebooting the non-updated one today, and I'll keep an eye on it to see if it updates. If it doesn't, I might try switching it out with the TA in the other room to see if the signal strength is making a difference or if the problem follows the box.


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## filmont (Jun 29, 2008)

So of course after I post that I rarely have issues with my TA's, what do I find when I get home? 2 blinking TA's blinking in unison!!


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## haleysj (Jan 10, 2003)

My expire date on the TA PowerKey screens is 06/01 8:48 AM, and hasn't changed for the past week. Rebooted a few days ago, no change.

I was looking through the CableCard diagnostics, and it shows a SubExpireTime of 6/1 12:48 GMT - which translates into the same time as the TA expire time.

Could this all be a cable card problem instead of a Tuning Adapter problem? 

Next time it goes to 8 blinks, I'll check the cablecard's subexpiretime before and after I call TWC for the hits.

Steve


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

Both of my Cablecards in my Series 3 say 6/5 and the TA is set to expire 5/20. My Tivo HD with a TA set to expire 6/5 has the Cablecard set to expire 5/29.

I don't see a correlation there, but I'll keep checking them. I've never had to call and have my Cablecards reset in the 4 years or so that I've had them (nor do I think they send any hits to my Cablecards when I call about the TA). They have been reset/swapped out for other issues but never did they just need reauthorized like the TA needs.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

filmont said:


> So of course after I post that I rarely have issues with my TA's, what do I find when I get home? 2 blinking TA's blinking in unison!!


LOL ! Sorry about that. Just for the information of other readers, I know you are in the Dayton Ohio area based on your post in another thread. Keep us posted on how you get your blinks fixed.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

All 3 of my Cablecards and 1 of my TA have updated to 6/11 as of this am. 1 TA (the one that I rebooted) still says 5/20 so it doesn't seem that rebooting helps in my situation.

Edit: I think it would be an odd signal strength problem considering that the CableCards updated and the TA did not. The cable runs through the TA to the Tivo/CableCards.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

realityboy said:


> All 3 of my Cablecards and 1 of my TA have updated to 6/11 as of this am. 1 TA (the one that I rebooted) still says 5/20 so it doesn't seem that rebooting helps in my situation.
> 
> Edit: I think it would be an odd signal strength problem considering that the CableCards updated and the TA did not. The cable runs through the TA to the Tivo/CableCards.


What are you reading to get CableCARD update times?


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

In the Cablecard Menu there is SubExpireTime. On the SA CableCard CA Screen, choose More CA Details.

I don't know if its useful data or not, but I thought I would look at it since haleysj mentioned it above.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

realityboy said:


> In the Cablecard Menu there is SubExpireTime. On the SA CableCard CA Screen, choose More CA Details.
> 
> I don't know if its useful data or not, but I thought I would look at it since haleysj mentioned it above.


hmmm... that must be for m-cards. I have s-cards and there is no CA Screen. There is a CP screen but no choice for more details, and nothing in any of the CC screens for SubExpireTime. (??)


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

I have all m-cards even though 2 of them are in a S3. I remember when I had s-cards that there were fewer menu screens. With the m-cards, "SA CableCard CA Screen" is the one at the top of the list, and it shows Conditional Access Details. I have the CP Info screen as well. With M-cards the list is:

SA CableCard CA Screen
SA CableCARD/Host ID Screen
SA CableCARD IP Service
SA CableCARD DAVIC Info
SA CableCARD CP Info
SA CableCARD Diag Screen
SA CableCARD ASD Info
SA CableCARD DSG Info


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

realityboy said:


> I have all m-cards even though 2 of them are in a S3. I remember when I had s-cards that there were fewer menu screens. With the m-cards, "SA CableCard CA Screen" is the one at the top of the list, and it shows Conditional Access Details. I have the CP Info screen as well. With M-cards the list is:
> 
> SA CableCard CA Screen
> SA CableCARD/Host ID Screen
> ...


Yeah, good ole TWC -- they insisted they only had s-cards last July, and again in August. I strongly suspected, and quickly confirmed, that was a crock! I decided not to fix what aint broke just to save $2.54/mo.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

I just bought a refurb Tivo HD about 3 months ago, and they brought out an M-card then as well.


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## filmont (Jun 29, 2008)

Every time I ask about M cards, they say that they are getting 2way cards soon. That's great and all, but completely useless for us! 

Anyway, to get things fixed here's what I tried and what worked:
To go from the 8 blinks to a constant blink, I unplugged everything and gave it a few minutes. On one I left the USB cable unplugged and on the other I left it plugged in. Then I powered up the TA and then the Tivo.
Then today, I called TWC and explained what I did and they sent out the hits. They then started asking me to reboot things but since everything was up and running, I didn't do it. That was all that was needed.

I did ask about the "subscription expiration" and the tech allegedly asked tier 3 about it. He was told that there isn't an expiration on the units and that there should be no reason for one to exist. So, to me, this sounds like either no one knows anything or they don't want to tell the end user what's going on.


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## Vesper (Dec 19, 2001)

Having this same issue with both of my TA's in Southeastern Wisconsin. My 2 TAs seem to die every 30 days, but they are roughly a half month out of phase with each other. This means I'm calling TW almost every 2 weeks. I always ask to get transferred to Tier 3 support, and it only takes a few minutes of them sending hits and rebooting the TA to fix it. This last time, we had to go through the process twice - the TA ended up in a really weird state where it had a solid light, but it wouldn't successfully send SDV request signals. It just sat on the "press select to watch this channel" message.

My Tier 3 reps claim that this is a Cisco firmware issue that they are waiting on a fix for.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

SASouth said:


> No change in Sub Expires in 48 hours after hard rebooting the TA and the Tivo. It's still set at 0513.123200.


As I expected, when I got home yesterday I had the 8 blink problem on both of my TAs. The hypothesis that a manual reboot of both the Tivo and the TA appears to be, at least for me, invalid. 

Fortunately, I was able to get it fixed for another month in record time with TWC. It took about 10 minutes this time with a regular CS rep. She really didn't know much about TAs but she was very willing to listen to what I had to say and then to try my suggestions.

I've learned a couple of things that seems to make the process of getting the 8 blink problem fixed a little easier. Hopefully, these will be of value to you all. The most important part is probably which CS rep you get when you call. Unfortunately we can't control that.

One of the things I've learned is that it really helps to know that the right hit that they need to send is called a refresh hit on their screen. (I got that bit of info from the last CS rep I worked with.) I was told that they have about four or five different types of hits that they can send. The refresh hit is the only one that seems to work consistently.

If you have more than one TA, cable card, or STB another thing that helps the rep is to be able to give them the MAC address of the TA. They usually can find the TA much quicker if they have it.

One last thing. I've also since discovered if the right hit gets sent, I don't have to physically reboot the Tivo or the TA. After the TA gets the hit and completes its initialization all you need to do is press the power button on the front of the unit and you're back in business.

At least those are my experiences... Your mileage may vary, as they say.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

SASouth said:


> .............
> One last thing. I've also since discovered if the right hit gets sent, I don't have to physically reboot the Tivo or the TA. After the TA gets the hit and completes its initialization all you need to do is press the power button on the front of the unit and you're back in business.
> ..............


Great info, thanks!

So what does the TA do if it gets just the right ("refresh") hit? Does it reboot, or stop blinking or what? How do you know it got it? In other words, what does it do during the "initialization" you mention? How do you know when to push the power button?


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> Great info, thanks!
> 
> So what does the TA do if it gets just the right ("refresh") hit? Does it reboot, or stop blinking or what? How do you know it got it? In other words, what does it do during the "initialization" you mention? How do you know when to push the power button?


Bear in mind that I'm telling you this from memory. I may be leaving out a detail.

Basically the refresh hit causes the TA to do a soft reboot. The light will briefly stop blinking, and the TA Diagnostics screens will say that there are no diagnostics available.

Next, while it's initializing the lights will begin blinking again with a different sequence. The TA Diagnostic status summary screen will say that the status is "Initializing."

When it is finished initializing your Tivo should pop up a screen telling you that it found a Tuning Adapter. The status summary screen on the TA will say the status is "Ready." Once it goes to "Ready", you can check the Sub Expires screen to see if the date has changed. If it hasn't your TA will probably need another refresh hit.

At this point the light on the TA should be off. That's when you hit the power button on the TA. If the hit was successful, then the light will come on and stay solid.

The Tivo will need a minute or so to find all of the channels but that shouldn't take long at all. After that, it should be good to go with no hard reboot of either the Tivo or the TA.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

So this involves a reboot of the TA, about as extensive as it can get, other than also having to reboot your TiVo. (Usually after my TA reboots, either manually or by a hit, I have to reboot my TiVo also to get it to do the "Acquiring Channels" thing. This is even though the TiVo knows that the TA has been reconnected or rebooted.)

Presumably the scheduled TWC signals that update Sub Expire (when they work) don't involve all this. (??) Or maybe the TA is rebooting in the middle of the night and it's transparent to the user. (?). One could tell by monitoring the boot timestamp in the TA diagnostics. (If one of these scheduled refreshes ever works for me, I will check. )


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## jmaditto (Jul 29, 2007)

Im in Columbia SC but reading this thread sounds like what I have experienced and have dealt with this over the last 4 months, I feel now I finally have resolution. When I type resolution, I mean I know exactly what to tell the CSR to do so get my TAs reauthorized. Here are my thoughts.

First, lets level set just to make sure we are having the same issue. I see my TA in an 8 blink cycle and no SDV channels are tunable. Second, I go into the TA Diag and at the top of page 1 of the Navigation Map and select Status Summary. In there I see INITIALIZED and Ready. I go back to the main page 1. Have to go all the way to the bottom of page 1 arrowing down through all the menu items until reaching Next Page and select it and then select Tuning Resolver at the top. In there I see Authorized = Disabled. When working properly it shows as yes and OpStatus=Ready. Anyway, once I verify Im Disabled Im ready to call TWC CSR.

Here is exactly what I do. After explaining this is a monthly call and I have written down what they need to do, I say I need a Balancing Signal or Addressable Hit or 07 Screen hit please. They usually ask if I worked for TWC at this point. The reason I give all three is b/c it is apparently it is called by different names. 07 Screen hit is b/c they go to screen 7 and then enter to send the balancing signal. This is sent to my account and not a specific device. Almost immediately my TA will stop blinking and then reboot. I then go and chk the status as I described above. Patience is a virtue as sometimes it takes 15mins before in the Tuning Resolver I see Authoized=yes and OpStatus=Ready. Now, if I don't see my TA react when they send this signal, I know it is locked up. In that case I have them send a hit signal to each TA to unlock it and then send the balancing signal again. Problem is resolved and I'm all authorized again. Some of this came from the NCCS hotline guys.

Anyway, maybe this helps maybe not....it works for me. Good luck.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> So this involves a reboot of the TA, about as extensive as it can get, other than also having to reboot your TiVo.


My point was that I did not have to physically power down and restart anything. The simple act of them sending the refresh hit causes the TA to restart. The last two times I went through this I did not have to reboot the Tivo.

I'm only recounting my experiences from yesterday here and what I think I've learned. Your experience may represent something entirely different.


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## jmaditto (Jul 29, 2007)

SASouth said:


> My point was that I did not have to physically power down and restart anything. The simple act of them sending the refresh hit causes the TA to restart. The last two times I went through this I did not have to reboot the Tivo.
> 
> I'm only recounting my experiences from yesterday here and what I think I've learned. Your experience may represent something entirely different.


SASouth - I'm seeing the same. The hit you are referring to is the balancing signal I'm referring to in my post above. It just cycles my TA.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

SASouth said:


> My point was that I did not have to physically power down and restart anything. The simple act of them sending the refresh hit causes the TA to restart........


That's a good point, especially if your TA is hard to access. For ten months now when I've called local or NCCS support for 8-blinks, the first thing they've asked me to do is power-cycle the TA. When you last called in did they try to get you to do that?


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> That's a good point, especially if your TA is hard to access. For ten months now when I've called local or NCCS support for 8-blinks, the first thing they've asked me to do is power-cycle the TA. When you last called in did they try to get you to do that?


I've never had the opportunity to talk to the NCCS. I guess that the good news there is that I've always been able to work with local support to get it resolved.

I've rarely been asked to power cycle the TA. That's not to say that I haven't tried it myself a few times here and there. It never has helped. The only thing that I've seen work is the hit.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

SASouth said:


> I've never had the opportunity to talk to the NCCS. I guess that the good news there is that I've always been able to work with local support to get it resolved.


You've been lucky there! On several occasions, local support had no suggestions other than a truck roll. NCCS saved the day in those cases.


SASouth said:


> I've rarely been asked to power cycle the TA. That's not to say that I haven't tried it myself a few times here and there. It never has helped. The only thing that I've seen work is the hit.


Our experiences agree in that I've never seen a reboot help either.


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## squiddohio (Dec 21, 2001)

On just about any call, the first suggestion is almost always to reboot whatever it is that you are calling about. 
And my answer is just as invariably "I just did that."


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

squiddohio said:


> On just about any call, the first suggestion is almost always to reboot whatever it is that you are calling about.
> And my answer is just as invariably "I just did that."


Me too, because usually I just did it. In your case is it true or just a way to avoid doing something useless?


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## squiddohio (Dec 21, 2001)

I always really do it before the call for the same reason it's the first thing suggested: it often solves the problem.
Not this one we are discussing, but many.


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## dlramsey (Feb 19, 2006)

dlramsey said:


> Hmmm... I haven't seen my sub expires time increase in the last two days either so maybe you haven't missed anything, it might not actually be a daily process.
> 
> I'll continue to watch mine daily and post something when (if?) I see my sub expires date increment.


So, after watching daily for a week, my sub expires date incremented this morning from 0604.133600 to 0613.192800. Looks like a weekly, not a daily process. Anybody else see a change overnight?


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

dlramsey said:


> So, after watching daily for a week, my sub expires date incremented this morning from 0604.133600 to 0613.192800. Looks like a weekly, not a daily process. Anybody else see a change overnight?


Yes! But strangely not as far out. Mine only went to 0611.161600. It had been 0604.050400, very close to your previous date.

My TA last boot time did NOT update (still 5/6/10) so that answers the question I had as to whether these Sub Expires update signals actually cause a soft reboot (they don't). Thus I wonder if there shouldn't be a signal the support people can send that acts the same way (not requiring a soft-reboot of the TA). Perhaps after the sub expires (8-blinks) a reboot is needed.


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## dlramsey (Feb 19, 2006)

dlfl said:


> Yes! But strangely not as far out. Mine only went to 0611.161600. It had been 0604.050400, very close to your previous date.


Weird that the dates were different. Maybe a difference between the systems in Cincinnati and 'near Dayton, Ohio', although, I can't think of a good reason for them to be different.

I'm going to keep watching for another week or two to see if I can document what changes when this thing hangs and fails to update.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

Last week, I had one that was set to expire 5/20 & one set to expire 6/11. The 6/11 seemed to be updating periodically (not daily) so I switched my TAs and now they both say 6/11. Oddly enough, the room where I know that the TAs are receiving an update signal has a really low signal strength compared to the other room.

Also i was told by the last person that I called that he sent an "initialization hit," and that is what worked for me. If my hits go smoothly, I do not have to restart anything either. The TA will blink for a bit and then turn itself off. I just have to turn it back on. I'm pretty sure I'm not getting a balancing hit if that is for everything since only 1 TA seems to receive the hit, and I have to tell them the number off of it so they know which one to send hits to.


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## kennedy (Aug 16, 2006)

I had that exact same expiration time (0604.1336). Ill check tonight to see if mine has incremented.


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## gamo62 (Oct 12, 2002)

If Cincinnati Bell's FiOpitic is an option where you live, I would RUN, and not walk to get it! I've had it since October of 2009, and love it! No tuning adapters, no copy protection on standard HD channels. TWC really blows!


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Got another Sub Expires update last night, from 6/11 to 6/19. This is the second update that occurred after a 7 or 8 day interval. Perhaps as a result of my calls to TWC they have corrected my entry on a list their update script uses -- or maybe it's just luck. 

I have to wonder if this 8-blink problem has really been happening to most or all SW OH TiVo/TWC subscribers. Only about 10 "victims" have responded in this thread.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> Got another Sub Expires update last night, from 6/11 to 6/19. This is the second update that occurred after a 7 or 8 day interval. Perhaps as a result of my calls to TWC they have corrected my entry on a list their update script uses -- or maybe it's just luck.
> 
> I have to wonder if this 8-blink problem has really been happening to most or all SW OH TiVo/TWC subscribers. Only about 10 "victims" have responded in this thread.


I just checked my two TAs and they changed from 6/12 to 6/19 as well. This is the first time that has EVER happened for me without a CS rep manually sending a hit.

Maybe someone has finally figured out the fix for the problem. We can only hope.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

Both of mine have changed to 6/19 as well.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

This afternoon at 2:13 pm my TA rebooted itself, or TWC did it. After it completed and my TiVo reaquired channels, I found the boot time was updated to the current time and my Sub Expires time had moved out 4 days to 0623.095200. I checked the TA firmware version and it's still .1001, so it wasn't a software update.  The previous two times TWC updated my Sub Expires date, it DID NOT reboot the TA (I checked the boot time).

I've never had a problem of spontaneous TA reboots before, and since the Sub Expires time updated, I strongly suspect TWC did this. (Who knows why.)
It's a nuisance because it interrupts what you're watching to put up the "A Tuning Adapter is Connected to your TiVo" message (twice), then two minutes of watching the rotating wheel.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> This afternoon at 2:13 pm my TA rebooted itself, or TWC did it. After it completed and my TiVo reaquired channels, I found the boot time was updated to the current time and my Sub Expires time had moved out 4 days to 0623.095200.


I checked both of mine and the Sub Expires on both is now updated to 0623.095200 as well. The difference for me is that looks like my TAs did not reboot. My last boot date shows as 5/13 which is when I last made my monthly call to TWC.


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

One of mine changed to 0623.095200. Neither one rebooted though.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

No rhyme or reason to all this! (But why am I surprised?  )


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

I view all of this as a positive! Two Sub Expires updates within a few days of each other proves to me that what happened over the weekend wasn't a fluke.

I hope it keeps up. (Without the reboots, that is... )


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

SASouth said:


> I view all of this as a positive! Two Sub Expires updates within a few days of each other proves to me that what happened over the weekend wasn't a fluke.
> 
> I hope it keeps up. (Without the reboots, that is... )


I felt a lot more positive about it until the reboot.  But really the arbitrary nature (one user gets only one of two TA's updated, another gets both, another gets a reboot plus an unneeded update) plus, as always, not knowing what is behind all of this, is disappointing. Plus knowing there is no one who can (or will) authoritatively give you the full story. But enough of that -- I'll join you in feeling positive, since things are generally better than they were overall.  (In other words, I guess a TA reboot in the middle of the day is better than having to call TWC for 8-blinks!)


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> I felt a lot more positive about it until the reboot.  But really the arbitrary nature (one user gets only one of two TA's updated, another gets both, another gets a reboot plus an unneeded update) plus, as always, not knowing what is behind all of this, is disappointing. Plus knowing there is no one who can (or will) authoritatively give you the full story. But enough of that -- I'll join you in feeling positive, since things are generally better than they were overall.  (In other words, I guess a TA reboot in the middle of the day is better than having to call TWC for 8-blinks!)


I didn't say it was the ideal solution, but it _*is*_ a positive step. As you well know, things are rarely perfect with TWC...  We probably will never know the full story.

When it comes to TWC, I've learned to take what I can get when I can get it.


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## ikey78 (Feb 14, 2005)

I have 2 TA's in SW Ohio.

Was getting the 8 blinks in the middle of the month e.g in mid March and April.

In first week of May when I started checking exp dates, both were set to expire on 5/27.

On 5/21, one of the TA's changed to 6/18, the other stayed at 5/27.

Yesterday, both changed to 6/23 and both rebooted.

This is much better than spending 20 minutes on the phone getting the boxes reset because of 8 blinks.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Another Sub Expires update just one or two days after a reboot/update, now at 0624.112800 -- no reboot this time. Don't know whether it occurred last night or the night before, because I didn't check it yesterday.


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## jmaditto (Jul 29, 2007)

My 8 blink cycle worked liked clockwork yesterday. My expiration was 5/25 1440 and sure enough when I got home, 8 blinks on both. Called TWC and then ended up getting transferred to the CableCard Hotline. He was very nice and knew exactly what was going on and said he didn't mind one bit their # was posted here and some of us are calling. He also stated they knew about the issue and they are working on a auto renewal process. No indication on timeframe. Anyway, this is what we did in order.

*Step 1* - Balancing Hit (O7 Screen and hit enter)
Still had issue

*Step 2 *- sent hit to each TA. I think it is a "reboot" hit. He said this is what we send to TA's that are "bricked"
I was solid green and the TA got its new date but still couldn't tune channels&#8230;lots of them . Got a message about no cable signal on the TiVo.

*Step 3* - Powered off each TA
Success.

This is the first time I had to go through all 3 steps as usually #1 takes care of it. He stated from some reason he has to do #3 more often now. No clue why. My next opportunity is June 24.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

jmaditto said:


> My 8 blink cycle worked liked clockwork yesterday. My expiration was 5/25 1440 and sure enough when I got home, 8 blinks on both. Called TWC and then ended up getting transferred to the CableCard Hotline. He was very nice and knew exactly what was going on and said he didnt mind one bit their # was posted here and some of us are calling. He also stated they knew about the issue and they are working on a auto renewal process. No indication on timeframe. Anyway, this is what we did in order.
> 
> *Step 1* - Balancing Hit (O7 Screen and hit enter)
> Still had issue
> ...


What kind of hit was sent in Step 2? We have yet to see a set of steps that will work every time for every TA.

The NCCS has been saying things like that for months now. Things seem to be getting better (in SW Ohio at least) but is that what they're talking about?


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## Grumock (Dec 16, 2008)

dlfl said:


> What kind of hit was sent in Step 2? We have yet to see a set of steps that will work every time for every TA.
> 
> The NCCS has been saying things like that for months now. Things seem to be getting better (in SW Ohio at least) but is that what they're talking about?


I am wondering if step #2 was the restaging hit sent from the "DNCS"


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## jmaditto (Jul 29, 2007)

dlfl said:


> What kind of hit was sent in Step 2? We have yet to see a set of steps that will work every time for every TA.
> 
> The NCCS has been saying things like that for months now. Things seem to be getting better (in SW Ohio at least) but is that what they're talking about?


Yea, nothing new on we are working on it for sure. As for the steps, although I may not need to use all 3 every time, it is the same 3 steps every month for me. Early on I would only do step 1, then my TA was bricked (couple of months ago) and we had to do step 2 and then yesterday was the first time I had to actually do step 3.

Pain in arse! At least I know exactly what to say and can help direct them away from a "truck roll" now. :up:


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## jmaditto (Jul 29, 2007)

Grumock said:


> I am wondering if step #2 was the restaging hit sent from the "DNCS"


The person on the phone said they call the headend sometimes to restage but that was not what he did for me.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> Another Sub Expires update just one or two days after a reboot/update, now at 0624.112800 -- no reboot this time. Don't know whether it occurred last night or the night before, because I didn't check it yesterday.


Just checked mine. No change for me, still at 0623.095200 on both. 

Why am I not surprised...

Edit: Whoops! I just checked again at 7:00 PM and Sub Expires has updated to 0625.130400 on both. It doesn't appear to be any set schedule as to when these things update!


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

I still have one for 6/23 and one for 6/19. No changes since Monday, but as long as they are updating, I'm happy. I haven't actually had to call since mid-April.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

SASouth said:


> ......... It doesn't appear to be any set schedule as to when these things update!


 Now that is a definite understatement! There doesn't seem to be anything definite, or uniform for all users, about TA's on our system.

I picture a hacker at TWC playing with scripts -- just be glad the scripts don't control missile launches!


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

dlfl said:


> Another Sub Expires update just one or two days after a reboot/update, now at 0624.112800 -- no reboot this time. Don't know whether it occurred last night or the night before, because I didn't check it yesterday.


Another update without reboot last night, now at 0705.032800. TWC seems to have this fixed, for me at least.


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> Another update without reboot last night, now at 0705.032800. TWC seems to have this fixed, for me at least.


Mine updated last night as well. Mine is at 0703.001600


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

The TA Diagnostics Screen document, as quoted in my post #19, states that a sub expires date less than 20 days in the future indicates a problem. I just realized that most of my "painless" updates (automatic with no reboot) have occurred exactly when the date is 20 days in the future. Maybe they have built that limit into their scripts.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Another sub expires update early this morning, from 0705022800 to 0712144000. My confidence is building! :up:


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> Another sub expires update early this morning, from 0705022800 to 0712144000. My confidence is building! :up:


I got a sub expires update too. It's now at 0714.172800.

Are we ready to declare victory?


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## jmaditto (Jul 29, 2007)

Mine just "renewed" on its own this week. I was away and knew I was to expire on 6/24 and expected to find my TA's in the dreaded 8 blink sequence when much to my surprise they were locked in solid. Everything tuned so I checked the date and now it show 7/23. Guess TWC fixed something on their end. :up:


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

My Sub Expires date has been updating itself nicely, currently at 0804.xxxxxx.
However at 7:05 pm today while watching Netflix, the "A Tuning Adapter has connected to your TiVo" message screen popped up. Not only did it interrupt my Netflix but all SDV channels were gone, I lost a recording in progress on an SDV channel, and the TA light was blinking (continuously I think but didn't check it carefully). I went into TA Diagnostics and saw the boot time had updated to the present time but the Sub Expires time had not changed, nor had the TA firmware version changed. (Thus what possible purpose could there have been for this reboot?)

I was just about to cycle the USB cable in hopes of triggering "acquiring channels" to regain the SDV channels, when the same message screen popped up again and after I continued all was OK. Very strange.

This happened previously on May 24th in the wee hours of the morning, so I wasn't there to observe it -- just noticed the updated reboot time/date the next day.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Has anyone else in SW Ohio been experiencing 2 to 4 SDV channels missing? This has happened twice in the last week for me. Multiple reboots of TiVo and TA and phone calls to TWC, including NCCS in the second case, did not bring them back. Then maybe an hour or two later they just reappeared. In both cases the same two channels were involved: 1354 (MNBCHD) and 1355 (CNBCHD).

The 8-blink (Sub expires) problem seems to be gone, but this missing channel thing is an even bigger time waster!


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## realityboy (Jun 13, 2003)

About 3 weeks ago, I had one of my TA blinking 8 times. The sub was expired, but since it was summer, and I'm not really watching any TV, I didn't bother to call TW. Today, it was updated with an expiration of 10/13 and is working fine. So apparently the problem does eventually resolve itself with enough patience.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

I had been getting Sub Expires updates every Thurs. or Fri. since late May, moving the date out 20 days or more. Now Sub Expires is stuck at 10/05/2010, only about a week from now.

Is anyone else in TWC SW OH seeing this?


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## bobrt6676 (Dec 31, 2007)

dlfl said:


> I had been getting Sub Expires updates every Thurs. or Fri. since late May, moving the date out 20 days or more. Now Sub Expires is stuck at 10/05/2010, only about a week from now.
> 
> Is anyone else in TWC SW OH seeing this?


my subs all are 10/24. I have had no 8-blinks this summer. Yeah!!


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## SASouth (Jun 5, 2004)

dlfl said:


> I had been getting Sub Expires updates every Thurs. or Fri. since late May, moving the date out 20 days or more. Now Sub Expires is stuck at 10/05/2010, only about a week from now.
> 
> Is anyone else in TWC SW OH seeing this?


Mine are both at 10/27.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Sure enough, at the Sub Expires time tonight, I got the 8-blinks. But I got it fixed almost painlessly for once -- see **this post** for details.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Arrrghhh! After three years of being renewed automatically, my TA's sub expires date was not renewed and expired on 12/8/13. And when I called support to ask for a customer balancing screen hit, I was told their computer system was down and they couldn't perform that function. It was 14 hours before I could it done.

My sub expires date was then reset to 1/7/14 and it hasn't been updated yet, which it normally should be by now. So I expect I'm back to having to call support every month on this. 

I'm resurrecting this thread to see if anyone else on TWC Southwest Ohio has started having the problem again.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

My date was still 1/7 today so rather than let it expire I called . The CSR rebooted my TA (which I don't think is really necessary for this) and then transferred me to the TWC national cable card desk. They said they are aware of a general problem in SW Ohio and think it may be related to preparations to push a new TA software version, which is planned nationally.

They said there have been lots of service calls due to this --- seems funny no one else has posted on it.

Anyway my date has now been pushed out to 2/2/2014.


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## ikey78 (Feb 14, 2005)

dlfl said:


> My date was still 1/7 today so rather than let it expire I called . The CSR rebooted my TA (which I don't think is really necessary for this) and then transferred me to the TWC national cable card desk. They said they are aware of a general problem in SW Ohio and think it may be related to preparations to push a new TA software version, which is planned nationally.
> 
> They said there have been lots of service calls due to this --- seems funny no one else has posted on it.
> 
> Anyway my date has now been pushed out to 2/2/2014.


I have been having the same issues with my two TA's in SW Ohio for years as well. I have called the Cable Card/Tuning adapter support to request hits so many times that the reps often remember me.

As with your experience it will work fine for many months and then not auto renew and I have to make a call. This happened last in December 2013. At first they could not get one of the boxes to take the hit successfully and he then did an Initialization which worked. A few months ago the hit would not work on the other of the two TA's and I was told to replace the hardware which worked. I am wondering if Initialization would have avoided that trip to the TW store.

I have also been told of a planned software upgrade to fix this problem. I think they said it is supposed to go from version 15 to 16.

I have looked into swapping the boxes for Roamio's but it does not look like it will take care of this issue. The Series 3's have actually been working fine for many years other than this irritating TA problem.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

ikey78 said:


> .......
> I have also been told of a planned software upgrade to fix this problem. I think they said it is supposed to go from version 15 to 16.
> 
> I have looked into swapping the boxes for Roamio's but it does not look like it will take care of this issue. The Series 3's have actually been working fine for many years other than this irritating TA problem.


The national desk told me the planned software upgrade was to F.1901, but they didn't say it was to address this problem. Rather, they said it was to address timing problems causing tuning failures on Roamio's (which hopefully will also fix occasional SDV tuning failures on Tivo HD's). Any software upgrade will have to be pushed by each TWC region -- lot's of luck for us!

If my Sub Expires date fails to be updated again, I'm going to make a vigorous complaint to the national desk.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

My TA sub was going to expire on 2/20/14 so had to call the national CC help desk again yesterday and have them update it out to 3/20/14. This required power-cycling the TA and cycling the USB connection to the Tivo. They sent the signal while the TA was rebooting. I asked if they couldn't do this without having to power cycle the TA and they said that only works about 50% of the time.

I "vigorously" (but politely) complained that this was the third time I've had to do this and wouldn't it make sense to notify my local TWC that I had a problem needing fixing? I got the same spiel as before: that the TWC systems are updating TA software to F.1901 -- although I can't see how that would explain my TA automatically updating for three years and now not doing so. My TA software has not been updated for years, still on F.1501.

They said they do get a lot of requests like mine from Ohio but the problem is random. It doesn't effect all users and whether it affects a particular user at a particular time is also random. Of course this is nearly the perfect excuse for doing nothing to correct the problem but I suppose it could be true.

At least calling the national desk gets me directly to someone who knows what to do, as opposed to calling local TWC and getting someone who never heard of a TA, and hoping they can transfer me to someone who knows something.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

They just pushed a TA update to F.1901. Now that excuse will no longer be available if my Sub Expires date again is not updated!


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Well glory be! Just noticed my Sub Expires date has (automatically) been pushed out to 3/30/14 ! Guess the national help desk was right!


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