# M-Card Weirdness BrightHouse South Pinellas



## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

This morning, I noticed that the channels on the TV were all screwed up. First, I unplugged to reboot TiVo. Then I removed the M-Card and reinserted. Then I rebooted again. EVerything went back to normal.

The TV seemed okay, but then, as I channel surfed, I realized that Glen Beck was on E! MSNBC is on HLN while HLN is on MSNBC. I'm still looking for CNN--Disney's on its usual channel. There are many channels mixed up, many are nonexistent, (forget the HDTV stations!) and some are just fine.

Now, nothing I do has any effect, so apparently the rebooting and M-Card reinserting was just a fluke. 

Any ideas or other troubleshooting suggestions. Is there something I should have done after reinserting the M-card? Is there something happening with M-Cards? Eeek.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Hmmm ... last night I noticed that channels 44 and 49 I was getting "no signal" on. I thought maybe I had lost analog channels but other analog ones were working (this was on my Premiere and THDXL both with M-Cards). But my S3 (with two S-Cards) and my S2 (analog only) both were receiving those channels.

Maybe it's related to your issue (I'm in North Pinellas)? I don't use a lot of analog channels so I didn't check out a lot more to see if they were "correct" but I did try a reboot which didn't work. I'll investigate more tonight.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Curious. I'm in South Pinellas. My latest reboot ended with complete "no signal" so I'm totally kerfuffled. I'm wondering if the HD TiVo died or if I killed it by rebooting or removing the M-card and rebooting requires me to re-initialize the M-Card. Like yours, my smaller HD2DT is fine. But it's attached to an 18" in the bedroom!

I'm forced to use all analogue, because we like MRV, and TiVo can't transfer programs unless they're analogue. 

This is a "sigh" problem. Of course, I have the flu and am home, braindead (not great on problem solving right now) and wanting to watch TV and record everything. Grrr.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Removing the M-Card shouldn't be a problem, and if you're receiving your digital channels, the M-Card is working. Since this is analog channels we're talking about I'm guessing it's a problem on the BHN-side. We'll probably just have to wait it out (unless you feel like calling tech support and seeing what they say!).


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Heheh. I'm not confident with BH telephone support for M-Cards! I'll be curious to see if others here are having a problem and if there's a solution. 

Um. The digital channels were NOT working, and the analogue were all screwed up. But -- I can't figure why the new problem "no signal." It can't be from the outside as the DT works fine.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Ok, yeah, something is messed up here. It's got to be a Brighthouse problem.

On my S2 and S3, everything is "fine" except the quality has dropped significantly, almost as if the signal level is very low (lots of grainy picture).

On my Premiere and THDXL, I have the missing "no signal" channels on 44 and 49, and other channels are messed up. 14 should be E and it's Fox News and 53 should be TCM and it's SyFy. I've also lost Bay News 9 on ch 1009.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

That's reassuring! I'll sit back for a while. I guess I should call BH and report it. (There were times I'd call them and they'd say it couldn't be a problem because they had not previous reports!)

But the continuing problem with "no signal" scares me and I'm thinking that it has to go back to Weaknees for repair. I

I just cannot figure out why it's getting no signal. Maybe I need to take my DT to that cable, to see if it gets a signal before I go get a BH DVR


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## Lampei (Feb 2, 2002)

OK, at least it's not just me.

I did the reboot (haven't tried removing and reinserting the cable card yet, but I guess that'll be the next step). I chatted with a rep yesterday who said "engineers were out in my area and it will be fixed by the end of the day"...NOPE. I guess I'll be having another chat with them later today <sigh>

Still need to try to get my tuning adapter working...it kept messing with my IP address for my wireless adapter?!? when I had it plugged in...very weird. Perhaps I can kill 2 birds with one stone.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Well, I finally got it working (signal back), but scrambled. Foreseeing a long-term problem, when I was out today (remember, I'm sick and not capable of complex thought) I picked up a BH HD Box. 

It costs $18 per month! WTF? It wasn't my brightest move.

Lampei, I'm in South St Pbg tier. I don't use a TA at all, because I don't need the extra channels, and because I do Multi-Room Viewing (TA disables that).

Does it work yet? 

Wind and Lam, do you think BH is messing with the TAs?


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

I don't have a TA either so I'm not sure. However, I came home tonight and have "searching for signal" on a bunch of HD channels now, like SyFy, Comedy Central, etc. on my S-Cards in the S3 bu they come in fine on the M-Cards in the Premiere and THD.

Something is definitely messed up. I may try to call tonight and see if they can give me an answer without screwing up anything more ...


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

And my channels are fine on the DT. I'm searching for my correspondence in 12/09 on a broadbands forum, to see who I should contact at BH. There was a guy from BH who knows TiVo and was a great and knowledgable contact. But that was '09. I hate to go through all the levels to find the two people who might have a clue.

They must be messing with something. I don't remember getting any notification, but then again, I don't read snail mail.


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## jordiboy (Sep 18, 2007)

I am in north Pinellas and many of my channels "flipped" this afternoon. For example, Fox is channel 37, but channel 37 now shows The Golf Channel. The guide still lists channel 37 as Fox. 

I also have a Series II and everything is normal on it.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Jordi, do you have two Tivos? And is your problem with the one with an M card?


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## jordiboy (Sep 18, 2007)

megory said:


> Jordi, do you have two Tivos? And is your problem with the one with an M card?


Correct, two Tivos: TivoHD with M card is experiencing the problem. Series II w/o cable card does not have a problem.

I called Brighthouse last night and they want to send someone onsite on Tuesday. I could not get through to them that it is not an isolated problem.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

My test channel is 30 (CNN) which is still showing MSNBC.

I've contacted a wonderful tech guy who is also a member of TC, and directed him to this thread. Perhaps he will come on and comment.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Just got a call from Brighthouse Quality Control where he said that they "are aware of the problem. It IS a county wide problem. And they don't know when it will be completely fixed, but they are looking into it."


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Thanks for following up, megory! We were out at the Gasparilla children's parade today so I didn't have time to give them a call and see what's up. Guess we'll wait and see!


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

WOW. Hope you had fun.

Indeed, We'll see. The caller didn't really shine any light on the problem and kept repeating the same script when I asked questions, so I knew he didn't truly understand, but it was reassuring anyway (without any time limit).

I AM hopeful. My contact is a pretty good guy. Fingers crossed.


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## wtb (Dec 15, 2000)

I too had the same problem (on North Pinellas). I first noticed it Saturday when my kids complained that the TiVo didn't record the Star Wars Clone Wars episode. Checking into it I found that Ch45 s/b CMT but is Cartoon Network, Ch58 s/b the cartoon network but was VH1, and Ch62 s/b VH1 but was CMT. Then later I found the problem with Fox News, AMC, USA, QVC, and others.

When I talked to the service rep, he didn't know anything about the problem and (after going through removing the cards and cycling power) set up a service call for Tuesday. I doubt it will help but perhaps I learn something talking to someone technical.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Hey neighbor. According to BH, it's NOT your M-Card. It's a system problem that they know about. And, generally, unless you're lucky, the techs aren't usually knowledgable about TiVo or M-Cards. 

If you have the time to see the tech guy, no problem. I think the more noise we make the better.

It's been since Wed for me. 

Thanks for letting us know.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

BH has still done nothing about this problem. We need to keep calling to complain!

It has been a week for mine.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Yeah, and this messed me up Sunday night when my TiVo went to record "Robot Chicken" on Cartoon Network and recorded VH1 instead. 

I will try to call tonight and lodge my complaint and see if I can find out any more as to what is going on.


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## wtb (Dec 15, 2000)

I found out about it Saturday when my kids complained that Star Wars Clone Wars on the cartoon network didn't record the previous night. It did record a week ago Friday so the problem occurred between the two Fridays. That would agree with the Wednesday mention of it beginning.


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## Lampei (Feb 2, 2002)

Tech should be here soon. They set up an appointment. I figured I'd at least try to get the TA looked at, even if the M-Card issue is system wide (which it *should* be as no one here made any changes to their setup...it just stopped working one day, suggesting a system update of some sort at BH that messed with something).


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Just got a call from Don, at BH Quality Control. His message said the problem was fixed, and if the channels are still mixed up to do a rescan of stations (?!). I turned on my TV, and HLN is on HLN and MSNBC is on MSNBC, so I presume the other channels are correct too!

Is yours working correctly too??


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## Lampei (Feb 2, 2002)

Yup, mine's working now. Got my TA working too. Still not completely sure I won't get the conflict with my wireless adapter that I was getting last year, but hopefully it'll be OK now. Only weird thing with my TA...when he powered it off to test that when it was turned back on again the channels worked, TiVo couldn't "see" the TA any more. Had to do a complete restart of the TiVo (didn't get a chance to just unplug and replug the USB back in).


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

My M-Cards in the Premiere and THD XL are back to normal as well. :up: On my S3 (with S-Cards), though, I'm missing a lot of digital channels (but the analogs are in the correct place). I'll try a reboot/rescan and see if that helps.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

windracer said:


> On my S3 (with S-Cards), though, I'm missing a lot of digital channels (but the analogs are in the correct place).


Turns out the problem with my S3 was unrelated. I noticed that a lot of the analog channels were very poor quality and I was missing a lot of digital channels and HD channels. I found that, in my CableCARD status screen, I had a PowerKey status of "not ready - waiting for time" on both S-Cards.

I traced the problem back to the wall ... the coax cable was slightly loose for some reason. I tightened it and all of the problems went away. Strange!


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Hmmm. It's great you found the solution!

My MRV didn't work. Finally, I rebooted, and voila!

Quirkiness!


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## wtb (Dec 15, 2000)

Yeah, I noticed the channels fixed right before the cable guy was to come during the storm on Jan 25. Canceled that so he wasn't getting our house soaked.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Seems like at least the M-card problem is solved. I haven't a clue what _caused _it but I'm glad it's fixed.

Is it fixed for all here in Pinellas?

Best,
M

BTW, my MRV required a reboot to work again.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Yep, all seems fine here now. I've got BHN coming out this afternoon to give me a TA so we'll see how that goes.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Ah, biting the bullet, eh? I'd sorta like to have a TA, but we really use Multi-room viewing a lot, and don't want that tradeoff!

Are there channels you don't get that you want with TA or is there another reason to go with the TA?

I really wish we got Verizon FIOS down here (South Pinellas).

Good luck.
M


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

That's why I'm only getting one for now. It's free for 12 months so I figure I'll see if I actually need/want it for any of those SDV channels, but see what the other trade-offs are (like digital simulcast killing MRV).

I'm with you on FIOS ... Verizon keeps sending me "high speed internet" brochures in the mail but it's _not_ FIOS. I wonder what's taking them so long?


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Sorry to bump this thread but I know there's a few Pinellas BHN customers here. Is anyone having connection issues to the TiVo service?

Check out this thread for more details ...


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Here, in South Pinellas, everything seems fine, despite all the storms of the past week+. We had 7 power outages in one day and I didn't notice any effect. 

Thanks for the alert!


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Is everyone able to get channel 1148 Sun Sports Florida HD tonight in Pinellas county? I'm trying to watch Game 6 of the Lightning/Penguins Stanley Cup Playoffs and that channel is just black on all of my TiVos. I'm able to pull in the SD channel (31) though.

_edit:_ nevermind ... the first period just ended and the HD channel seems to be coming in now. Go Bolts!


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Ok, some more weirdness. I received a strange lineup change message today indicated a lot of analog channels moving around:










The problem, of course, is that the channels themselves have not actually moved. So now the TiVo thinks channel 13 is a Spanish channel, but it's still FOX. It thinks 8 is a Spanish channel, but it's still NBC.

Anyone else get/seeing this?


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## AceViper (Feb 20, 2005)

windracer said:


> Ok, some more weirdness. I received a strange lineup change message today indicated a lot of analog channels moving around:
> 
> The problem, of course, is that the channels themselves have not actually moved. So now the TiVo thinks channel 13 is a Spanish channel, but it's still FOX. It thinks 8 is a Spanish channel, but it's still NBC.
> 
> Anyone else get/seeing this?


Yes, having the same problem here. Not sure what is going on.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

I reported the lineup issue to TiVo, we'll see what happens.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

windracer said:


> I reported the lineup issue to TiVo, we'll see what happens.


Got this response:


> Thank you for contacting TiVos Channel Lineup Department. We have assigned incident number 110519-007015 to your channel lineup issue. We expect to resolve the issue within 5 - 7 business days. If we should require additional information, we will contact you.
> 
> If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact TiVo Customer Support at 877-367-8486 and refer to your incident number.
> 
> ...


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

I got another lineup change on my TiVo today indicating all the channels have been switched back. :up:


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

I have contacted TiVo about the lineup problem in S. Pinellas. Did YOU have a problem? (Especially analog Ch 8 (NBC) and 7 switched at my house. M-Card, no TA.

Post was here


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

I still have Effed-up stations. Good thing I don't record much from NBC. Yesterday, TiVo responded to my report of lineup problems, and instructed me to go back to the site and give them even more information:

First, I really don't have a clue about some channels correct numbers, but I have the Station ID. 
Is Channel No Says
QVC 22 C-Span
Univision WVEA 7 NBC WFLA
WFLA 8 WVEA

Since I usually have QVC and Univision blocked, I don't necessarily know where they "should" be. TiVo doesn't make it easy for us to help them fix their mistakes.

BTW, I noticed last night, that I get Ch 16 again!


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

You can lookup the Brighthouse channel lineups here:

http://tvlistings.brighthouse.com/findTvListings/

QVC should be ch 22 and Univision should be ch 7.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Thanks WR. I didn't think of looking it up on BH, and submitted as in my post. I suppose they'll come back to me again, if that's not enough.

I'm irked that there is this problem and it's not easier to fix. I can't figure why ONE television has that problem (which makes me wonder if it's my set) and why there isn't a signal to reset immediately. 

It's just labor intensive.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

It's not a Brighthouse or TV issue, it's a TiVo issue. The Channel Lineup that the TiVo uses to figure out what channel is what is messed up. So your TiVo thinks channel 7 is now NBC even though it's actually Univision. Having Brighthouse send a signal reset won't do anything ... TiVo needs to fix the lineup data.

It is a pain when things like this get messed up ... I feel for ya.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

I get what you're saying, but I don't get that it would only affect ME and no one else. And, totally ignorant of the tech side of the TiVo lineup, I picture pressing a button that had been to fix what had been switched accidentally. <g>


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## MelissaDaisy99 (Jun 10, 2011)

Great post! It's very nice. Thank you so much for your post.


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Well, last night they "fixed" it, but they fixed the WRONG TiVo!! Hahaha. I went back to TiVo Lineup, and told them it was the wrong one. Then I went back to Lineup Change, and see that I had put the CORRECT number in the form. So, I guess we start all over now!


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

It shouldn't really be TiVo specific. Have you forced connections on all of your TiVos so they download the corrected lineup?


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## megory (Jan 23, 2003)

Yes, I forced new downloads repeatedly. It just showed up on the HDTivo! Yippee. Thanks for your support!


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