# Upgrading from Bolt to Bolt+. Swap Cable Cards?



## davahad (Dec 1, 2002)

Hi,

Going to swap my Bolt for a Bolt+ and sell the Bolt. Can I pull the cablecard from the Bolt and move to Bolt+. Or should I just get a new Cablecard from Comcast and do the activation that way?

Any pointers to make this work easily on the first try would be appreciated.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

davahad said:


> Hi,
> Going to swap my Bolt for a Bolt+ and sell the Bolt. Can I pull the cablecard from the Bolt and move to Bolt+. Or should I just get a new Cablecard from Comcast and do the activation that way?
> Any pointers to make this work easily on the first try would be appreciated.


Having a working cable card is better than random selection for a new one. Swap the card, but be prepared to call and have it paired even if you get all your channels. The new hardware should cause Comcast to think your card is not paired.

First get the Bolt+ up, working and updated. Then power it off and swap cards. After you apply power you will probably get channels, but check the field in Conditional Access for "Val: V". If it's "Val: ?" you need to get it paired.

I find placing a TiVo into Standby before removing power is safer since it stops disk writing. But I'm old.


----------



## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

I agree with Joe. Don't even take a chance ending up with one that doesn't work. 

That's also what I did when I moved from one of my Premieres to a new Bolt last year. I got it up and running, going through all the Tivo stuff. THEN I dealt with my cable company for re-pairing the CC.

One other thing I did was to keep the older one plugged in and I went onto my Tivo account online and moved all the 'To Do' and Pass stuff. Since that's my main Tivo it had some 250 Passes so I did follow the advice of one CSR at Tivo and moved them in batches - not all at once. He said that might screw things up. Not sure if it was true or not, but I didn't want to blow the thing up, so it was easily done that way.


----------



## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Keep the card, but when you talk to Comcast, make sure the first thing they do is remove the existing pairing before pairing to the new Bolt.

-KP


----------



## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

kpeters59 said:


> Keep the card, but when you talk to Comcast, make sure the first thing they do is remove the existing pairing before pairing to the new Bolt.
> 
> -KP


That's interesting. Hmmm...maybe the fact that I didn't know about that, and it seemed that my cable co (Charter) didn't mention that, was why they had so much trouble re-pairing it. I mean, they knew that it was paired to the Premiere of course, but maybe they didn't know to un-pair it before re-pairing it. I'm going to keep that in mind if I have another change.

I had three people working on it, on the phone, and nobody could seem to get it paired. They were going to send the cable guy to my house, but I ended up figuring it out (don't remember how - I just kept doing stuff until it worked) myself.

Thanks for that info! It makes so much sense.


----------



## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Yeah...ask me how I know that...

(not really...)

-KP


----------



## rjrsouthwest (Feb 19, 2016)

Yes just move the card to the new box, in a few minutes you will get all your normal channel package but you will have to call into the special number and pair the card to the new box to get your premium channels. I have had the card I have in 3 different units and had to call in to get the premiums. The person I talked to last time told me that she had to first on-pair the card from my old Tivo before pairing it with the new one. Was on the phone for a total of about 5 minutes and all my channels were working.


----------



## Millionaire2K (Jun 16, 2008)

Comcast has gotten much better at paring, assuming you don't get the random idiot (if you do, hang up and just call back). I have had no call last more than 5 mins when moving Cablecards between boxes.

Just go to a paid channel like HBO that brings up the Cablecard info screen. Call the Cablecard activation line 1-877-405-2298 and mention you "just upgraded your Tivo so you need to re-pair your Cablecard" It should take about 5 mins tops. If it's slow don't worry, but also don't hang up until it's working. NEVER accept "it takes 1-2hrs" and then they try to end the call.

GL


----------



## sfhub (Jan 6, 2007)

Millionaire2K said:


> If it's slow don't worry, but also don't hang up until it's working. NEVER accept "it takes 1-2hrs" and then they try to end the call.


Sometimes I "accept" "it takes 1-2hrs" as indication the person doesn't know what he/she is talking about and can't help me further and I end the call, calling back immediately to get somebody else.


----------



## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

It might take that long for the guide data to update. I've seen that. But it should definitely NOT take that long for the card to pair and allow tuning to ALL of the channels, IMO.


----------



## Millionaire2K (Jun 16, 2008)

sfhub said:


> Sometimes I "accept" "it takes 1-2hrs" as indication the person doesn't know what he/she is talking about and can't help me further and I end the call, calling back immediately to get somebody else.


Good point, Yes hang up as soon as they idiot spews that.

GL


----------



## yukit (Jul 23, 2005)

Slightly off topic, but related to keeping an original CableCARD for the upgrade.

Anyone successfully re-pair the CableCARD using Comcast's online chat?
I figured it would be easier to send them the pairing info correctly through the chat interface.
I think I got the support person to eventually figure out how to do this (I may have been chatting with a different person for the pairing process) but it didn't work for some reason.

I am getting regular channels without the proper pairing, so this has not been a high priority issue (I have other paired units)
I was wondering if I should try the chat again, or call the 1-877 number like I have done in the past.

TIA


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

yukit said:


> am getting regular channels without the proper pairing, so this has not been a high priority issue (I have other paired units)
> I was wondering if I should try the chat again, or call the 1-877 number like I have done in the past.


Try the online activation tool but if that doesn't work then I would call the Comcast CableCard number (1-877-405-2298).

Scott


----------



## yukit (Jul 23, 2005)

HerronScott said:


> Try the online activation tool but if that doesn't work then I would call the Comcast CableCard number (1-877-405-2298).
> 
> Scott


The online activation page doesn't even recognize my Comcast/Xfinity account number. Weird.
I will phone in eventually.


----------



## sfhub (Jan 6, 2007)

yukit said:


> The online activation page doesn't even recognize my Comcast/Xfinity account number. Weird.
> I will phone in eventually.


It has been like that for over a month. It does work eventually. Sometimes it has taken me twenty tries to get past the initial login.


----------



## davahad (Dec 1, 2002)

Thanks all. Installed the Bolt+ today and finished without any issues.


----------



## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

davahad said:


> Thanks all. Installed the Bolt+ today and finished without any issues.


Yay! Glad to hear it.

I'm getting another Bolt next Wednesday, to replace my last Premiere, and I am not looking forward to all the work. Well, mostly the part I have to deal with my cable co and moving 150 Passes from the old one. I'm just hoping that holds in the online Tivo part of my account, since that Tivo can't communicate with the network due to whatever the hell the issue is with the wireless adapter. As of today all the Passes show on my account online, so I guess that part doesn't go away without an internet connection. *whew*

I just hope calling Charter goes better than it did last time, as far as pairing the CC up from the old machine to the new one. That's the one thing that worries me. (yeah, sometimes I worry too much)


----------

