# Roamio with Cisco STA1520 on TWC not working



## DefaultLocation (Oct 9, 2001)

So after two separate service visits from TWC that totaled about 8 hours, I am still without encrypted channel service on my new Roamio Pro on TWC in Los Angeles (I am however receiving unencrypted channels, which is basically just 2-13, 402-413). The current problem seems to be that the latest Cisco STA1520 tuning adapter I've received today is not communicating with the Roamio; no matter what order of bootup/USB connection hoops I jump through I either get a solid green light or a fast blinking green light on the TA. However in the Roamio settings menu, it never recognizes the TA, it just says No Tuning Adapter under the Tuning Adapter menu. I've done some searching on the forums here but haven't found anyone with this same problem.

The Tuning Adapter is brand new and I just received it today, hooked it up, and spent 30 minutes on the phone with TWC TA support attempting to get it to work. During the previous two TWC tech support in-home visits, he tried two different tuning adapters (Motorola MTR700), and he eventually gave up because it would blink indefinitely as well. Interestingly, when he very first hooked up the tuning adapter, I got decrypted channels for about 10 seconds (TNTHD), and then it went blank and I get the V58 error message for every encrypted channel now.

I also spent a good hour on the phone with TiVo tech support and conference called in TWC CableCard support to no avail. Each was blaming the other for the failure to decrypt my channels and get the TA to work. TWC said all the CC data looked right, however TiVo said that one of the settings was wrong, then TWC said that setting doesn't apply to Motorola CCs.

I am also on my fourth M-Card, as the tech kept thinking that was the problem and went through several cards during his visits to try to resolve the problem (never changing out the Motorola TA).

During the previous two visits, the TWC tech replaced all coax cable in my house and the line to my house from the pole, as well as had additional TWC folks come out and change some settings at the box on the telephone pole; IIRC they said the signal was too high and they changed it from 55 to 42 (sorry, they didn't give me much info besides that).

I have a Motorola cable box in another room that works perfectly fine, as well as internet through TWC that is working perfectly fine. The tech checked the levels on all my cables with his equipment multiple times during his troubleshooting adventures.

Currently, it appears that the M-Card is paired properly with the unit, as far as I can tell and what TWC says as well (though I don't trust them entirely).

I previously had a TivoHD Series 3 with 2 S-Cards and NO tuning adapter that worked perfectly fine for several years. I can't explain how that worked without a TA other than it had been setup before they went SDV in Los Angeles and it retained it's ability to tune to those channels (?).

My best educated guess at this point having read up on the forums briefly is that the channel map is screwed up on the Roamio and that is preventing it from communicating with the new TA? Or the firmware on the TA is not compatible with the Roamio?

So here I am, waiting on another service call for a tech to come out tomorrow morning, however I have little faith that anything will get resolved.

I tried to cover my entire setup in this post, but I probably missed some key pieces of information. Hopefully someone out there has some suggestions to try; at this point I think I'm just going to do a full wipe on the Roamio and start from scratch, since I am out of options and am really frustrated.

Thanks for reading.


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## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

Some things to try:

Temporarily remove the entire TA from your setup. Plug the incoming coax directly into TiVo. See if you can pick up encrypted channels (you definitely won't be able to pick up SDV channels). ESPN is a safe bet for a non SDV channel.

When I having TA issues, I use this extended method:
*disconnect the USB between the TiVo and the TA
*unplug the power cord to the TA and wait like 20 seconds
*plug it back in
*wait until you get a solid green light on the TA (could take 5 minutes)
*when you get the solid green light, plug the USB back in

TiVo should recognize the TA adapter right away at this point and give you the "Tuning Adapter Connected" screen.

Also, no...you would never have been grandfathered into the SDV channels on your S3 without having to use a TA. 

I don't know if TA has to be authorized on your account or not... but maybe it's not working because the TA device is not properly activated on your account?

Another thing to look into is the EMMs - the TWC CableCard hotline will know what this means - it's basically a signal they push to your CC authorizing it to decrypt the channels you pay for.

One other thing to try is to just call your local TWC number... there should be prompts to report a cable outage and the automated phone system should offer to send basic "hits" to your box (this is mainly used for TWC DVRs since TWC can't talk to the TiVo, but the signal they send probably helps with some TA issues as well).

Good luck.


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## DefaultLocation (Oct 9, 2001)

Thanks for the suggestions.

I removed the TA from the setup but I get the same result. I tried ESPN and ESPNHD with no luck. The TWC tech also tried this a few times while he was here. One of the TWC techs on the phone at one point said almost all channels were SDV now, though who knows since i don't really believe anything they say any more.

The TA never gets a solid green light unfortunately, it just blinks indefinitely (I ran through your extended steps again to be sure, though I've done this several times). At first earlier today it changed to 5 blinks and then the 6th blink stays on for about 2 seconds, then that cycle repeats indefinitely. After doing the reboot on it again, I'm now back to continuous blinks indefinitely.

TWC says the TA is 'authorized'/active on my account, though they do have it listed under "SA" (Scientific Atlanta) in their system even though it is a Cisco. The lady informed me that this was merely an accounting issue and shouldn't affect the TA functionality technically at all (hmmm).

I've reset the Roamio again with no luck, though now I get less information on the CC Conditional Access screen. I only get the top half that shows the connection status (which appears to be ok; Con:Yes, EBCP:Yes, Val:V).

I'm on hold with TWC CC right now, will ask them to look into the EMMs when I get someone on the phone.

Thanks again for your help!


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## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

The biggest thing that stands out is that they started using the Motorola TA, but now you're using Cisco. The behavior you described where TNTHD played for a bit and then got a V58 (Channel not Authorized) is what happens if the TA is locked and working correctly, but your CableCard is not paired. Is your CableCard Motorola or Cisco/Scientific Atlanta? The TA and CC should be the same manufacturer.


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## DefaultLocation (Oct 9, 2001)

Yeah so I called the TWC CC hotline again and the lady there said definitively that the TA and CC have to be from the same manufacturer. Someone screwed up and sent me the Cisco TA (I assume), so I had her put in an order to get me a new Motorola TA. Again, not much confidence that it will all start working with that, but there was nothing else to try. I also have a tech coming out tomorrow morning so hopefully they'll bring some additional CCs and TAs and they can get it working. =\


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

DefaultLocation said:


> TWC says the TA is 'authorized'/active on my account, though they do have it listed under "SA" (Scientific Atlanta) in their system even though it is a Cisco. The lady informed me that this was merely an accounting issue and shouldn't affect the TA functionality technically at all (hmmm).


Scientific Atlanta = Cisco.

Cisco purchased Scientific Atlanta in 2005. New Scientific Atlanta products were rebranded Cisco, although older products still exist out there still under the SA branding. Either way, if you see Cisco or Scientific Atlanta, they both refer to the same thing.


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## DefaultLocation (Oct 9, 2001)

Had a tech out today for another 5+ hours. Got rid of the Cisco/SA TA and tried two different Motorola MRT700s with no luck. They would never get past initialization no matter what combination of booting or adding/removing them from my account. Even when the Roamio doesn't show you that it detects the TA being connected, you can apparently go into a menu under the CC settings and scroll all the way to the bottom to see that it recognizes the TA, but is stuck indefinitely in an "Initializing" phase. One oddity (maybe someone can explain this) is that the Roamio would only detect a connected TA if it WASN'T added/authorized on my TWC account; once it got added (by the tech by MAC address) the Roamio would immediately think it was not connected any more (or at least it hadn't passed it's initialization phase).

He also swapped out the CC again in an attempt to get it to work. He checked my cable lines again and changed out a splitter under the house, still no change. As he was getting ready to give up and escalate it to his supervisor, I on a whim went into another room where I have a Motorola DVR from TWC that has been working perfectly fine the whole time just to see if it was still working; however now it is experiencing the same problem, no encrypted channels and as a bonus the DVR button doesn't do anything any more. Clearly they screwed something up big time with either my account or service, as this DVR was working just fine last night. We had support try to activate it again remotely and rebooted it twice to no avail.

They've put in a request to have maintenance come out and check the lines again. Other than that I need to wait for my tech's supervisor to escalate this further, and he's off until Tuesday. Hopefully whatever maintenance they do at the telephone pole will fix the problem. Kind of frustrating that the situation somehow got WORSE today.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Definitely sounds like an account setup issue. From what I recall, the cablecard device needs to be first in the list on your account, then the cable owned DVRs. Ask them if that's the case. It doesn't sound to me like your TA and/or cablecard are paired or on your account properly. I've personally seen all your issues, and EVERY time it was an issue with account setup.


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## DefaultLocation (Oct 9, 2001)

Thanks, I'll try that, however phone support has been painful to say the least.

Is it better to call the TWC CC specialists or the main TWC support number for an account setup question like that? I dread calling them again because they just want to run through the myriad of troubleshooting steps again that I've done a dozen times now. I have another tech scheduled to come out tomorrow afternoon and he's bringing multiple CCs and TAs since they still seem to think it's related to bad hardware even though I've gone through half a dozen of each.


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## DefaultLocation (Oct 9, 2001)

I asked multiple different support folks on the phone (both CC and regular TWC support) to look into my account. The CC guy said that it looked fine for my area (apparently it varies by location due to the myriad of different hardware out there), we did a bunch of things and no luck. However one note for this latest CC that I have is that the "Val" entry on the Conditional Access screen has a ? instead of a V. Con and EBCP were still "Yes", and previous CCs did have a V for Val, so who knows. He tried multiple times to send a signal to the CC, to no avail. There is a messages value on one of the CC screens that is supposed to reset back to zero when they've successfully hit the card, and it never reset (only reset when I pulled and re-inserted the CC). Probably a bad card I guess...

Since my other DVR stopped functioning, I had them transfer me to the normal TWC "video" support line. The normal TWC support line person said she thought the hardware listed on my account was out of order and she re-ordered it, to no avail. She was perplexed as to why the TWC-supplied Motorola DVR in my other room stopped functioning properly and was extremely apologetic and helpful. Still couldn't get it working, unfortunately.

Another tech coming out today with more CCs and TAs to try and debug further. I don't really know what to do at this point if that doesn't work. Only thing I can think of next is to completely cancel my TWC account and start from scratch with a new account.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

I've been told the same thing on more than one occasion by many people, only to finally get someone who knew what to do and got it working in a matter of minutes. The fact that your regular cable DVRs are now having issues speaks volumes to this!

I would call TiVo and then have their tech support pros conference call TWC with you.


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## DefaultLocation (Oct 9, 2001)

Ok, so the TWC techs that came out today finally solved the mystery!

There was an old code on my account for a 3D service (3D channels) that apparently is no longer valid/offered. Once they removed this code from my account, everything magically started to work. The TA got synced up, and now we get all the channels on the Roamio and the Motorola DVR is functional again (though we're disconnecting that in favor of a TiVo Mini for that room).

Super frustrating that it took three home visits and at least a dozen phone calls before this 'bad code' was found (ATS found it).


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

DefaultLocation said:


> Ok, so the TWC techs that came out today finally solved the mystery! There was an old code on my account for a 3D service (3D channels) that apparently is no longer valid/offered. Once they removed this code from my account, everything magically started to work. The TA got synced up, and now we get all the channels on the Roamio and the Motorola DVR is functional again (though we're disconnecting that in favor of a TiVo Mini for that room). Super frustrating that it took three home visits and at least a dozen phone calls before this 'bad code' was found (ATS found it).


 I knew it!


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

DefaultLocation said:


> ..... The TA got synced up, and now we get all the channels on the Roamio and the Motorola DVR is functional again (though we're disconnecting that in favor of a TiVo Mini for that room)....


Yeah, good luck with that and have fun dealing with TiVo getting the mini to see, connect and use your server Roamio via moca or Ethernet, hahaha!  (Sorry couldn't resist. There's many horror stories with that as well. TiVo will just tell you to wait and give it 48-72 hours)


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## JosephB (Nov 19, 2010)

Activation issues are definitely the number one problem with CC/TAs, and usually they don't need to swap cards, or send a tech out. You have to get the right tiers on both the card AND the TA (yes, the TA must be activated and have certain tiers applied to it). Then, you have to get the right hits sent to the card in the right order (and they're not the same ones they send to their MSO owned boxes) plus you're in a Motorola system so add in the additional fun of data fields and validation.


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## woodstocknick (Jan 19, 2014)

I've gone through a living hell with TWC over my tuning adapter. At first I couldn't get any SDV channels. After 5 Cisco tuning adapters, I got that resolved. But now, I can't get the Weather Channel unless I unplug the USB. As soon as I plug it back in I get the V58 error. 
Both Tivo tech and TWC agree signal levels are fine.
CableCard support blames tivo and says it's a channel mapping issue. They said the latest tivo firmware addresses this issue. It doesn't. 
One CableCard guy is convinced it's a TWC network issue because it only happens in my region (Hudson Valley, NY). 
Had a 3-way call with Tivo tech and CableCard support. That only resulted in the two of them arguing with each other.
All this over one channel!


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Are you 100% sure this is an SDV channel, and maybe not an analog one? (If you have any left). My system still has a few analog channels that aren't simulcast in digital and/or HD, and of course they won't tune with my Roamio no matter how hard I try, because it only has digital tuners.


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## tc2014 (Oct 31, 2014)

I experienced the exact same symptoms you describe but my provider is Cox in Tulsa. Thank you for posting this as I am going to print it off and hand it to my service tech who is still trying to resolve the issue.


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