# Cable card Error code 161-1



## Teknoboy (Oct 29, 2002)

Hi,

Been working for hours with the cable guy from cablevision to get my cable cards installed on my Series3. Slot one keeps giving error code 161-1, saying to call the cable company. Cable company doesn't know what error code 161-1 is. Slot two will configure normally. Swapped several cards and still no good. Do you think slot one is just defective?



thanks!


Mike


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## aztivo (Feb 23, 2005)

this is a proble with the cable card reader... at least on sony tvs this code means the reader is bad I would think all cable card devices have the same set of coding


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

Does it mean the reader is bad, or that the card can not be read?


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## skweaz (Feb 19, 2004)

I was getting this error on one of my cards (dated 2004). They swapped it out with a newer card (2005) and it's working normally now.


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## aztivo (Feb 23, 2005)

from what i have seen it is the reader 99% of the time


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## Teknoboy (Oct 29, 2002)

"from what i have seen it is the reader 99% of the time"

By 'reader' are you referring to the slot on the Tivo?


Thanks!


Mike


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## Gregor (Feb 18, 2002)

I got 161-1 all the time on one card, which the tech swapped out and it went away. See if the tech has a new (unused) card he can try.


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## erubenst28 (Jul 27, 2001)

With all due respect to the previous poster... i had the same issue and it was not the reader, it was the card. we tried a new card and it worked fine... id try a few cards in that slot before you return the unit


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## SCSIRAID (Feb 2, 2003)

Teknoboy said:


> "from what i have seen it is the reader 99% of the time"
> 
> By 'reader' are you referring to the slot on the Tivo?
> 
> ...


I had a 161-1 and it was a bad cablecard. Using a different card fixed it. I googled it and found a reference that said it was a problem communicating with the cablecard.


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## Teknoboy (Oct 29, 2002)

The cable guy tried at least 2 cards...both cards were recognized OK in slot 2 but not in slot 1. 

They are coming back Wednesday to try again. I re-booted the Tivo when they were here but didn't do an actual reset, which I will try when they get here. 

Something else that may have affected the installation is that the installer tried to configure Slot 2 FIRST. I let him know that Slot 1 should be configured first so he stopped and went to Slot 1. (trying at least 2 cards)


Mike


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## mishafp (Nov 8, 2006)

BUMP- i am getting this error. has anyone else gotten it. Has anyone had to return their TIVO becuase of this?


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## mcukier (Mar 22, 2002)

SCSIRAID said:


> I had a 161-1 and it was a bad cablecard. Using a different card fixed it. I googled it and found a reference that said it was a problem communicating with the cablecard.


I had the exact same experience; I got this error, and the cableguy swapped out a new card and it started working beautifully!

mc


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## CraigHB (Dec 24, 2003)

I'm in cablecard hell right now. My first card came back with the 161-1 error. However, after reseating it and hitting it again, it seems to be working fine. The second card doesn't work at all. The installer only showed up with two cards so that was all that could be done yesterday. Today he's coming back with more cards so hopefully I'll get my both my cards working. 

The card in slot 1 that came back with the 161-1 error isn't giving me any trouble. When running through the channels from the test screen, they're all there. I don't know if I should insist he change it or just leave it since it seems to be working right. They were having trouble setting up the card on their end so maybe it was a setup issue and not a hardware fault.

Aaahrg, cablecards.


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## CraigHB (Dec 24, 2003)

I'm out of cablecard hell now. The tech supervisor showed up, popped in another card, and had it working in all of a half hour. I'm good now. BTW, that error I was getting is 161-4 not 161-1. It did appear again after the 2nd card received its hit from the office. The supervisor wasn't too concerned about it. All the channels are working so as long as that error doesn't come back, I'm not going to get too concerned about it either.


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## meldrich (Nov 25, 2009)

I'm in that cablecard hell now too. And it will make the difference between whether or not I abandon ComCast or TiVo, or both. I will tell you the result whatever it is. I promise. I don't have time to bother with this much longer. I will use Hulu.com and a digital antenna if I have to.


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## meldrich (Nov 25, 2009)

ComCast blamed the TiVo (which has always been fine) TiVo blamed ComCast's old card. Comcast attempted to send a message to the card 3 times. TiVo said they had to DE-activate it and then activate it again. They did that. It did not respond. Well, after several calls failed to start it, I just did the first time setup again without the card. Before I went to bed, I turned off the tv and shoved the cards once again into the slot and went to bed. Either the machine or the cable company got it working sometime between midnight and 8 am. The problem is solved anyway.


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## Brent Becker (Apr 17, 2020)

Teknoboy said:


> Hi,
> 
> Been working for hours with the cable guy from cablevision to get my cable cards installed on my Series3. Slot one keeps giving error code 161-1, saying to call the cable company. Cable company doesn't know what error code 161-1 is. Slot two will configure normally. Swapped several cards and still no good. Do you think slot one is just defective?
> 
> ...


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## Brent Becker (Apr 17, 2020)

I figued out a solution. Go get a box from the cable provider and take the card out of the box and put it in you tivo. Call card services and activate the card in the tivo. They will ask for the host I.d.. Your done. Take the cable box back with the tivo card and exchange for a new box or credit. Eitherway you are good.


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## yawitz (Apr 2, 2007)

For what it's worth, last year I had to jump through hoops with Comcast to get a working card for a new Bolt; first one I got wouldn't activate, visited the retail location to get two new (actually refurbished) ones to try, both failed. They kept blaming the TiVo. At that point, as a test, I pulled a working one out of a working TiVo to try in the Bolt, which of course worked. So back to the store for another two, one of which worked (finally).

The moral of the story is: lots of cablecards in the wild are in terrible shape (assuming most of them are refurbs), so it may take many tries to get a good one. Having a known good one in your household will help troubleshoot, otherwise it will take more effort than should be required to get one for a new device.


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## JoJetSki (Jul 25, 2006)

I have been using the same cable card for years. Upgrade to a tivo edge about 6 months ago. I get back from vacation and have the cable card 161-1 error on the screen (lost a week of programing which was annoying) and it told me to call my cable provider. I soft rebooted (using the menu) the tivo and it did not fix the problem. It was late at night and I didn't want to talk to 11:00 p.m. tech support from comcast so I decided to call the next morning. Before I called I read this forum and decided to do a hard reboot (pull the power) and let it sit for 60 seconds to make sure every circuit lost it's power. Plugged it back in and voila the Tivo is fine. I may have a failing card we shall see. However the edge has had MANY software problems for me so I really don't trust it (my roamio has been rock solid for years even thinking about switching back to it). Anyway if you have an edge and get this error make sure you try a hard reboot before you go down cable card hell.


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## samsauce29 (Nov 30, 2007)

JoJetSki said:


> I have been using the same cable card for years. Upgrade to a tivo edge about 6 months ago. I get back from vacation and have the cable card 161-1 error on the screen (lost a week of programing which was annoying) and it told me to call my cable provider. I soft rebooted (using the menu) the tivo and it did not fix the problem. It was late at night and I didn't want to talk to 11:00 p.m. tech support from comcast so I decided to call the next morning. Before I called I read this forum and decided to do a hard reboot (pull the power) and let it sit for 60 seconds to make sure every circuit lost it's power. Plugged it back in and voila the Tivo is fine. I may have a failing card we shall see. However the edge has had MANY software problems for me so I really don't trust it (my roamio has been rock solid for years even thinking about switching back to it). Anyway if you have an edge and get this error make sure you try a hard reboot before you go down cable card hell.


I had the same error last week following a super short electrical glitch. The glitch was so short that the microwave clock reset but not the stove. It did not reset the TiVo either but caused the 161-1 error.

I also did the hard reboot to reset the error. All has been good since.


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