# Cablecard - Not authorized - bad signal - premiere - Comcast



## paymepunk (Mar 13, 2008)

I just wanted to save a number of people out there a ton of time waiting on the phone or for a service call from Comcast to get their Cablecard working. I'll sum up the story below, but in short the answer is a "staged hit" for authorization. ( the term is from a previous post) 

They need to send the pairing and then the authorizations with some time gap in between each instead of all at once with the batch file or whatever macro they have for "dumb/normal" setups. Mine was paired but never got authorized.

I called the tivo cablecard helpline.
"The cable companies usually send their pairing and authorizations all at one time. If they leave a gap between each portion of the authorization it should work." ~ thanks Alley

I then called Comcast for the 5th time and after a service tech call.
"Tivo Support said that if you send the pairing and then whatever authorizations you have with 30-60 secs wait between each it should resolve the authorization issue."

It did. As long as you get a Comcast rep that has either the knowledge or access to do this.


Short back story. 
4 phone calls.
1 tech visit
2 more phone calls

Resolved

I hope this saves someone at least as much time as I wasted tracking down the answer. 

The title is so all the combinations that I searched on would give you this results where I found a few partial answers.


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## paymepunk (Mar 13, 2008)

Something that also might help. I was only getting local channels and local channels - HD. This told me it was something on their end. 

Hope this helps as much as this forum has helped me.


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

Did you call a special number to get Comcast to pair your cablecard, or the standard 'help' number?

I had to return my Premiere XL today due to hardware failure. I'll hopefully receive the replacement within the next couple of weeks. When I do, I'll have to re-pair the cablecard with the new unit. I'm hoping I'll be able to call Comcast with the pairing info rather than have to wait for an engineer to call in the same info for me!


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## paymepunk (Mar 13, 2008)

Just a normal rep from the tech support line. If they say they can't do that, ask them nicely to connect you to an operator that would be able to execute the jobs independently. It might take you 2 operators or more to get a good one. If you explain what the Tivo support rep said and they are knowledgeable, they should work with you.

I'm serious when I say " If you get a good rep." Just tell the rep that you spoke with Tivo Support and they said that if you send the Pairing and auth and any other signals separately with like 30 secs in between, it should work.


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## ltxi (Feb 14, 2010)

We have three local Comcast techs...two that I've dealt with personally. One even gave me his personal cell number. Nothing but good things to say about these guys and my Comcast support.


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## jmill (Feb 22, 2010)

I seem to have an interesting issue with cable card on Comcast. I do get all the channels, but when switching between channels, I get "authorization screen". I hit clear and channel shows up.

Do you think it's the authorization issue? Or could it be defective cable card? Or maybe TiVo unit is at fault?


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## ltxi (Feb 14, 2010)

I had this show up on some channels when I had an HD unit fail and just crossed my fingers and plugged the existing Comcast M card into my replacement PXL. Before I got around to calling out a tech it self corrected and everything was fine. Apparently sometimes this work and sometimes it doesn't.


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## andydumi (Jun 26, 2006)

paymepunk said:


> Something that also might help. I was only getting local channels and local channels - HD. This told me it was something on their end.
> 
> Hope this helps as much as this forum has helped me.


I had mine set up today and this is what I get as well. It paired well as I get some channels now. The only HD channels I get are the locals. The "digital starter" channels like TNT, USA... do not come in HD and I get a Not Authorized message.

I will call in the morning and try your suggestion of asking they send the two signals, pairing, then authorization, separately. Will report back if it works to fix the issue.


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## andydumi (Jun 26, 2006)

Finally fixed and working properly.

I ended up having the tech come out. Turns out they had the wrong service codes on my account. But when those got fixed, the cable card still wasnt working. So we started trying new ones. It took 4 cards to find a working one. But now all is well.

He said in his experience only about half the M cards work properly.


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## bilz2765 (Jun 20, 2010)

I have had four Comcast tech visit to resolve loosing signal. Last tech found a bad connection at the pole. I was loosing 15db there. (All my other Comcast DVR's never lost signal, just the M-Card in the Tivo Premier. Thought all was fixed. I think my Premier is the problem now. I can go into settings, query channel signal, and the channel reappears. Have had to do that about 50 times in the last two weeks. Every body was pointing fingers at Comcast, but I think the Premier is my problem.


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## thebacklot (Jul 9, 2010)

So far the M-Card experience is frustrating. 6 seperate phone calls and I'm having the same issue as above. I exchanged the M-Card at the Comcast store today as well...same problem. What do I need to be telling them to make this right?


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## paymepunk (Mar 13, 2008)

"Tivo Support said that if you send the pairing and then whatever authorizations you have with 30-60 secs wait between each it should resolve the authorization issue."


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## Johnwashere (Sep 17, 2005)

I get this with time warner too. It happens every week or so. I just have to change the channel then go back.


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## RAlfieri (Apr 3, 2008)

I've been through two cablecards now. Comcast came out and put in a signal booster. That brought me up from 52 to 92, but I'm still losing the signal after a period of time and all of my channels go out. If I reboot they are back. Then they eventual crap out. 

The Comcast boxes in the house have no problem whatsoever. Has anyone figured out if the problem is the cablecards or the Premiere itself?

Thanks,
Rob


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