# Bolt+ Cablecard problems



## max42 (Nov 15, 2016)

Recently purchased a new Bolt + and have not been able to get the cablecard paired. I have 2 Premiers and am replacing one. I removed the cablecard from old premier and installed it in the Bolt, called the cable company (Metrocast) and activated the card but still get the V53 Tivo error. I had the cable company resend the activation codes 3 more times. I then moved the other Premiers' cable card and repeated the process, same issue, no channels and the V53 error. I scheduled a cable company technician and had them bring 5 more cable cards. We tried all 5 cards and repeated the activation and still no cable channels and a V53 error. I concluded the box must be bad and called tech support and am returning it for replacement. Based on this experience I am not confident that a new box will work.

BTW put the cablecards back in the Premiers, reactivated them and the Premiers function properly.

Tivo tech support was a little rude, kept repeating the process necessary to activate the card and to try multiple card and even tried to say it's not their problem. I'm thinking that if the next box won't pair then I need to just return the box for a refund but get the impression Tivo may not agree, will cross that bridge when it happens.

Any thoughts on how I may get this cablecard issue resolved?


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## s.pearce0188 (Nov 7, 2016)

TiVo saying it's not the box is usually correct , CableCARDS are not the easiest thing to get working. I got lucky when I purchased my two bolts , went to my local office picked up 2 cards, called customer service and was paired immediately. It maybe that Mediacom has their head on right and know what they are doing .. I know some people have had trouble with other companies 


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## max42 (Nov 15, 2016)

I agree from the sound of all the cablecard issues that it may not be a TIVO box issue (but they are culpable in their design somehow) and that if I cannot get a suitable card in 7 tries then whats to say another 1 or even 50 new cards would be sufficient to find one that works. But regardless, if I can't find a working combination then the Tivo box is useless and I need to be able to return it for a full refriend.


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## s.pearce0188 (Nov 7, 2016)

max42 said:


> I agree from the sound of all the cablecard issues that it may not be a TIVO box issue (but they are culpable in their design somehow) and that if I cannot get a suitable card in 7 tries then whats to say another 1 or even 50 new cards would be sufficient to find one that works. But regardless, if I can't find a working combination then the Tivo box is useless and I need to be able to return it for a full refriend.


I agree , if you can't get a working CableCARD within reason definitely not worth keeping the TiVo and wasting money on it . Would definitely get a refund, unfortunately it may be your provider who has issues as well, some just don't understand what to do to even pair it let alone troubleshoot them just my 2 cents

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## randy1649 (Apr 18, 2011)

From what the op said, it is clearly a "de-activation" issue, not an activation issue.
The card(s) are still linked to the previous units.
Before activating in a new or different unit, the card must be properly deactivated from the old unit.
The cable co needs to do that.
It must be an involved process because they usually screw deactivation up. Or think it has been deactivated while it actually has not.
And I wonder if this is a tivo issue too on tivo's side with the card still linked to your tivo/tivo account units mac address.


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## max42 (Nov 15, 2016)

Deactivation doesn't make sense to me but I'll suggest that when I get the replacement Tivo.


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## s.pearce0188 (Nov 7, 2016)

The issue with activation and deactivation if I have read and understand correctly is that TiVo communication is one way downstream, so CMTS would have no idea if the card is actually deactivated or activated on their end since the CableCARD doesn't do upstream communication 


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

I just installed a Bolt + for a friend, took the cable card out of his TiVo Premiere and was real concerned when I could not get any of the network stations, called Comcast for a pair job, they could not do it, went to the Comcast store and exchange the cable card for a new one, did not work, had a Comcast service out to his home, they tried two cards, nothing worked, the Comcast tech said the Bolt + was bad, put the 4th cable card back into the Premiere, worked great. After a little augment with TiVo CS TiVo sent him a new Bolt +, moved the All-in onto this new Bolt +. I set up this new Bolt+ and moved the cable card from the Premiere and within about 3 minutes I was getting the network stations, called Comcast cable card people and another few minutes the VAL went from ? to V. All stations then came in. Over the years I have installed some 20 or more cable card TiVos and never had a problem like this. Sorry for the long post, but some Bolt + may have cable card problems. (he did send back the old Bolt + to TiVo)


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## inlanikai (Nov 19, 2016)

I am going through something similar. I had one of the first Bolt+ units delivered a few days after they went on the market. After about 5 weeks it died - all 4 LED lights blinking and wouldn't pass the boot up cycle (sound familiar?). After sending it back to TiVo and getting a new one, also from the same August production as the first, I cannot get any channel at all on it, just V53 errors and black screens.

TWC-Oceanic (Hawaii) said the CableCARD I had from the old Bolt+ was paired with my new Bolt+ Host ID but no joy. Tried multiple times with different customer reps for re-authorization. Called TiVo and they said that in looking at the CableCARD's diagnostic CA screen (3rd page) there was no "Active Program" listed and that was Oceanic's problem. Back to them and suggested maybe a provisioning issue and they said it "should" automatically take place when the authorize and pair the new box with the CableCARD. They can see both the CableCARD and TA and said all looks OK from their end. Signal strength and SNR measured by the Bolt+ are excellent. 

I am using the same CableCARD, TA, cables, etc. as I had with the original Bolt+ that worked perfectly - until it broke. A cable technician is showing up on Tuesday but I think this is an Oceanic problem and not a Bolt+ or installation issue. Any thoughts are very much appreciated. Thank you.


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## alexb (Jan 4, 2003)

I took my cable card out of a ceton, put in bolt+ rang Comcast cable activation line and they did it in a few minutes, no issues. I have done several hundred activations over 10 years (mostly media center - never had an issue). I wonder if it is related to specific Comcast areas.....


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## inlanikai (Nov 19, 2016)

lessd said:


> I just installed a Bolt + for a friend, took the cable card out of his TiVo Premiere and was real concerned when I could not get any of the network stations, called Comcast for a pair job, they could not do it, went to the Comcast store and exchange the cable card for a new one, did not work, had a Comcast service out to his home, they tried two cards, nothing worked, the Comcast tech said the Bolt + was bad, put the 4th cable card back into the Premiere, worked great. After a little augment with TiVo CS TiVo sent him a new Bolt +, moved the All-in onto this new Bolt +. I set up this new Bolt+ and moved the cable card from the Premiere and within about 3 minutes I was getting the network stations, called Comcast cable card people and another few minutes the VAL went from ? to V. All stations then came in. Over the years I have installed some 20 or more cable card TiVos and never had a problem like this. Sorry for the long post, but some Bolt + may have cable card problems. (he did send back the old Bolt + to TiVo)


I just had to do the same thing. My Bolt+ (the second one after the first one died and was replaced by TiVo) would pair and authorize but would not receive any channels at all using the same CableCARD that worked on my first Bolt+ perfectly. Just V53. The tell is the 3rd screen for the CableCARD CA diagnostics where the Program information codes should be present. Mine was blank for all channels. Had two visits from TWC techs and 3 different cards in all and no joy. The convincer for me came when the second tech brought a 5-year old TiVo & CableCard that they had in their shop that worked perfectly in my house. We then took that unit's CableCARD and put in my Bolt+, paired and authorized it, and got the exact same V53 no channels result that I got before. Called TiVo and they said to either get and try 6 CableCARDs from TWC or send the Bolt+ back for a replacement. I sent it back and waiting for the new unit.


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## Rkkeller (May 13, 2004)

Did any of you try the cable card first in the new Bolt to see what happens?

When I got mine a week ago, and all I did was take the FIOS cable card out of my Roamio and put in the the Bolt and everything worked even the premiums. I didn't have to call Verizon.


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## Joe Plowick (Nov 28, 2016)

I'm having CableCard issues as well. Just got my Bolt last week and installed a new CableCard in it. In the past week, I've had to call Mediacom several times due to the CableCard dropping it's pairing. Sometimes, rebooting the Tivo will get it going again, other times just leaving it alone and the TV will start working. Very frustrating. One morning, it came up showing an HDMI handshake error with the TV. Turning the TV off and on again got that cured, even though the TV was off to begin with. And to top it off, none of the apps work (i.e. Netflix, Amazon, etc). Tivo support claims the app issue is "known" and a fix would eventually come out. I'm tempted to just return this thing because nothing it working on it.


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## InVision (Jan 26, 2003)

I had the V53 & V58 errors before. Both were solve by unpairing and pairing the cable card and the TiVo Bolt +. Not sure if that helps but I was about to give up before I tried that.

M


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## max42 (Nov 15, 2016)

I received my replacement Bolt+. I called Metrocast and asked them to deactivate the card in my premier. They were unable to deactivate the card but they did deauthorize by removing the host and data id. I installed the cable card from my premier into the Bolt+ and they authorized the card with the new host and data id and sent new codes. They sent multiple codes about 45sec apart and it all worked perfectly.
So not sure if it was a Bolt+ issue or the deauthorization, or properly sending the codes but it all works now.


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## ksalwitz (Oct 24, 2004)

I just ordered my first Bolt yesterday to replace one of my aging TiVo HD's (power supply went on one of them this morning). Has anyone had experience with COX and the Bolt with CC's? When I got my first cable card there were serious problems with COX (Arizona) and TiVo and the cable cards. They had a team in Phoenix made up of folks from all three companies working to resolve the problem. I haven't had any issues since, but since this is a new box.....


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## InVision (Jan 26, 2003)

i have cox. call and have someone remotely to unpair and re-pair is the only way i have gotten to any to work...


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## ksalwitz (Oct 24, 2004)

Thanks. I think I'm going to keep both of my HD's (i have one tv in need of a TiVo and I can get rid of another COX HD box  ) and get a new card at the store. I'll post any additional info as I get it. I'll need another SDV box so let's see how this goes. 
-- Ken


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

So I am having a similar issue. Took a CC out of a working Premiere, put it into a new (refurbished) Bolt. Called Comcast CC Support (they are really good now vs years ago), they deactivated from the Premiere, paired it to the Bolt successfully. Result: No channels, V52 (bad signal) code all channels. After a total of three calls, got a truck roll. Tech checked signal from coax (we actually ran a coax from the incoming pole connection directly into the Bolt) which was strong. When the tech and Comcast phone support were out of ideas, I called tivo tech support while the tech was still there. Tivo tech support told me it was not a tivo hardware issue and actually said she would not take it back (just purchased during the "whiteout" sale over weekend...). She said here own personal Bolt took 7 different CCs before one finally worked. Now I can't believe they won't take it back, but can't believe she said that either!

So I just paired up my third CC with no luck. This doesn't seem right. It's 45 min round trip to the Comcast office. Any ideas or do I really just have to keep trying cards till one works?


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

rick123 said:


> So I am having a similar issue. Took a CC out of a working Premiere, put it into a new (refurbished) Bolt. Called Comcast CC Support (they are really good now vs years ago), they deactivated from the Premiere, paired it to the Bolt successfully. Result: No channels, V52 (bad signal) code all channels. After a total of three calls, got a truck roll. Tech checked signal from coax (we actually ran a coax from the incoming pole connection directly into the Bolt) which was strong. When the tech and Comcast phone support were out of ideas, I called tivo tech support while the tech was still there. Tivo tech support told me it was not a tivo hardware issue and actually said she would not take it back (just purchased during the "whiteout" sale over weekend...). She said here own personal Bolt took 7 different CCs before one finally worked. Now I can't believe they won't take it back, but can't believe she said that either!
> 
> So I just paired up my third CC with no luck. This doesn't seem right. It's 45 min round trip to the Comcast office. Any ideas or do I really just have to keep trying cards till one works?


You either have an issue with CableCard successful pairing. Or SNRs.

See below for both:

https://support.tivo.com/articles/T...ooting-Roamio-Series-and-Premiere-Series-DVRs

https://support.tivo.com/articles/T...oamio-Series-Premiere-Series-and-Series3-DVRs

Check the values on the CableCard menus first. Do they match the article what they should say?


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

I have a Cisco card so unfortunately the first link is no help (I did go to look at the Cisco CA pages but not the same...).

The signal strength meter shows zero signal strength on all channels and as I said the tech said I have a strong signal in the coax cable. Strangely, by accident I found that the Comcast help and support channel came in on the first CC install and the strength measured at 47-50%. It did not ever come in with the second card. On this third card if I leave that channel on it will come in occasionally with lots of pixelation. This is the only channel that ive seen during these attempts, maybe it is broadcast differently...

Thanks for your reply!


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

rick123 said:


> I have a Cisco card so unfortunately the first link is no help (I did go to look at the Cisco CA pages but not the same...).
> 
> The signal strength meter shows zero signal strength on all channels and as I said the tech said I have a strong signal in the coax cable. Strangely, by accident I found that the Comcast help and support channel came in on the first CC install and the strength measured at 47-50%. It did not ever come in with the second card. On this third card if I leave that channel on it will come in occasionally with lots of pixelation. This is the only channel that ive seen during these attempts, maybe it is broadcast differently...
> 
> Thanks for your reply!


Did you look at this page for Cisco CableCard?

https://support.tivo.com/articles/T...ooting-Roamio-Series-and-Premiere-Series-DVRs

It sounds too me that your signal to TiVo is so low that the Comcast cannot "hit" it for proper pairing and activation. What do your SNRs say? See the second link I sent in previous post.

You already said that Comcast confirmed that signal is strong to TiVo (what SNR numbers did they quote BTW?), so maybe make sure the coax cable is properly inserted to TiVo, no bad connectors, etc.

Or maybe you just have a bad Bolt with bad coax port that needs to be replaced / returned / exchanged.

Sorry I cannot be of more help. Good luck


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

Thanks again. All the cable card info was correct except that the active program screen just says "No Information Available" I'm sure that is indicating a problem lol...

Also tried it with the tv and cable input where we use our Roamio. same result...

Thanks for the help!


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

rick123 said:


> Thanks again. All the cable card info was correct except that the active program screen just says "No Information Available" I'm sure that is indicating a problem lol...
> 
> Also tried it with the tv and cable input where we use our Roamio. same result...
> 
> Thanks for the help!


If the CableCard diagnostics menu shows yours correctly paired and activated (assuming you are sure about it), then try rerunning the Guided Setup


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

Well after the 4th unsuccessful cablecard attempt this afternoon I called tivo tech assistance, explained my long story about this Bolt, and they transferred me over to customer service to get an RMA and refund approved.

After 12+ years of loving TiVo, the relationship might be ending when the usefulness of my two current units is exhausted. I can't imagine buying a Bolt and going thru anything like this again. I probably would only buy one if TiVo installed and paired the Comcast CC prior to shipping it, and I ask myself why they don't actually do this, ship the card installed and paired, and then notify Comcast or whomever and gives them the card info for your account (or some similar process). If Tivo did it this way they would know there would not be CC issues and would save on tech calls too. Probably some tech reason why this won't work...

Funny ending though. So I took this 4th CC, which had been paired (but with the V52 thing...) to the Bolt previously, and plugged it into my Premiere that I would now be returning to service. I knew I had to tell the tech to un-pair it first. So I wired up the Premiere, fired it up, and no sh.t! The channels are all coming in on the Premiere even though I had not called tech to pair it up _and_ it had been previously paired to a different device! I know I had to call anyway, which I did, and the process was completely normal. Un-pair, re-pair, snip snip here and there, it's all good. The spirit of TiVo Present was making sure I was good after going thru the last three days.

FYI while trying to find resolution I did come across more than a few similar problems posted on the Comcast board, ie needing to try multiple CCs. Highest I saw was 5 but remember the Tivo tech told me 7 on hers.

I'm thinking that the CC technology is old. My Comcast office said they hadn't had new cards in years; the latest date on my cards was 2014/genuine Cisco but two of them were 2008/Scientific Atlanta. The Bolt is much more advanced tech and I'm thinking the two don't talk together well because of the age difference. So if that is the case I have to blame TiVo for not anticipating this issue and making sure that the CC interface in the Bolt was dumb enough to talk to old tech that will probably never be upgraded.

Future Bolt buyers beware... Just kidding, but it could happen to you too LOL.

Thanks for reading.


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## mayweb (Dec 16, 2002)

I spent about an hour on the phone yesterday trying to get my Whiteout Sale refurbished Bolt paired with a cable card I moved from slot 2 in my OLED S3. Good news is it finally paired after the 3rd or 4th try. Much later in the day I started to get no signal errors on all of the SD and random HD channels. Rebooting would bring them back for a short time. I started to investigate the 2 way splitter connections I have at the TV and while they had good connectors on them, 2 of them, the feed and the one going to the Bolt were NOT screwed in all the way.. like half way in.... After correcting that issue the channel dropping went away. I also have to think that this was contributing to the pairing difficulties. The Bolt must be more sensitive to lower signal than the OLED S3 because it was using the same cable connection prior and there were on station dropout due to low signal.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

mayweb said:


> I spent about an hour on the phone yesterday trying to get my Whiteout Sale refurbished Bolt paired with a cable card I moved from slot 2 in my OLED S3. Good news is it finally paired after the 3rd or 4th try. Much later in the day I started to get no signal errors on all of the SD and random HD channels. Rebooting would bring them back for a short time. I started to investigate the 2 way splitter connections I have at the TV and while they had good connectors on them, 2 of them, the feed and the one going to the Bolt were NOT screwed in all the way.. like half way in.... After correcting that issue the channel dropping went away. I also have to think that this was contributing to the pairing difficulties. The Bolt must be more sensitive to lower signal than the OLED S3 because it was using the same cable connection prior and there were on station dropout due to low signal.


I am glad you posted this, much appreciated.

I am sure most of the issues people complain around are human errors (unscrewed connectors, bad cable, etc.). Issues that no phone tech support can solve


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## mayweb (Dec 16, 2002)

While I found the loose connectors the unit seems to still be entirely too sensitive to signal strength variations. I lost a ton of channels again this evening which only a reboot would fix again. No matter what the root cause is I am not happy with my Bolt purchase and will put the wheels in motion to return it this week. This issue coupled with the software "bug" that will not let me transfer my existing recordings from my Series 3 Tivos makes me less than a happy camper.


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## alexb (Jan 4, 2003)

I have Comcast in Pacific Northwest. Took my Motorola M based cable card out of a ceton tuner and put it straight in bolt. Worked after lady at end of phone used a second system to activate and send the hit signal.

So in general the bolt and cable cards seems like it should work. My Motorola cable card had a red label - maybe ask them for an identical one?


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## mayweb (Dec 16, 2002)

Looks like all the tuners are not working... best way to test that is just start recording on 4 channels adjacent to each other that you know you get and then index through them to see which ones have signal. Doing this I only had 2 tuners working with the others searching for signal. Upon reboot I was down to one tuner working. I am going to power cycle this and will check which M-stream card I have. At this point I am just going to return the Bolt.... and stick with my Series 3s... I have spent hours debugging the issues with it this weekend. I'd have to quit my day job to take this any further..!

I went in to the DVR Diagnostics found in he Cable Card menus. According to the DVR Diagnostics screen only 2 of the 4 tuners ares working. 2 tuners have no signal. All 4 tuners show associated with Cablecard 1. So I am seeing the not enough signal message if it randomly hits one of the non working tuners. I am going to unplug it overnight..let it cool down and see if all 4 tuners work.


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## gssieg (Dec 3, 2016)

rick123 said:


> Well after the 4th unsuccessful cablecard attempt this afternoon I called tivo tech assistance, explained my long story about this Bolt, and they transferred me over to customer service to get an RMA and refund approved.


Rick123, Let me know how this goes I am in the exact same boat right now. Waiting on an RMA as well hope to have it tomorrow.


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## ksalwitz (Oct 24, 2004)

Here's my update from today:
I just installed mine today. So I went to the Cox store and got a new CC and T/A from a not so personable Cox employee. I spent 3 hours on the phone with 2 different techs to 1) get the T/A to work 2) get NHL Center Ice to work. #1 resolved, #2 is a truck roll tomorrow afternoon. Did all the standard stuff:

Installed with splitter for T/A
Installed CC before turning Bolt on
Did Guided setup

called cox to activate CC
Swapped out MOCA filter
Swapped out T/A with one from another TiVo (Series 3HD)
After multiple reboots of both T/A finally works

NHL Center Ice not working.

went through Guided Setup again
Truck rolls tomorrow
Basically I was expecting problems with the CC and had more issues with the T/A. However, maybe the NHL Center Ice issue is a problem with the CC. 
Ken


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

GSSIEG, my unit is with UPS should reach Tivo on Friday at which time I will be watching for a credit on my credit card. Not sure what you mean by "waiting" for an RMA if you call Tivo tell them your tale of woe and that you want to return your unit they will email you the UPS info including a mailing label. I didn't ask if I could exchange instead of refund but I would imagine that is possible also if you wanted to try again. For me, I'm gonna wait a year or so. I have all the advanced features with my Roamio at the moment and don't have 4K. Hoping they tweak the Bolt tech some to help resolve this seemingly not uncommon problem...


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## gssieg (Dec 3, 2016)

Rick123, Thanks for the update yea they are going to send me a different box to see if that helps. No matter what I do I cannot get a good signal (27-29SNR best) however my T/A has a 34 SNR, my cable modem has 36 SNR, and my old cable box has a 37SNR. I'm hoping this new box helps but I'm fearing it won't should be delivered today I'll let you know if it fixes my issue.


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

GSS Just checking are you getting the V52 error? if so do let me know if you get your next Bolt unit working.


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## gssieg (Dec 3, 2016)

rick123 said:


> GSS Just checking are you getting the V52 error? if so do let me know if you get your next Bolt unit working.


Rick, you may want to call Tivo back... Just got my replacement box hooked it up went through the config and 36SNR (Same as my TA and 1 under my modem) and perfect reception no V52 errors anymore! Considering all of the pain I went through with TIVO I'm kind of pissed off but hey it works!


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## ksalwitz (Oct 24, 2004)

I hope that this is helpful. It was somewhat painful, but the bottom line is that the Cox TiVo specialist (and he is take my word for it) *took the time to diagnose the problem and resolve it*. The specialist that came to my house also happened to be the same person that resolved my problems with the series 3 boxes in 2008/2009. Here in Arizona the problem was so bad that Cox, TiVo and Cisco all had developers working in Phoenix to come up with a firmware patch that resolved the issue(s). My new TiVo Bolt works fine with the cable card (not a newer one either) and the tuning adapter (Cisco STA1520). I won't go into all of the details. This will be long enough as it is.  It did take 3 visits from Cox to get the problem resolved (2 from a 3rd party subcontractor and 1 from Cox), however it was a signal problem. The reason why this was obvious, is that there are 3 (three) TiVo's in my house. 2 TCD652160 (series 3 HD) and my recently acquired Bolt (TCD849500). 2 of the 3 were not working. 1 HD and the Bolt. They had the same problem, but the Bolt threw up the V52, V53 errors whereas the HD just didn't receive any of the switched digital signals. Both devices were receiving the cablecard channels indicating that the cablecard was working fine. The issue was with the switched channels, so the culprit was obviously the TA. The question then was why does the one HD unit work fine and the other two have a problem? The answer turned out to be signal quality. The two that were not working were on the same split in the cable. The HD TiVo that was working was on a different split. The tuning adapters couldn't connect to the head unit to receive the channels. You can see this from your TiVo by going to the tuning adapter screen->Diagnostics->RF Statistics-> the setting "DAVIC" should have a status of "connected". Mine did not. One had a "?" and the other had some ambiguous status. The working one had "connected". There is also another value the technician looked at that showed something regarding a signal strength or quality. Of this I'm not sure. He did install a filter/signal booster which I took a picture of.














After installing this device the signal strength/quality boosted significantly. The T/A's both went to "connected" status (there was some re-booting, and I believe one of the T/A's was bad so it was replaced as well), and I began to receive all of my channels PLUS the NHL Center Ice package was working as well. Problem completely solved.

I had all of this finished two weeks ago. I wanted to wait and make sure that everything was stabilized before I posted this solution/result. The Specialist that I had come to my house works on at least 4 or 5 of these (TiVo) issues a week. He stated that the only time there was a problem with a TiVo was one time when the cable card would not seat in the slot due to defective manufacturing (TiVo). All of the other issues have been caused something other than the TiVo. I love my new Bolt.
KJS


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