# Cox Cable Cards - Phoenix, AZ



## geoffb1974 (Apr 14, 2002)

Have a TIVO HD with 1 Scientific Atlantic M Card. Losing channels and grey sreen almost daily, its getting so bad that I have had them replace the card 3 times and had 4 techs out. Have them pair and unpair at least once a week. About ready to give up and just take their HD box, which I can't stand. Has anyone in Phoenix got this to work so that it is stable and not losing channels?


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## y2tk (Apr 20, 2008)

geoffb1974 said:


> Have a TIVO HD with 1 Scientific Atlantic M Card. Losing channels and grey sreen almost daily, its getting so bad that I have had them replace the card 3 times and had 4 techs out. Have them pair and unpair at least once a week. About ready to give up and just take their HD box, which I can't stand. Has anyone in Phoenix got this to work so that it is stable and not losing channels?


I have this same issue. Today, I again have the grey screen of death. I've spoken to Tivo and have a ticket escalated to their "Investigations Department". Unfortunately, I'm right there with you. I believe I will be returning my cable cards and going with a Cox DVR. Goodbye Tivo.

I doubt I will ever purchase another Tivo product after this fiasco.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

geoffb1974 said:


> Have a TIVO HD with 1 Scientific Atlantic M Card. Losing channels and grey sreen almost daily, its getting so bad that I have had them replace the card 3 times and had 4 techs out. Have them pair and unpair at least once a week. About ready to give up and just take their HD box, which I can't stand. Has anyone in Phoenix got this to work so that it is stable and not losing channels?


 You have lots of company with no relief on the way. Check out the Cox Cable Cards thread that is dozens of pages long, including many posts from fellow Phoenix-area residents.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

y2tk said:


> I have this same issue. Today, I again have the grey screen of death. I've spoken to Tivo and have a ticket escalated to their "Investigations Department". Unfortunately, I'm right there with you. I believe I will be returning my cable cards and going with a Cox DVR. Goodbye Tivo.
> 
> I doubt I will ever purchase another Tivo product after this fiasco.


It seems odd that a product that works very good overall elsewhere would have problems in a specific area and not be related to the service provider in that area.


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## y2tk (Apr 20, 2008)

MickeS said:


> It seems odd that a product that works very good overall elsewhere would have problems in a specific area and not be related to the service provider in that area.


True. Unfortunately, it's related to the type of cable card having some odd incompatibility with the Tivo HD and Tivo Series 3. It's not really Cox's issue as much as it is Scientific Atlanta and Tivo.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

y2tk said:


> True. Unfortunately, it's related to the type of cable card having some odd incompatibility with the Tivo HD and Tivo Series 3. It's not really Cox's issue as much as it is Scientific Atlanta and Tivo.


That sucks. I'm using SA single-stream cards in my Series 3 and they have worked without a hitch with TWC. Of course, I only use them now with the local HD channels, but when I had the extended HD I didn't have any problems.

I'm moving back to Cox in Tucson next week though... getting a little worried.


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## cyberhobbs (Apr 29, 2002)

For what it's worth, I just today had my TiVo HD set up with an M-Stream with Cox Phoenix. So far, so good. Everything went off without a hitch, but that's not to say terrible things will befall me soon, knock on wood.


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## jkovach (Feb 17, 2000)

I'm in Gilbert, and lose channels 1-2 times per week, requiring a reboot. And about once a month the authorization on the card expires, requiring a call to Cox. Have not yet had to replace the card, which I've had since January.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

jkovach said:


> I'm in Gilbert, and lose channels 1-2 times per week, requiring a reboot. And about once a month the authorization on the card expires, requiring a call to Cox. Have not yet had to replace the card, which I've had since January.


I had my M card replaced once after rebooting would not bring my channels back. The next time, the tech made a call to the office prior to doing the swap. Requested to "hit all equipment in the house and rebalace the account". Within seconds, everything came back without the tech having to do anything.

I was back to rebooting once a week to bring my channels back (not fun, but not a deal-breaker). Then I saw a post which wil allow you to know the next time your card will be hard-down. If you go (I'm sure there's a faster path) Tivo -> Acct & System Info -> CableCard Decoders -> Configure CC 1 -> CableCard Menu -> CableCard CA Screen -> Page 2 you'll see "SubExpireTime:".

It's set for 1 month from the last time your reboots would not work and you had to call Cox. Your card will fail at this time. Doesn't do anything to help prevent the issue, but it's just enough for me to schedule ahead and be prepared to call on the morning of the date listed making the problem easier to live with.


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## beboyle (Dec 3, 2003)

MickeS said:


> That sucks. I'm using SA single-stream cards in my Series 3 and they have worked without a hitch with TWC. Of course, I only use them now with the local HD channels, but when I had the extended HD I didn't have any problems.
> 
> I'm moving back to Cox in Tucson next week though... getting a little worried.


I've been using SA single-stream cards in my S3 for about a year now with Cox Phoenix with no problems whatsoever. Don't start worrying until you have a problem.


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## JayBird (Jan 26, 2003)

I finally had Cox come out on Saturday to install an M-card in my TiVo HD, as well as an S-card in my TV.

When I called to set up the appointment, the rep on the phone insisted that I needed 2 cards for the TiVo, regardless of what I tried to tell her, so I just said fine, send the guy out to install 3, and we'll sort it out later. I figured she was the typical customer service drone who simply didn't know what she was talking about. She had no knowledge of M-cards vs. S-cards.

The tech who showed up had done several TiVo CC installs, some that went relatively smoothly, and others that were nightmares. He came prepared with plenty of spare cards. He understood M-cards vs. S-cards. He understood the TiVo installation process. At the same time, he was glad I knew what I was talking about and had researched the possible issues we might run into. We did the installation together as a cooperating team.

The first CC we tried in the TiVo apparently had been recycled from a prior use, having been previously paired to another device. According to the tech, once they've been paired, they can't be paired to a new device. So, once we realized that they couldn't authorize the card, we had to start all over with a new card. We knew this time that it was a new card since the TiVo did a firmware upgrade of the card when it was inserted. That was a positive sign as far as I was concerned.

After that, we didn't have too many issues, other than that, according to the tech, all the channels don't get authorized until the service call has been closed out, which basically means you can't verify that it's all working right until after the tech leaves. Although he was very patient with my checking things out as much as I could while he was there, he wasn't interested in hanging out to wait for the TiVo to run through Guided Setup, as he had several more CC installs to do after mine.

He said that I should fully expect to occasionally lose channels (requiring a reboot), and that monthly I'll need to call to have them "hit my cards and rebalance the account". He said that a fix was supposedly available from Scientific Atlanta for the problem, but it hasn't been deployed in the Phoenix area yet.

On the positive side, so far we get all the channels we subscribe to, including all the HD channels, on both tuners of the TiVo HD as well as directly on the TV. However, I'm keeping my trusty old series 1 TiVo hooked up recording all our key season passes from the analog cable feed in parallel with recording them in HD on the TiVo HD so that we don't lose anything critical until these issues get resolved for good.


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## y2tk (Apr 20, 2008)

Oddly enough, I followed the advice of calling Cox and asking for a "hit and rebalance of my account". All the channels came back within a minute or so. I'm not sure why they had to replace the cable cards the last time to get it to work. Cox support told me that all she did was "refresh" the cable cards. Something to keep in mind if anyone else is experiencing the same issue.


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## jcaudle (Aug 16, 2004)

My tivo HD is so useless with digital or HD channels here in Fairfax, I have to make sure I only program it for analog or local HD channels, which don't seem to disappear. It has one SA M card which loses these channels every few days. I have excanged the HD box 3 times at Costco, and had at least 3 or 4 different Mcards in it. I don't bother calling Tivo Tech support, they are useless. Never have these problems with my S3 and its to SA Single stream cards. I have a SA cable DVR....for all its faults it records things when told. Why can't Tivo get off their butts and fix this cable card problem with the HD? Its well documented, and not a word from them. I have to keep this equipment for a couple of years to justify the cost, but I will look into other alternatives then.


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## jcaudle (Aug 16, 2004)

Why is it always Phoenix Cox customers speaking here?  I am in Fairfax, Va, there must be other Cox customers here having these problems. I feel for you guys in Phoenix...its a pain....FIOS is a year away here....at least they use motorola equipment, not that SA crap.


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## HarryG (Apr 1, 2005)

jcaudle said:


> Why is it always Phoenix Cox customers speaking here?  I am in Fairfax, Va, there must be other Cox customers here having these problems. I feel for you guys in Phoenix...its a pain....FIOS is a year away here....at least they use motorola equipment, not that SA crap.


Cox Communications in Gainesville, FL has the same SA cable card issues.

I have two HDTivos, and they both get the "failure to load" message about every 7-10 days. Both HDTivos normally lose their cable card authorization at nearly the same time, but occasionally, only one unit will exhibit the problem. Cox acknowleges the cable card problem exists, but for the most part, they continue to blame the problem on TIVO, and don't seem to have any real idea on how to fix the problem.

I have owned my HDTivos for almost five months, and I first encountered this problem about a week after the initial cable card install. I have given up calling Cox to complain, as it is a waste of my time. It is quicker to apply the "manual fix" that restores the cable card.

I appreciate the fact that TIVO finally acknowleged the Cox "failure to load" cable card issue in their help forum on March 17th. It has now been a month since the "solution coming" posting. It would be helpful, for TIVO to have more frequent updates as to progress in resolving this issue. This would be good basic customer service. So for now, we continue to wait for new information, and for a fix that will someday make our HDTivos relaible.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

HarryG said:


> .... I have given up calling Cox to complain, as it is a waste of my time. It is quicker to apply the "manual fix" that restores the cable card....


 I keep Cox techs running out to my house with new cards for a couple reasons. First, I have found the new SA cards will usually be trouble-free for at least two or three weeks and if I reboot to "fix" the problem it seems to repeatedly recur every day or two.

Second, I want to keep the issue on the front burner. Cox will be more motivated to fix a problem that is costing them money and rolling a truck to my house every two or three weeks isn't very efficient in these days of $3.50/gallon gas.


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## Tico (Dec 10, 2002)

MickeS said:


> That sucks. I'm using SA single-stream cards in my Series 3 and they have worked without a hitch with TWC. Of course, I only use them now with the local HD channels, but when I had the extended HD I didn't have any problems.
> 
> I'm moving back to Cox in Tucson next week though... getting a little worried.


I am in Tucson and have an S3 with 2 s cards, No problems for over a year!


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## craigo (Apr 6, 2004)

hddude55 said:


> I keep Cox techs running out to my house with new cards for a couple reasons. First, I have found the new SA cards will usually be trouble-free for at least two or three weeks and if I reboot to "fix" the problem it seems to repeatedly recur every day or two.


I agree. I switched back to 2 Scards for my S3 and really have not had any issues. I'm going on almost 2 months of no headaches. No more lost channels!!! :up:


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

craigo said:


> I agree. I switched back to 2 Scards for my S3 and really have not had any issues. I'm going on almost 2 months of no headaches. No more lost channels!!! :up:


Cox switched out a multistream card in slot 1 for a single stream card last week to once again fix the dropped channels issue in my series3. So far so good with channel loss problem but now I'm getting brief picture/sound freeze ups, which stopped months ago when Cox started using multistream cards in my series3! This is crazy. I guess I can choose between dropped channels or channel freezes -- and I seem to recall others noting this same "choice." Not much of a choice so I'm having Cox install yet another multistream card tomorrow.

I hate to throw in the towel and sell this beast on Ebay but there appears to be no solution forthcoming to get the crappy SA cards to work with all series3 TiVos. What amazes me is that some people have no problems at all, yet I'm on my third series3 TiVo and about the umpteenth set of cable cards.


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## ftlaud_dj (Aug 28, 2003)

hddude55 said:


> Cox switched out a multistream card in slot 1 for a single stream card last week to once again fix the dropped channels issue in my series3. So far so good with channel loss problem but now I'm getting brief picture/sound freeze ups, which stopped months ago when Cox started using multistream cards in my series3! This is crazy. I guess I can choose between dropped channels or channel freezes -- and I seem to recall others noting this same "choice." Not much of a choice so I'm having Cox install yet another multistream card tomorrow.
> 
> I hate to throw in the towel and sell this beast on Ebay but there appears to be no solution forthcoming to get the crappy SA cards to work with all series3 TiVos. What amazes me is that some people have no problems at all, yet I'm on my third series3 TiVo and about the umpteenth set of cable cards.


I hate to say this just like some others, but I've had my TivoHD since Sept 07 and other than issues during the initial card install, I have never had any issues other than when I call Cox and have them change my account. I have 2 SA Cards in my box and just purchased a new TivoHD last week with an install set to take place Monday.

On the issue of when I change my account, seems that when I have returned my Cox equipment they do something to the account that screws things up but all I loose is typically channels 700-800 or the HD Block, once I call them and tell them to refresh the account and send all signals they can send, it's usually back up.

Don't give up on these things, they work, I can attest to it, just get a hold of a CSR at Cox and make sure you tell them you're working on a Tivo with Cable Cards, they seem to understand better or at least may be getting more training.

Miguel


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## av8or (Mar 20, 2008)

My experience so far with TiVo-HD and Cox Phoenix:

About 6 weeks ago, I bought a TiVo-HD and had Cox install a single M-card. After about 3 days, it would occasionally lose the HD channels, which would return with a reboot. After about 4 weeks, I lost every channel above 22 on both tuners. Called Cox, and they said they needed to send a tech. Tech comes the next day, calls the main office, and the channels are back. Says they could have done it over the phone the first time, if the person I talked to knew what they were doing.

Everything OK for about a week, now some of the shows I record stop recording during the show and go to black screen. Unfortunately, I don't find out about it until I try to watch the show and see a partial recording. This has happened four times this week alone. 

So now I've got one of my old series 2s hooked up to a splitter, to make sure I don't completely lose the network shows I really want to watch.

I've owned 3 tivos over the last 7 years, and used to recommend them every chance I got. I can't do that anymore.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

jcaudle said:


> Why is it always Phoenix Cox customers speaking here?  I am in Fairfax, Va, there must be other Cox customers here having these problems. I feel for you guys in Phoenix...its a pain....FIOS is a year away here....at least they use motorola equipment, not that SA crap.


 There is a lengthy thread on Cox cable cards for the whole nation. It is very active so you should be able to spot it quickly.

I'm glad a separate Phoenix thread has been created since it gets confusing when people are chiming in from all over the country and the topic keeps changing. Now if we can only convince you guys from other areas not to hijack this Phoenix thread.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

Just lost most of my non-locals again this morning. I must be on about my 20th set of cards over the past six months. Any others seeing any improvement in this issue? I am beginning to think this problem isn't even being researched by SA and Cox anymore.


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## Shawn95GT (Oct 7, 2005)

2 SA S-Cards here (Cox Phoenix, 85027) - No problems...


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## jebbbz (Sep 7, 2007)

hddude55 said:


> Just lost most of my non-locals again this morning. I must be on about my 20th set of cards over the past six months. Any others seeing any improvement in this issue? I am beginning to think this problem isn't even being researched by SA and Cox anymore.


I have a TiVo HD with a single MCard that got its first card around January 28. After about two weeks I began to see channels disappear that I fixed with reboots until about February 22 when rebooting failed. I got a new MCard on February 25 and have had that card ever since.

I had some channel losses after that which I fixed with the menu trick but after the 9.3 software upgrade (after which I had to call Cox and request a hit) the problems with channel loss remain but now they usually fix themselves. I have watched the channel loss occur and begun to resort to the menu trick but almost always by the time I get into the cablecard menu the problem has gone away. I don't know if this is due to the TiVo software or a firmware change to the cablecard but I seldom notice the problem now because it is fairly rare and fixes itself before I notice. I have suffered only one lost recording (which I had also set my HTPC to record so no harm) and been watching TV on a few occasions when the channels went out and came back on their own.

All told I can now live with this problem indefinitely as long as it doesn't worsen.


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## veryous (May 25, 2008)

I have a Tivo HD with a single SA M card also in 85286. I got this back in late Feb, no problems for a few weeks, then it started just as it did for others. Once a week or so I had to reboot in order to get my channels back. This became a norm for me until last month, when the reboots and pulling the power cord wasn't fixing the issue. I called Cox, who I thought just did a pair and unpair of the card which fixed the issue. They also sent a tech out who switched out a splitter and that's about it, kind of useless for this issue. 

This morning, same issue, the reboot and pulling the power cord wasn't fixing the issue. Called Cox, unpair and repair of the card didn't fix it, and is dispatching a tech tomorrow. 

After finding this thread and posts e.g. 04-21-2008, 03:53 PM #11 JayBird "hit my cards and rebalance the account". I called back Cox. Because I only have a single device, no other cable boxes or cards in the house, they weren't able to "rebalance" my account. This could've been the tech not knowing, or the truth, who knows. 

I saw this post also and decided to look it up. 
04-20-2008, 12:34 PM #9 BrianAZ Tivo -> Acct & System Info -> CableCard Decoders -> Configure CC 1 -> CableCard Menu -> CableCard CA Screen -> Page 2 you'll see "SubExpireTime:".
Sure enough, my expire time was today. While I had the tech on the phone, I had her look when the last time I called them was, exactly a month ago today. I also noticed on page at the bottom of page 4 was "decrypt Fail time status." I hit select and here's what showed up on the next page
0-2-Jan 1 1996, 12:00:27am GMT
0-1-Jan 1 1996, 12:00:48am GMT 
Yup, that doesn't look right to me either. 

I did see these posts though I didn't understand what they were doing:
04-22-2008, 11:58 AM #15
HarryG
Registered User
It is quicker to apply the "manual fix" that restores the cable card.
Yesterday, 06:55 PM #25
jebbbz
which I fixed with the menu trick 
What is the "manual fix" or the "menu trick" they were doing to fix the issue? I'm kinda desperate at this point, and don't want to go through this all the time. 

Thnx!


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## jebbbz (Sep 7, 2007)

veryous said:


> What is the "manual fix" or the "menu trick" they were doing to fix the issue? I'm kinda desperate at this point, and don't want to go through this all the time.
> 
> Thnx!


The menu trick for me used to be as follows:

First, tune to an analog channel. In Phoenix I turn to 94, a PBS channel that is sent in analog rather than as a digital simulcast of an analog station. Then, hit the TiVo button and navigate to the cablecard menu, uhhh, Messages and Settings -> Account and System Info -> Cablecards -> Configure CC1 -> Cablecard Menu -> [first entry, I forget what it is called].

Here you should see "Loading..." followed by a failure notice, rather than see the CA menu. Use the Clear button to back up to the CC menu and wait a couple of minutes. Two error messages would appear at the top of the menu screen and those signalled that the cablecard had reset and would (usually) now work.

Since I got the TiVo software 9.3 update my channel loss usually fixes itself before I can do anything. If I catch it right away navigating to the cablecard menu and into one of the selections usually corrects the problem quickly with the prompt appearance of a fullscreen error message (no 2-3 minute wait) which results in restored cablecard service.

It is weird but so far has made my cablecard problems much more bearable.


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## veryous (May 25, 2008)

Jebbbz,

Thanks for the help, but unfortunately I followed your instructions but never got to the "loading...followed by a failure notice" part. I can see for a brief second the screen says "loading" then all the cable card info seems to appear normal. I say seems because of what I wrote above about the "decrypt fail time status" a couple pages into that info screen. 

I even went as far as to eject the card while on that screen hoping for anything. It looks like I'll just have to wait and see what the tech does tomorrow. I see a new card in my future.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

jebbbz said:


> I have a TiVo HD with a single MCard that got its first card around January 28. After about two weeks I began to see channels disappear that I fixed with reboots until about February 22 when rebooting failed. I got a new MCard on February 25 and have had that card ever since.
> 
> I had some channel losses after that which I fixed with the menu trick but after the 9.3 software upgrade (after which I had to call Cox and request a hit) the problems with channel loss remain but now they usually fix themselves. ..


 The self-healing fix of 9.3 that you mention supposedly only applied to TiVo HD's, not series3's like mine.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

veryous said:


> Jebbbz,
> 
> Thanks for the help, but unfortunately I followed your instructions but never got to the "loading...followed by a failure notice" part. I can see for a brief second the screen says "loading" then all the cable card info seems to appear normal. I say seems because of what I wrote above about the "decrypt fail time status" a couple pages into that info screen.
> 
> I even went as far as to eject the card while on that screen hoping for anything. It looks like I'll just have to wait and see what the tech does tomorrow. I see a new card in my future.


 Unlike you, I get all of the screens mentioned in the "fix," but the channels never come back so I end up rebooting anyway.


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## veryous (May 25, 2008)

And the Cox tech just left...of course before he comes over I turn on the TV and everything is magically working. My "SubExpireTime:" is now reset to a month out from yesterday, and my mysterious "decrypt Fail time status" entries from 1996 are of course gone too. Thank you Murphy's. 

The tech, Tech#45031, Jason Swansinger was very knowledgeable about Tivo's, understanding, and actually seemed to care. I wish all techs from all companies were like this guy. He said, all except one time did this fix the card for him when channels were lost. Yank the card, reboot, wait till the Tivo asks for the card after all done booting, insert it, and it should fix itself. If not, after 10 minutes call Cox, and ask for "hits." "Hits" as I understand it sounds somewhat like a PING but it also authorizes the cablecard, and tells it what channels to receive. If you go to the cablecard menu, the first option, the CA Screen, you'll see on the first page "Emms Processed:" This number should be 0 normally, and raises when receiving "hits." Jason the tech thinks around 84 "hits" you should be authorized. They can send as many "hits" as you want. Then if you go back to the main menu for cablecards, the CP Info screen (5 down maybe), you should see in it "CP Auth Received." Anything else and you have an issue with the card still. 

Jason left me a brand new cablecard for when this one does fail for another 24 hour period, or entirely. He did say depending on who I get on the phone at Customer Service they may or may not help me provision it. Also he told me they're looking seriously at putting the cable cards into a box of theirs first, then you hooking up to that. I'm not even going to think about that, since I'm back at square one almost.


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## orbops (Mar 18, 2007)

This thread has been inactive for over a year and a half. Does that mean Phoenix Cox users are no longer having problems? Or do I need to do a date search?


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