Comcast CableCARD update 5: Problem solved
Toshiba has shipped me the new firmware, Seine 1.5.0. The television is working flawlessly thus far. I would like to thank those at Comcast and Toshiba who worked so hard to resolve this problem.
If you have a Toshiba television that is not working on the Comcast system, here are the steps that you should take:
- Call Toshiba. Explain the symptoms that you are having. Let them know that you have a Motorola CableCARD from Comcast.
- Ask the CSR politely if they would please send you the Seine 1.5.0 update for your television. If they do not know of this update, ask them to have Paul call you back.
- Wait about a week and a half for the firmware to arrive.
- Install the firmware following the instructions that arrived with it.
- If the CableCARD still does not work, call Comcast and schedule to have a technician fix your problem.
Toshiba America Consumer Products (TACP)
(800) 631-3811
Comcast Cable
(800) COMCAST
January 26th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
WOW! Thanks for all your hard work. I think I am having the same issue though Comcast installed a Scientific Atlanta cable card in my Toshiba 32HL95. I sent an email to Toshiba and Comcast is already trying to fix the issue by sending out a new card on Saturday. Hopefully that will be my problem and it will fix it, but I’m starting to think I’ll need a firmware update before this is solved.
As it stands, my tv turns on and defaults to analog channel 3 (ESPN2). When I try to change channels the dialog saying “acquiring channel data” (or something like that) pops up. Or a dialog saying that I must call the cable company to activate service on the card pops up. The cable company says they have it setup correctly on “their end”
Any advice to speed the resolution of this would be greatly appreciated.
-Dave
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:33 pm
Dave,
You’re very welcome. It’s my pleasure to help anyone out with CableCARD problems. I definitely know how frustrating it can be to get these issues resolved.
The problem is most likely the firmware on your TV. I had the exact same symptoms as you did before the firmware upgrade. I recommend that you first talk to Toshiba and ask them if they would kindly send you a firmware upgrade for your television. Let them know that you are on the Comcast cable system and have heard that others have had problems that were resolved by a firmware update.
If the firmware update does not seem to work, give the CableCARD a little time. It can take around 15 minutes to start working sometimes. If that fails, call Comcast and ask them to send a hit to your card, an INT hit is preferable. Your TV should say ‘CableCARD disconnected…’ and then eventually go back to the acquiring channel information message.
If this does not happen, there is a chance that the hits are not going through. Your best bet in this case is to have a technician visit your house. Make sure that they bring a couple more cards with them.
Everything should start working at this point. The most important part of the equation is the firmware. Nothing will work properly without firmware greater than or equal to 1.5.0. It will not make a difference what Comcast does to try to resolve your problem if you have not upgraded the firmware. Comcast had tried every test imaginable in my case.
If all else fails, I may be able to help you out some more.
July 10th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
I am having similar issues as Dave. Basically what is happening now is that all of my regular channels come in… 2-100 say, but when I get up into the 800s (HD Channels in Boston), only the ones that reflect local channels work (802,804,805, etc). When I tune in a non local HD channel, say MTV (828) or ESPN (849), I get the screen that says call 1800COMCAST to activate the device (this is actually the CableCard–>Cable Pairing screen). What’s strange is my CableCard–>Conditional Access screen says that I am subscribed (next to Auth:, which is Status on some TVs). Some channels just don’t come in at all, for example 839 (Discovery), the TV says low signal strength, but its really not b/c I have had the strength checked multiple times.
I have a 27HLV95 model and I have had my firmware upgraded to 1.3.1, which is what Toshiba is telling me is the latest. I have also had Comcast come out and replace my older Motorola card (v4.05) with a newer one (v4.21). As of right now I have a call into Toshiba, and they left it with me that they are working on it and they couldn’t give me an expected time frame of resolution. I told the person I spoke with that I would call back in a few days. I called Comcast also today, and have them coming out on Thursday to supposedly fix the issue, which I highly doubt will be the case.
Brian: is the 1.5.0 firmware you have specific to the model line you have?
Oh yea, and my built in TV Guide doesnt work anymore after the Toshiba firmware upgrade… not on the top of my list of gripes, but just something else that I would like to get working for the price I paid for the TV and monthly cable.
-Mike
July 10th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
Michael,
I believe that the 1.5.0 firmware is likely specific to the model TV; however, I am not sure. It sounds like there may be two problems at play here.
The problem of the missing guide data may be related to this:
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Posted by haamster on http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,13883644~days=9999~start=60
And the problems abound.
Ok, here in the Central NJ system, they figured out that with the CableCard, some TVs used the public guide stream from PBS for the built in guide on the TV. Fine, no problem…..that is until they started to Digital Simulcast the PBS stations.
Guess what. Once the CableCard equipped TV is mapped to look for the PBS station on a digital frequency it is no longer able to see the guide stream on the analog frequency. Yes, it is amazing that they didn’t think of this when agreeing on the CableCard standard.
So, what we did here is we continue to map the local PBS station (Ch. 12 WHYY) as an analog feed. This way the TVs should be able to pick up the stream as always. The digital simulcast of WHYY is on Ch. 94. So if you want to watch it all digital-like, that’s where you have to look for it.
Now if your system has DSed all of the PBS feeds, well, that’s where the problem lies, I guess.
—
Visit that thread if you need more information. It is very informative, and several techs from Comcast clarify the issues.
I am not sure why you are unable to receive certain channels. Please let me know what happens on Thursday. I hope that they are able to resolve the issue. You also might want to ask some of the experts in the Comcast Cable TV forum at dslreports: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/tvcomcast
DSLReports is a great site and has been an invaluable resource to me in the past.