TWC Digital Rebuild Area Check OOB Lock CISCO

[JohnW248]

I've been having issues in Los Angeles West Valley with OOB lock, Cisco headend.

This started on June 19, 2014 around noon, I had to reboot the system and could not get OOB Lock on a 6 tuner PCIe device. I switched out cableCARDS (of course got a non-staged card from TWC) and still no OOB lock. Re-installed an old 4 tuner PCIe device which would OOB lock but as I found out later, there are other issues.

A replacement 6 tuner card would not lock on Wednesday June 25 as well. Tried two different cableCARDS, different dongles, etc with no luck. Went back to the 4 tuner card and of course it had to be re-paired and TWC had a heck of a time getting the CP authorization to take even though I got a 100 EMMS successfully. What I've since discovered is there are other "unlocked" areas. If you go to the cableCARD tab and open the Diagnostic Tab, keep paging down and eventually you'll get to:

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Generic Host Diagnostic Report
5. FAT Status Report
PCR Lock: Locked (on another system west of me not locked)
MOD-Mode: 256-QAM
Carrier Lock: Locked (on another system west of me not locked)
SNR: 36.8dB
Signal Level: 6.4dBmV (on another system this reads 1345.91)

and

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Generic Host Diagnostic Report
6. FDC Status Report:
FDC Center Freq: 1009.40MHz (This should be 74500 here)
Carrier Lock: Not locked (This should be locked)

This page on the 6 tuner devices showed Not Locked
Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Network Interface-DAVIC

Host Type: One-Way
FDC Status
Frequency: 74500 kHz
Data Rate: 1.544 Mbps
RS Corr Err: 0
RS Uncorr Err: 0
Status: Locked

Also the MER on this system is 25/10 on the friends system its 35/10

If you're in a rebuild area in Los Angeles, San Diego, Parts of New York and North Carolina, could you please check your cableCARD for OOB lock and MER and if you have PCR lock and FDC lock?

[JohnW248]

Update on errors at my location:

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Generic Host Diagnostic Report
5. FAT Status Report
PCR Lock: Not locked
MOD-Mode: 256-QAM
Carrier Lock: Not Locked
SNR: 0.0dB
Signal Level: 6481.6dBmV

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Generic Host Diagnostic Report
6. FDC Status Report:
FDC Center Freq: 1009.40MHz
Carrier Lock: Not locked

And one SD device is also now showing a PCR error as well (and its so far out of range it thinks its analog!)

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Generic Host Diagnostic Report
5. FAT Status Report
PCR Lock: Not locked
MOD-Mode: Analog
Carrier Lock: Not Locked
SNR: 0.0dB
Signal Level: 6425.6dBmV

[erkotz]

The status of TWC area in other states (or even other areas near you) is largely irrelevant - there will be multiple hubs in your area, and different areas will have completely separate systems.

The FAT status being unlocked is not necessarily indicative of a problem. Most of those CableCARD MMI screens on Cisco cards are misleading.

If you have multiple devices reporting OOB issues, you should have your cable operator come out and check your OOB signal.

[JohnW248]

The status of TWC area in other states (or even other areas near you) is largely irrelevant - there will be multiple hubs in your area, and different areas will have completely separate systems.

The FAT status being unlocked is not necessarily indicative of a problem. Most of those CableCARD MMI screens on Cisco cards are misleading.

If you have multiple devices reporting OOB issues, you should have your cable operator come out and check your OOB signal.

I wanted others in Southern California who are now on the "coming soon" TBD digital rebuild to check their signals. Other devices on this drop are getting OOB lock on DAVIC but Ceton devices here and at another location on this system (TWC West Valley 0196) have the same problems and they are on a different hub and located in West HIlls and I'm in Northridge.

So it isn't just an issue here, just what and where the issue is remains to be seen. What I do know is I've spent many hours trying to get the 6 tuner card working AGAIN which had flawless performance for a long time and I don't think there was anything wrong with the device but rather something in the OOB signal as sent.

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Generic Host Diagnostic Report
5. FAT Status Report
PCR Lock: Not locked
MOD-Mode: 256-QAM
Carrier Lock: Not Locked
SNR: 0.0dB
Signal Level: 6481.6dBmV

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Generic Host Diagnostic Report
6. FDC Status Report:
FDC Center Freq: 1009.40MHz
Carrier Lock: Not locked
Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Network Interface-DAVIC

Host Type: One-Way
FDC Status
Frequency: 74500 kHz
Data Rate: 1.544 Mbps
RS Corr Err: 0
RS Uncorr Err: 0
Status: Locked

and the MER here is not 25db/10 and in West Hills it is 35db/10

[kd6icz]

I will let you know how it goes in Fullerton as soon as they convert my area. I "think" we are now all digital here. The channel realignment was postponed to a future unknown date. It was supposed to happen on 6/17.

Oh and we are Motorola here.

Charter told my dad that Cisco can't support 6 tuners. 4 tuners max. That didn't sound right to me as the M card standard supports up to 6 tuners.

[JohnW248]

Cisco equipment can and does support 6 tuners as long as your cable system has upgraded the FW on your Tuning Adapter if you SDV, the last two or three versions have supported 6 tuners. Currently here we're on STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.1901

[CrunchyDoodle]

For what it's worth . . . .

I successfully installed a Ceton ETH 6 here in Woodland Hills (TWC, West Valley digital) a few weeks ago. Once I got a good ETH 6, it's worked nearly perfectly. Never a problem with CISCO CableCard or tuning adapter. When I was setting up the system for the ETH 6, TWC took almost 15 minutes updating the CableCard firmware, and of course the tuning adapter takes quite a while to get its mapping data. I was also offered three variations of the West Valley digital lineup. I took the simplest looking one and it worked. When they put in the new lineup (coming soon) we'll have to pick a different one, I guess. I live in a condo complex that negotiated a bulk deal with TWC some years ago. I'm not sure what I'll be getting.

Bye.

PS. I have tested recording 6 HD channels - flawless.

[JohnW248]

Well that's good to know. If you have a chance can you post your hub id? It's on the diagnostic page of the cableCARD and looks like this:
Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Diagnostics
H/W Model: 0803, Ver: 0010
MAC Address: 44:E0:8E:DD:18:1D
SL. No: PKKZGWHVW, Mode: MMODE
Boot Time Fri Jun 27 2014, 3:06:20 PM GMT
Current Time Sat Jun 28 2014, 3:59:46 PM GMT
Free Memory: 1518 KB
Bldr Ver: 124
OS Ver: PKEY1.5.3_F.p.1101
Build Time: Jun 6 2013, 16:26:58
Resource Status: 00021C1F00027DBF
BFS: Received, Hub ID: 44

[CrunchyDoodle]

As requested:

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Diagnostics
H/W Model: 0803, Ver: 0010
MAC Address: 10:EA:59:1E:99:7D
SL. No: PKCRVLRFF, Mode: MMODE
Boot Time
Mon Jun 23 2014, 5:24:50 PM GMT
Current Time
Sun Jun 29 2014, 7:39:11 AM GMT
Free Memory: 1517 KB
Bldr Ver: 124
OS Ver: PKEY1.5.3_F.p.1101
Build Time: Jun 6 2013, 16:26:58
Resource Status: 00021C1F00027DBF
BFS: Received, Hub ID: 24

[JohnW248]

Thanks, that helps me narrow this down on the OOB MER 25db/10 to either my hub or node.