Issue with TA not being recognized

[CaptainOverSpray]

Hello,

I seem to be having some issues with my TA disappearing a few times each week. It will work good for a few days and then it will just stop being recognized by my system till I restart the HTPC. Then it work fine. You can be switching channels to SDV and all of a sudden the SDV01 error will pop up. Anyone else seeing this. I have the first gen Ceton PCIe card with the latest beta firmware and drivers installed.

[JohnW248]

Haven't seen that but what cableCARD and TA do you have? Cisco or Moto? I have a Cisco system and can provide some help there, but Moto works differently.

For example when the TA isn't working, what does the tuning resolver tab say in the web gui for the Ceton? Need a lot more information to start tracking this down. Aside from all the issues you can have with the cable company and connections and signal levels, there are also a couple of services that need to be installed on your computer and one that starts when you boot and one that runs.

Go to the web gui and look at that page and then right click and open the diagnostic map in another tab and start gathering information when it is working so you have a comparison when it stops.

[CaptainOverSpray]

Scientific Atlanta Cable card and cisco TA STA1520.

[CaptainOverSpray]

Here is what the Tuning resolver tab says now while it is working. next time it fails I will post that.

TUNING ADAPTER
Authorized: Yes
OpStatus: Ready
ChanTblLoadTime: 04/25@09:12:51
HmacKeyGenTime: 04/25@09:47:36
TA CONFIG FILE
LoadTime: 04/25@09:12:50
Version: 04/15@11:08:50
Size: 7KB
NumChan/Split/Desc: 603/0/4
LastLoadErr: NoErr
LastErrTime: n/a
APDU STATISTICS
Total Tx/Rx: 202/94
Status Tx/Rx: 91/7

[erkotz]

What does it say on the SWITCHED DIGITAL VIDEO link?

[CaptainOverSpray]

CLIENT
Authorized: Yes
Service Gp: 53405
RF Ip Addr: 10.119.111.29
SDV Channels: 289
SERVER
Status: Ready
Time: 04/25@09:12:52
Pri Ip-Port: 172.23.1.68-22410
Sec Ip-Port: 0.0.0.0-22410
SDV PROTOCOL STATISTICS
SelInd Rx: 0
SelResp Tx: 0
QryReq Rx: 0
QryConf Tx: 0
EvInd Rx: 0

[JohnW248]

You can keep a web page open on your computer with the Mini Carousel tab if you refresh that page (F5) and it doesn't load then the TA has gone off line. Here is what an example looks like (this is information from your node and is how the TA knows what has to come from the headend and what is already on the line from requests from your neighbors, etc.)
MINI CAROUSEL INFO
Status: CacheReady
Def Freq: 555 MHz
Tvp/Tv Id: n/a
Load Time: 04/25@02:11:18
Version: 24
Size: 1792 bytes
Num Entries: 108
Cache Hits: 19
Cache Misses: 0
Cache Overrides: 0
Load Count: 101
Load Failures: 40
Last Load Err: ReadErr
Err Time: 04/23@20:31:16

[erkotz]

What do these say when it is not working?

[CaptainOverSpray]

What I have posted is with it working. I will post new ones them once it fails. I did notice that I had the latest beta FW and HW but not the drivers and diag. I updated that today to see if that also helps. Also reset the tuner information from diag and reset it up in WMC after the update.

[barnabas1969]

I haven't posted in this thread because erkotz was handling it, and Ceton does provide very good support for their InfiniTV tuners. But, I'm wondering what kind of signal strength and SNR the OP is seeing on the Tuning Adapter (Tuning Resolver). I don't remember what web page it is on, but there is a place where it shows the signals for the TA.

Your FDC signal strength should be between +/- 10dB and the SNR should be close to 35dB. The RDC should be between +25dB to +50dB. If the signals are out of this range for the TA, then this could be the source of your problems.

[JohnW248]

DIAGNOSTICS NAVIGATION MAP
Status Summary
POST and Boot Results
Versions and MACs
Network and Tuning Status
RF Statistics ----It's in this tab
PowerKEY Information
QPSK SIL Information
Bootloader Information
SAM Information
SARA Information
Component Information
SAM EDCT Information
SWITCHED DIGITAL VIDEO
SDV MINI CAROUSEL
SDV SESSION INFO A

[CaptainOverSpray]

Here is what the tab has. Looks to be ok except for I am not seeing RDC.

CURRENT FDC
Freq: 73.000 MHz
DAVIC: Connected
Status: Locked
Level: -5 dBmV
Seconds: 83329
Corr Bytes: 106
Uncor Blks: 483
Errs Avg/Inst: 0 / 0
Total Bytes: 1836862002
S/N: 32 dB
CURRENT QAM
Freq: 717.000 MHz
Tuning Mode: QAM-256
Status: Locked
Level: 2 dBmV

[JohnW248]

You have to go to page two (at the bottom)
CURRENT FDC
Freq: 74.500 MHz
DAVIC: Connected
Status: Locked
Level: 1 dBmV
Seconds: 6680556
Corr Bytes: 49
Uncor Blks: 180
Errs Avg/Inst: 0 / 0
Total Bytes: 597267512
S/N: 32 dB
CURRENT QAM
Freq: 801.000 MHz
Tuning Mode: QAM-256
Status: Locked
Level: 3 dBmV
NextPage Previous Refresh Home

S/N: 39 dB
Seconds: 24542
Corr Bytes: 0
Uncor Blks: 0
Errs Avg/Inst: 0 / 0
EQ Gain: 1.0
CURRENT RDC
Freq: 15.000 MHz
Power: 46 dBmV
Delay: 638 uSec
Retrans: 0
NextPage Previous Refresh Home

[CaptainOverSpray]

Alright that looks good also.

S/N: 36 dB
Seconds: 12395
Corr Bytes: 0
Uncor Blks: 0
Errs Avg/Inst: 0 / 0
EQ Gain: 1.0
CURRENT RDC
Freq: 16.500 MHz
Power: 41 dBmV
Delay: 654 uSec
Retrans: 42

[JohnW248]

Alright that looks good also.

S/N: 36 dB
Seconds: 12395
Corr Bytes: 0
Uncor Blks: 0
Errs Avg/Inst: 0 / 0
EQ Gain: 1.0
CURRENT RDC
Freq: 16.500 MHz
Power: 41 dBmV
Delay: 654 uSec
Retrans: 42

The Retrans is the number of times the TA had to recontact the node or headend when it didn't get a reply...in short that is indicative of the problem you described. I would guess that the issue might be at the node or noise on the line. Something they need to come out and resolve. Contact the national cableCARD desk and tell them about the problem with the TA and the Retrans number and see what they say. I checked four of my TAs and they all show 0 for Retrans.

TWC National cableCARD 8665322598

[CaptainOverSpray]

Is that supposed to be a publicly known number? Seems like last time I called they asked how I got through to them without going through the front line support first.

[barnabas1969]

Is that supposed to be a publicly known number? Seems like last time I called they asked how I got through to them without going through the front line support first.

What difference does it make? Have you ever had the tier 1 support folks help you with a CableCARD issue? Plus, after you've explained the whole situation to tier 1, don't you ALWAYS have to repeat the entire freaking story when they transfer you to the next person, and the next, and so-on?

In my experience, none of them even bothers to pass essential info to the next person, like my name and account number. That irritates the living crap out of me. I especially hate it when they have an automated system that asks you to enter your account number, phone number, or SSN... and then when a human answers the phone, they ask the same damn question again! What's the point of the automated system?

[CaptainOverSpray]

I agree I was just wondering since I work in a tier 3 type position and I get irritated when my direct contact info get thrown out.

[barnabas1969]

I agree I was just wondering since I work in a tier 3 type position and I get irritated when my direct contact info get thrown out.

I work in a tier 3 position too, but we don't deal with the public at large. Our callers are our corporate customers. There are a few of them who just call me directly because they know they'll get an honest, accurate answer from me. I don't mind it too much... it doesn't happen often.

<rant>
The thing about the automated system that bothers me is that, in my last job, I installed one and configured it. I wrote the code to interface it to our account processing system. When a caller entered their account info, and then got transferred to a human, their account information automatically popped up on the screen of the person's computer... so I KNOW it's possible, and that's the way it should be done. Our customer service people would just confirm the name of the caller and other info to verify the identity of the caller (last 4 of the SSN, mother's maiden name, etc)... but they didn't ask for the account number again, because obviously the caller knew the account number or they wouldn't have entered it on their telephone keypad.
</rant>

[JohnW248]

Is that supposed to be a publicly known number? Seems like last time I called they asked how I got through to them without going through the front line support first.

I didn't think it was "secret" and I have it on speed dial and they "all know me" back there and we're on a first name basis. Since you have high retrains errors also check your cableCARD tab for possible DAVIC errors (cableCARD tab from the web gui and righ click on DAVIC Info watch for any high error counts which might be indicative of noise on your drop.

Cisco CableCARD(tm)
Network Interface-DAVIC

Host Type: One-Way
FDC Status
Frequency: 74500 kHz
Data Rate: 1.544 Mbps
RS Corr Err: 8
RS Uncorr Err: 1
Status: Locked