Troubleshooting

[Abbey Marie]

Has anyone had their TV spontaneously change the channel or even turn off? This has happened to me a few times in the last 5 days. I thought initially it was a problem with my bedroom tv or remote, but then today it happened to the family room tv too. Now I'm thinking it must be related to our cable service.
We have Comcast.
Both sets are in good shape and are fairly new.

[aboutime]

Yes Abbey. Same here, about once a week. Changes channel, goes off, then comes on. REBOOTS, prevents certain channels from being seen in HD, etc. We recently got COX Cable.
I attribute the problems to the local downlink stations that do weekly maint., generally late on Wednesdays, or Fridays.
No matter what....too expensive, even for limited services.

[Abbey Marie]

Yes Abbey. Same here, about once a week. Changes channel, goes off, then comes on. REBOOTS, prevents certain channels from being seen in HD, etc. We recently got COX Cable.
I attribute the problems to the local downlink stations that do weekly maint., generally late on Wednesdays, or Fridays.
No matter what....too expensive, even for limited services.

Wow, it's not just me! So it's a cable company issue. I've never had a problem before this week, and we've had Comcast forever.
Now to find a way to avoid it happening.

[Elessar]

Mine is so erratic that I hardly trust it. I am about to sh**-can Charter Communications.
The only other one up here is Dish, which stinks.

[Abbey Marie]

Mine is so erratic that I hardly trust it. I am about to sh**-can Charter Communications.
The only other one up here is Dish, which stinks.

Does it do the things I mentioned?

[jimnyc]

When it happens, is it switching to random channels, or up/down. For example, if you're watching channel 7, does it go to channel 8 or 6?

[Perianne]

When I signed up for cable, they offered me the "Prime Package" at a low rate. So I agreed.

I only got channels 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, and 37.

[Abbey Marie]

When it happens, is it switching to random channels, or up/down. For example, if you're watching channel 7, does it go to channel 8 or 6?

Three times that I remember, it went from the high def channel we were watching, to a random single-digit low def channel. Not even the low def one related to the high def one I was watching, if you know what I mean.

Another time, the TV just turned off altogether, and no one was even holding the remote. No lights went out, or even flickered, so I don't think it was a power issue. The show I was recording at the time didn't record, either.
@jimnyc (http://www.debatepolicy.com/member.php?u=1) @NightTrain (http://www.debatepolicy.com/member.php?u=89)

[Elessar]

Does it do the things I mentioned?

It cuts out for no reason...does not flip channels though.

[aboutime]

Wow, it's not just me! So it's a cable company issue. I've never had a problem before this week, and we've had Comcast forever.
Now to find a way to avoid it happening.


Abbey. Both my wife and I have tried to get help from Cox, and the standard questions, no matter who, or how many people they steer you to, always happen.

1.CHECK that your power cord hasn't fallen off.
2. CHECK to see if the CABLE INPUT cable needs to be tightened.
3. Have you had a power outage in the last several hours.
4. If you still are having problems, stay on the line, and we will connect you to a tech
when available.
SO...we waited, and waited. Finally, a tech comes on the phone and ASKS the same 4 questions again before they say...we can make an appointment to have a tech come to your home.

When I was in the navy, going to Radioman A. School in San Diego, learning to type on a teletype machine that was scoring my speed by an ancient version of a computer we called "FRED", which was an acronym for "F'in Rediculous Electronic Device".....I was reminded how COX, DISH, and DIRECT are all the same...basically. The satellite tv versions LOSE picture (signal) when CLOUDS obscure the direct line. And COX is lost whenever there is ANY OUTAGE...anywhere within 100 miles of my TV.

Actually. The Technical Improvements we are all dependent upon, just to watch TV, are almost like our GOVERNMENT. They are in charge, and YOU should never question them.

[jimnyc]

Three times that I remember, it went from the high def channel we were watching, to a random single-digit low def channel. Not even the low def one related to the high def one I was watching, if you know what I mean.

Another time, the TV just turned off altogether, and no one was even holding the remote. No lights went out, or even flickered, so I don't think it was a power issue. The show I was recording at the time didn't record, either.
@jimnyc (http://www.debatepolicy.com/member.php?u=1) @NightTrain (http://www.debatepolicy.com/member.php?u=89)

If no issues with the remote - I would go to Comcast and switch out the entire unit/remote for a new one. With Cablevision I was able to show up unannounced, but you best call first and find out how they handle it. :)

[NightTrain]

Sorry I'm late! Just got back into town a few hours ago.

I would suspect interference from another device / remote. Since they are all Infrared, the source changing your channels are line-of-sight. Is there a window with a neighbor's house within that line-of-sight to your cable box?

Sometimes cable boxes get glitchy and a good old fashioned reboot is in order like any electronic device... I would definitely try that. Unplug it completely for 10 minutes.

[aboutime]

Sorry I'm late! Just got back into town a few hours ago.

I would suspect interference from another device / remote. Since they are all Infrared, the source changing your channels are line-of-sight. Is there a window with a neighbor's house within that line-of-sight to your cable box?

Sometimes cable boxes get glitchy and a good old fashioned reboot is in order like any electronic device... I would definitely try that. Unplug it completely for 10 minutes.


NightTrain. As an old navy computer, comms, techi of sorts. I knew instantly about rebooting, and did so. Which confused the techs on the phone even more.

I have seen the results improve every time we have rebooted, but it seems there are arbitrary times when all the crazy, FRED stuff happens for no reason...not even the COX wannabe techies can explain.

[jimnyc]

Even in the regular computer world, can't tell ya how many times I have been on calls (in person and on phone) and ask the person "did you try rebooting..." only to be met with stunned silence. :dunno:

[Abbey Marie]

Ever see the Britcom "The IT Crowd"? It's about two guys in IT who aren't very motivated. Whatever call came in for help, their stock answer was "Did you try turning it off, and turning it back on again?" They ended up just making it an automatic recording, so they wouldn't even have to answer the phone, lol.

[aboutime]

Even in the regular computer world, can't tell ya how many times I have been on calls (in person and on phone) and ask the person "did you try rebooting..." only to be met with stunned silence. :dunno:


jim, and others. During my many years in the navy as a Teletype Repairman, and Work supervisor. We would often get calls from other departments (primarily when I was at NTCC Hampton Road/CinclantFlt headquarters....when someone would report their Printer, or Keyboard DOWN.
So, we'd do a TROUBLE-CALL, and rush someone to their aid, only to learn...whoever called, had no idea what the RED SWITCH with ON/OFF was there to do.

Which also reminds me of the first few times, during the early years of Home PC's, with the CD stack drive at the top of the Tower. (THIS IS TRUE...I SWEAR) Someone complained their machine stopped working when they spilled their coffee cup in the CUP HOLDER (where the CD's are inserted???)

I thought it was a joke the first time I heard it. Until I SAW IT IN PERSON.
Give a human being something, and eventually...they find a way to screw it up, or destroy it.:laugh:

[SassyLady]

Before we got our "Smart" TVs, we never had these kind of problems. I'm with Direct TV and we have the routine connection issues during storms and occasionally set turns off and then back on. I'm a night owl and I found that it happened during the system updates which is usually in middle of night.

Or, maybe our tvs are watching us ..... :omg: