setting up cable TV: WMC can't detect cable signal

[maya]

hi,

I'm trying to set up Windows Media Center for CABLE TV. have two
tuners installed, installed cable card from COMCAST, connected the
cable TV cable (the white cable fro cable TV), but no matter what I
do, WMC cannot detect the cable signal, what could this be? (even if
I take out the cable card and try to configure for just basic cable TV
it cannot detect any cable TV signal..) the cable guy was here over
an hour, we were not able to set it up.. now cable TV works fine
throughout my house, for TV in living room and in the two bedrooms,
but, even though we took the cable from the regular TV in my bedroom
and connected it to the back of the TV tuner in the computer, WMC was
not able to detect a cable TV signal....

was wondering if anybody has any suggestions..

thank you..

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Contact your service provider to pair your CableCARD with the Digital Cable Tuner-
this will activate both so you can receive digital cable content. You will be required to
provide the following information to your service provider:

1. CableCARD ID: This number will be reported in Windows Media Center on the Call your cable company page. (Example:
000-298-933-268-5)
2. Host ID: This number will be reported in Windows Media Center on the Call your cable company page. (Example: 029-000-000-104-7)
3. Data: This number will be reported in Windows Media Center on the Call your cable company page. (Example: 132-028-947-08)
4. UnitAddress: You'll find this number on the outside of your CableCARD device. (Example: 000-02989-33268-246)
5. CableCARD S/N: You'll find this number on the outside of your CableCARD device. (Example: NG3549TA0113)

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

hi,

I'm trying to set up Windows Media Center for CABLE TV. have two
tuners installed, installed cable card from COMCAST, connected the
cable TV cable (the white cable fro cable TV), but no matter what I
do, WMC cannot detect the cable signal, what could this be? (even if
I take out the cable card and try to configure for just basic cable TV
it cannot detect any cable TV signal..) the cable guy was here over
an hour, we were not able to set it up.. now cable TV works fine
throughout my house, for TV in living room and in the two bedrooms,
but, even though we took the cable from the regular TV in my bedroom
and connected it to the back of the TV tuner in the computer, WMC was
not able to detect a cable TV signal....

was wondering if anybody has any suggestions..

thank you..

 

[maya]

this was all done.. the cable guy was on the phone w/cable co. for a
long time giving them all these numbers you mention, that were
displayed on WMC for the card.. this was just to activate the cable
card.. at the end WMC said "you're done".. this was just for the cable
card.. but later, for setting up the cable TV signal, we tried a no.
of times, WMC simply could not detect the signal.. I also had tech
support for my OEM on the phone, he even remote-connected to my
computer.. nothing we tried worked, WMC would simply not detect a
cable TV signal.. after the cable guy left I disconnected the cable
from the computer and connected it back to the TV, it worked fine.. I
simply have no idea why WMC is doing this... my OEM, fortunately,
they have GREAT tech support, and are continuing to trouble-shoot
issue for me...

thank you very much for yr response...

 

[Charlie Tame]

this was all done.. the cable guy was on the phone w/cable co. for a
long time giving them all these numbers you mention, that were
displayed on WMC for the card.. this was just to activate the cable
card.. at the end WMC said "you're done".. this was just for the cable
card.. but later, for setting up the cable TV signal, we tried a no.
of times, WMC simply could not detect the signal.. I also had tech
support for my OEM on the phone, he even remote-connected to my
computer.. nothing we tried worked, WMC would simply not detect a
cable TV signal.. after the cable guy left I disconnected the cable
from the computer and connected it back to the TV, it worked fine.. I
simply have no idea why WMC is doing this... my OEM, fortunately,
they have GREAT tech support, and are continuing to trouble-shoot
issue for me...

thank you very much for yr response...

How many TV connectors are on the card? Did you try any others or just
the one marked for cable? If not try the antenna connector.

You mention that you reconnected to the TV and it works, that's good but
if this is coming from the back of your cable TV box then instead try
the cable that comes out of the wall... hmm the situation I have is

Wall outlet to 3 way splitter splitter

One from splitter to input of cable box
one from splitter to tuner card
one from splitter to second tuner card

If your present connection goes from the "Out" side of the cable box to
the card then that may be the problem.

Note this is just maybe because I do not know Comcast stuff at all.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Error after you insert a CableCARD in Windows Vista: "No Signal"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927529/en-us

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

this was all done.. the cable guy was on the phone w/cable co. for a
long time giving them all these numbers you mention, that were
displayed on WMC for the card.. this was just to activate the cable
card.. at the end WMC said "you're done".. this was just for the cable
card.. but later, for setting up the cable TV signal, we tried a no.
of times, WMC simply could not detect the signal.. I also had tech
support for my OEM on the phone, he even remote-connected to my
computer.. nothing we tried worked, WMC would simply not detect a
cable TV signal.. after the cable guy left I disconnected the cable
from the computer and connected it back to the TV, it worked fine.. I
simply have no idea why WMC is doing this... my OEM, fortunately,
they have GREAT tech support, and are continuing to trouble-shoot
issue for me...

thank you very much for yr response...

 

[Charlie Tame]

Error after you insert a CableCARD in Windows Vista: "No Signal"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927529/en-us

I think you have it, I misunderstood the situation having just been
helping someone with a TV card but FYI I think the same can happen with
tuner cards as I had something similar with mine. Trouble is I don't
know what fixed my problem, I think it was outdated OEM drivers, but the
message was much the same - no signal when I knew there was.

 

[maya]

thank you for yr responses.. let me just clarify that this has
NOTHING to do w/the cable card.. the cable card from COMCAST is only
for DIGITAL cable.. as long as you have a cable tuner inside the
computer you can still get cable TV, it just wont be DIGITAL cable if
you don't have a card.. (this card is the equiv of a digital cable box
and, just like with a regular TV, if u dont have a digital cable box
you can still get basic cable..) but WMC wouldn't detect a cable TV
signal even after we took the card out and tried to set up for just
basic cable...

thanks again...

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Feel free to open a support request directly with Microsoft:
https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=14&y=5&prid=10296&gprid=436922

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

thank you for yr responses.. let me just clarify that this has
NOTHING to do w/the cable card.. the cable card from COMCAST is only
for DIGITAL cable.. as long as you have a cable tuner inside the
computer you can still get cable TV, it just wont be DIGITAL cable if
you don't have a card.. (this card is the equiv of a digital cable box
and, just like with a regular TV, if u dont have a digital cable box
you can still get basic cable..) but WMC wouldn't detect a cable TV
signal even after we took the card out and tried to set up for just
basic cable...

thanks again...

 

[Charlie Tame]

I thought you switched to Mac's or urbuttoo or something other than MS
Vista.
What happen?
FYI, I have three TV's running on Vista, x32 & x64 and on XP Pro WMC 2005.
Two are Hauppauge 1600 HVR cards, that also get clear qam, and the other
is a very old Hauppauge USB that only gets cable.
I have two cable companies, Cox and TM. I have no problems whatsoever
with Vista Ultimate and these TV cards.
Maybe your TV cards are somehow not for Vista, or have the wrong drivers
or something, cause I've certainly not experienced any problems at all.
Frank

I think mine is an 1800 and yes, my problem was only after first
installing with the boxed drivers and to some extent with the included
software which although it said Vista compatible obviously wasn't quite
right. But Vista Media Center gave the same no signal error. After
downloading new drivers it worked but I do not recall if I had to
actually take the card out, power up and then down and reinstall the
card. However it has been fine since. The only minor irritation is that
if an auto downloaded update causes a restart you lose recordings

 

[maya]

Frank, did u read what I wrote? this problem has NOTHING to do with
the cable card, again: the cable card is only for DIGITAL cable, w/o
the card I should be able to set up WMC for just basic cable.. either
way WMC is NOT DETECTING THE CABLE TV SIGNAL, this is NOT a cable-card
problem, it's a WMC problem...
(and yes, I'm still thinking of switching to a mac; if I again in the
future have so many problems w/Vista that I have to do a re-install
again I WILL switch (first I would have to sell my current machine of
course, which cost me a pretty penny, and thus I would have to be able
to sell it really well to afford a mac..)

 

[peggy]

Maya,
You mention that you have two TV tuners. Have you tried removing one of the
TV tuners and installing just one without the cable card and then removing
that one and installing the other to determine if one of the tuners is bad?

 

[maya]

yes, as a matter of fact, when we connected the cards one tuner always
showed a red light (each one has a green and a red light, one of them
always showed a red light) so we disabled that tuner and tried w/only
the one tuner that was showing a green light... but it still wouldn't
work....

thank you very much for yr response...

 

[maya]

Frank, I'm posting thru google.. can't find that group in google....
when search for groups in microsoft.public.windows.vista. hierarchy I
only find these:
http://groups.google.com/groups/dir...public.windows.vista.&qt_s=Search+for+a+group

could you post complete name of the group you mean pls..

thank you...

 

[peggy]

Maya,
I have the ATI Digital TV tuner external w/cable card option. I had no
problem installing it to Vista. Upon reading the documentation however,
before I installed the product I did read that if one had a problem, to make
sure the Media Center product key was entered/changed in Vista. Since my
card was recognized fine I did not have to perform this action. Do you know
if you have the right product key entered in Vista? Not your Vista product
key, but another key that is on the sticker on your case that is next to the
Vista product key. Look at your sticker and see if is correctly entered in
Vista. Check for possible errors like an"o" instead of "0" etc.

peggy

 

[peggy]

Maya,
Correction:
The exact verbiage is as follows:
"If prompted, enter the Digital Cable product key, located on the Windows
Vista Certificate of Authenticity included in the user documentation and
affixed to the computer."

The Digital Cable product key is different from your Vista Product key.
peggy