1. This how to is to repair hard drive, software and some firmware issues that can arise on specific cable DVR and DAC and DCT boxes, First instructions are for Scientific Atlanta hardware.
2. Be certain that the cable box has the coax (cable antenna wire) hooked up to the CABLE IN or RF IN on the box itself and be connected to a "hot" outlet - one that you KNOW works.
3. Test it by connecting a TV directly to outlet. If you get a weak signal, the box will too. Digital boxes require a clean SNR. Remove in-line "surge protectors" on the coax. These prevent the signal from being sent by your cable provider to your box.
4. Scientific Atlanta DVR or High Def boxes: These need to be "booted" or reset when certain errors occur. No audio on certain channels when SAP is NOT set to ON and confounding error codes that one can't seem to get out of. Common yet confounding errors are : No Audio on DVR Playback. No Audio on Certain Various Channels (ruling out SAP which can be enabled through the box, OR the television set itself) there are easy ways to test. If some channels audio is in Spanish when they are normally in English...the obviously you will check SAP first.
5. Disc errors. On screen error on your TV that says something like..."there are problems with your storage disc.." or upon DVR playback instead of playing your program it loops upon itself and plays nothing.
6. Two different steps to reboot box: Simultaneously press VOL+ VOL- and "INFO" buttons on box itself, not from remote. Box will then display "bOOt" and shut down totally. Do not press ANY buttons or try to power on said box. Wait for the correct time to display on the box. This process can take anytime from 40 seconds to hours, depending on how fast the cable company's servers are responding at that moment and whether or not you have enough of a cable signal to fire up the download process. If you call customer service for your provider if this does not work, most likely a truck roll will be run for a tech to come out to your residence to fix the signal issue.
7. When the correct time display is on the Scientific Atlanta box, THEN power on box and problems should be solved. An alternate way to reboot box is to simply unplug unit from power supply and replugging it in. Simply powering it on and off with the POWER ON button will not solve anything.
8. On a Motorola box and/or DVR, the easy VOL+ VOL- and INFO will not work to reboot. Remove AC power plug from wall socket and wait 30 seconds to a minute while box is powered ON. Plug back in to wall socket.Box will "do it's own thing" and power itself on on it's own after the cycle has been successful (30 - 60 seconds) and the box should power itself back to the ON without you doing anything. Time will not display on Motorola"General Instrument boxes unless you set it up to do so in the settings mode.
Common IControl/On Demand errors:
1. MOTOROLA BOX Error 225 : A billing lock to prevent you from ordering pay per views. If your account is past due, or if you have an order to move to a new address in the service provider's "system", this is a preventive measure to keep customers from loading up tons of expensive pay per views and skipping out. Your cable company cannot over-ride this error. If you are not in above situations, your provider can "up" the limit on the box and clear it so you can order PPV through your remote control.
2. SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA: for above mentioned error code, your SA box will display not a code but a prompt to contact your provider by telephone. Same issue.
3. MOTOROLA BOX ERRORS 204...203.. 207..these may be easily solved by simply reseating the coax and then rebooting box.
4. SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA ERRORS 2207: reboot box. This is a general code meaning the box has lost contact with the server. All of your iControl /On Demand orders come through your local cable head-end's servers. If and when it gets overloaded and times out, error 2207/207 will happen. Most of the time this is temporary. Reboot box, try again in 15-20 minutes.
DVR BOX not displaying/recording/playing items
1. Reboot. Good chance of fixing.
2. If your TV displays "One Moment, Please. Your Channel Should Be Available Shortly..." this is a SIGNAL issue. Reseat the line running from wall to the CABLE/RF IN on the box and at the outlet at wall. If no joy, call cable operator.
[edit] Tips
* Have you paid your bill lately? Most cable companies will interrupt your cable box if you are 2 months past due.
* If and when your cable tv goes completely out, most likely it is an outage and will clear up spontaneously on it's own. To generate an outage and have the operators tech's come out to investigate, report all outages to your cable operators immediately. They appreciate the report.
* Most cable TV problems, and I say 80%, can be solved by the subscriber by checking the obvious like coax lines, for no picture on screen and have a box is the TV set itself set to channel 03? Have you installed splitters/moved equipment? Have you a High Def TV and box ?? Make certain that you have the television set to the correct INPUT by using your TELEVISION maker's remote to change from AV1..AV2..VIDEO 1 etc through the settings until you get a cable picture on screen. If your on screen displays don't show on your TV. you either have the TV set on the "wrong" input or that your cable box is not even powered on. Like I said, check the obvious first.
o Motorola boxes that read 888 are dead and need to be replaced. Do not waste your time to call the cable company, just swap it out for a new one!
* By law co axial cable going in to your house should be grounded. If your cable wire gets hot to the touch or if it sparks, call the fire dept and your cable operator. Ungrounded or improperly grounded coax is EXTREMELY rare. Cable coax in itself is harmless.
* Do not place cable boxes in an unvented area or let the vented slots fill up with dirt and lint. Don't place the box directly on top of other electrical equipment including your TV. It needs a good air supply and will break if you mistreat it.
* Todays cable coax wire is rated as RG6. Old house wiring sometimes ran RG59. This is your dime if your house has old thin cable wires in it. The difference between RG6 wire and RG59 wire is quite technical but it mainly has to do with the amount of shielding in the cable. RG6 typically uses quad or 4 different shields to keep out interference and RG59 uses at the most only dual or 2 different shields. Why does this matter? Many of the newer features that your cable company offers such as Video on Demand use Ultra High Frequencies that are usually lost in RG59 cable but are readily carried by the higher quality RG6 cable.
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