TWC rebooting of boxes

[Dave Bruemmer]

Can anyone tell me why I have to constantly reboot my TWC boxes? I have 3 boxes (1 HD, and 2 SD). I have decent electric service in my neighborhood, rarely ever losing power in my home. I can go years without even experiencing one momentary or glitch. I am a bit eccentric, and even with dependable electric service, my entire audio system, TVs, cable boxes, and computer are on a zero switchover time UPS, with plenty of surge protection even before it. In other words, the boxes never ever lose power. The HD box requires a reboot about twice a month. The SD boxes, about once every two or three months. A TWC tech was recently in my house to install a line amp, but that didn't change the need for rebooting, and I completely forgot to ask him about the reboot problem. Is this typical for TWC, to always reboot these boxes, and if so, why don't they put reboot buttons on the front of the boxes, so you don't have to fumble with pulling out the connector in the back? What a pain. I should also add that most of the rebooting on each particular box needs to take place after I have been using it for 2-3 hours. Never do all boxes need to be rebooted at the same time. One minute channels are working, the next minute they aren't. I hate to have a TWC tech come back again, because some of these guys are sub-contractors, and I seem to know more than they do. I am also aware of the software upgrades TWC does to boxes usually after midnight. These reboots take place at other times not even close to the software upgrades. BTW, I am not in a high RF or electromagnetic environment.

[Jack 1000]

Can anyone tell me why I have to constantly reboot my TWC boxes? I have 3 boxes (1 HD, and 2 SD). I have decent electric service in my neighborhood, rarely ever losing power in my home. I can go years without even experiencing one momentary or glitch. I am a bit eccentric, and even with dependable electric service, my entire audio system, TVs, cable boxes, and computer are on a zero switchover time UPS, with plenty of surge protection even before it. In other words, the boxes never ever lose power. The HD box requires a reboot about twice a month. The SD boxes, about once every two or three months. A TWC tech was recently in my house to install a line amp, but that didn't change the need for rebooting, and I completely forgot to ask him about the reboot problem. Is this typical for TWC, to always reboot these boxes, and if so, why don't they put reboot buttons on the front of the boxes, so you don't have to fumble with pulling out the connector in the back? What a pain. I should also add that most of the rebooting on each particular box needs to take place after I have been using it for 2-3 hours. Never do all boxes need to be rebooted at the same time. One minute channels are working, the next minute they aren't. I hate to have a TWC tech come back again, because some of these guys are sub-contractors, and I seem to know more than they do. I am also aware of the software upgrades TWC does to boxes usually after midnight. These reboots take place at other times not even close to the software upgrades. BTW, I am not in a high RF or electromagnetic environment.

There could be several reasons for the rebooting.  I had one last night at 3am, with no noticeable changes.  But if you are getting EXCESSIVE reboots, say, every other day or worse than that, you should get a tech out to specifically check the signals in the following areas:

1.) At the back of the TV , Cable Box, and all equipment.  In addition ask the tech to check all cable connectors for corrosion.  When is the last time you have had your cables in the back of your equipment checked for signal levels?  If it has been 5+ years, they might need to be replaced.

JUST AS IMPORTANT

2.) Have the tech check and if necessary replace the drop line on the pole coming into your house.  If signal levels are are far off, rebooting WILL occur.   When you call, ask them to put on the work order for the tech to check all cables to the TV and box, and replace the drop line.

3.) You should get a tech for this type of work, identified by the TWC truck that he comes in.  Unfortunately, you will get a sub-contractor for new installs in most cases, unless you are a Signature Home sub. (The sub-contractor will just come in an unmarked car or truck with a bunch of cables.)  New customers who want cable, may try to call and ask for an in-house-tech and not a sub-contractor on the work order.  It's no garentee, but it might work.

4.) A NEW BOX WILL NOT SOLVE THE REBOOTING IF THE SIGNALS ARE CORRODED OR THE DROP-LINE IS BAD!

Good Luck,

Jack

[Dave Bruemmer]

Thanks for the advice. Being an ex radio broadcast engineer, I know for a fact that all of my coax cable connections are clean, tight, not corroded, and in good shape. I did all of the runs myself about 10 years ago. None are longer than 30 feet. If a coax problem exists, it is outside somewhere.

About 3 months ago, when I called TWC regarding this problem, they were able to tell me that one of my boxes had low signal. She wanted to send a tech out, which she did. Previous to the tech showing up, I only had a passive 3 way splitter. He installed the line amp, and said the signal strength for the low signal box was now the way it should be. He inspected the drop, and felt it was in good enough shape to not replace it. I do remember the tech saying when I first moved into the house 10 years ago, that the drop had just been replaced then, granted, squirrels can do some nasty stuff in 10 years.

To sum up, would it really have been that hard to (design and) install a reboot push button on the front of the converter boxes? I don't think this rebooting would be as big of a pain, if I didn't have to blindly fish for that AC connector on the back of the box all of the time. I could also understand if the reboots needed to take place during storms, but that isn't the case either. Obviously the TWC world is far from a perfect one. I will admit that I do prefer it much more than the Dish Network world I lived in for awhile.

[Jack 1000]

Thanks for the advice. Being an ex radio broadcast engineer, I know for a fact that all of my coax cable connections are clean, tight, not corroded, and in good shape. I did all of the runs myself about 10 years ago. None are longer than 30 feet. If a coax problem exists, it is outside somewhere.

About 3 months ago, when I called TWC regarding this problem, they were able to tell me that one of my boxes had low signal. She wanted to send a tech out, which she did. Previous to the tech showing up, I only had a passive 3 way splitter. He installed the line amp, and said the signal strength for the low signal box was now the way it should be. He inspected the drop, and felt it was in good enough shape to not replace it. I do remember the tech saying when I first moved into the house 10 years ago, that the drop had just been replaced then, granted, squirrels can do some nasty stuff in 10 years.

To sum up, would it really have been that hard to (design and) install a reboot push button on the front of the converter boxes? I don't think this rebooting would be as big of a pain, if I didn't have to blindly fish for that AC connector on the back of the box all of the time. I could also understand if the reboots needed to take place during storms, but that isn't the case either. Obviously the TWC world is far from a perfect one. I will admit that I do prefer it much more than the Dish Network world I lived in for awhile.

I don't know what box you have,

But on my SA-8300HDC you can do warm reboots by pressing and holding in the Power Button for about 10-15 seconds.  A flashing light will come on where the clock is.  Release the Power Button.  About one minute later the box will boot.

Let the box boot and that process will be finished when the clock shows on the display for at least 10 seconds.  Now turn on the power to your box with the box power button, or press the CBL button to turn the box back on, to your remote.

Tip: For an unplug the box, COLD REBOOT situation, it is recommended to first turn off the box and TV by powering them both off before unplugging the box.  Sometimes by just unplugging the boxes without powering down, the box could be in the middle of a data-transfer, where unplugging it, without turning the box off first, can cause issues.

Jack

[Dave Bruemmer]

I did try holding in the front panel power button for 10- 15 seconds, and found it does reboot the boxes. I may have known that at one time and forgotten, so thanks. That should make things a little easier next time. The box that gives me the most problems is the Scientific Atlanta HD box (with no DVR), model # Explorer 4250 HDC.