Hi everyone,

was hoping someone might have had a similar Cablecom issue.

Basically I went away for Christmas, came back and found my tv had lost the Cablecom signal. All cables and connections same as normal. And all reboots of the box etc. fail to work.

So I call the technical guys who tell me that they think my issue is that I have an extension cable threaded from the cablecom socket in the wall up to the ceiling and across to the other side of the room where the box and tv are. The cable length must be around 9 or 10 metres. They say that no signal can be reliably transmitted in a cable more than 3 or 4 metres long and this must be my issue. They wont even book an engineer to look at it unless i sort out the length of my cable (not an option in the room right now).

This doesn't explain how I have been happily watching the tv for last year with no cable length bullshit problems.

Anyway before I cancel everything and move to a life of watching tv on the internet (probably a good move anyway) I wanted to see if anyone else had had a similarly obscure problem and found a solution...

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

Paul

ps I was going to title this thread:

'SHOCKING NEWS - Man encounters problems with Cablecom helpdesk'

Do you mean the co-axial TV style cable? There is a maximum length, which will depend on the frequency of the transmission.

It is just possible you were operating at, just on, or just over, the TOTAL electrical cable maximum length limit, (Don't forget to add on the cable length from your wall socket back to the house cable box in the cellar) and after switching the box off and on, the transistor junction gave up.

Have you tried a shorter cable? Have you tried the box in another apartment?

From your description it would seem you have a failure, and why should that not be caused by too long a cable?

Sounds bunk to me! How does the Signal get to the CC socket? Isn't that through Miles of cable?! (Not all of it Glass Fibre)

Also how did the tech People know about the cable over your ceiling??

Before doing anything else. Try taking the card out of your cablecom box and put it back in.

thanks guys - I did try the card removal trick too but no joy.

I am not saying that the techies got it wrong - I am saying it's frustrating that they wont send an engineer out to take a quick look - trying different configurations is not an option with one tv in the house (42 inches nailed very solidly to a wall) and built in book shelves in the way etc. So even if a shorter cable works, I have to cancel it anyway...

Could you not temporarely move the box closer to the plug and use a shorter cable to test?

Sorry missed your last post. Doh!

I don't think it is the cable length. Try the box with short cable and see if proper lights/channel names etc come on the box display. This way you won't have to move your tv for the test.

thanks jako and polar_panda - what is strange is that the box has the correct channel names (BBC, ITV etc) displayed but the tv screen has the No Signal message....

I know this sounds stupid, but are you sure there is not a problem with the TV? Also have you checked that the cable is plugged in properly - and that you are matching the input channel on the tv with the input the cable is plugged into?

Another dumb suggestion: apologies in advance. Have you got the correct input selected on the tv monitor?

I had this problem recently, on a box about a year old. Cablecom said it was a faulty box and sent a replacement, maybe try ringing again and speaking to someone else. Hope you get it resolved soon.

Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. Cablecom ( in their infinite wisdom ) may have thought that you had not paid and have blocked the signal. If this happens then the signal goes very choppy or just gives up.

2. Restore your box to factory settings ( if you have not already done this ) and see what happens.

Good luck.

You did not say how long you were away. We had a similar situation where the box needed to be "reinitialized" (my word) by Cablecom because we had not used the TV in a while. They do the reset over the cable line. Have they tried to do this?

Second idea (our situation with a new second box) is that the box itself is dead. Push them to replace the box (they may want to send a tech to see for themselves). Ours was replaced by mail when our TV guy talked to them to say everything else had been checked.

CoAx will operate reliably up to a minimum of 100 feet.
Good Coax will run to over 100M.

The support guy has determined that he cannot debug their connection to your Cable Modem. Their tracing ability stops at the wall socket, their systems allow them to test other connections in the same building to eliminate issues with
shared hardware up to the point of entry into your private area.

The Tech Supp guy has made a "reasonable" determination of the problem, however he has not logically eliminated the wall plate out of the investigation.

Your call reminds me of problems we had with our installation, they gave the same response. My partner had a special thump for the wall plate that worked every time.

The problem is within your premises. Double check the wall plate, try a different cable and then call them back if you have no luck. Tell him he has confused CoAx with perhaps HDMI operating limits and that he should check the IEEE specification for operating over CoAx. Remind him that from your apartment to the street/building cabinet is CoAx , and this is running for hundreds of feet.

Take into consderation that the CoAx in your premises is an extension of the buildings CoAx, and that the combined length of the infrastructure , plus your few meters could have exceeded operating limits. It's a long shot but possible.

Mine failed in a similar way recently, this is worth a check - While diagnosing over the phone they got me to record a short section of something, then go to the DVR menu and try and watch it back.
I could watch the recording ok, even though the TV had the no signal / check cables message when watching live.

It was a faulty box, one of the decoders had failed and they sent a free replacement.

Hi,

just to add I had a similar problem - tv at opposite side of where the connections are and so have a 10 metre cable - no problems with picture quality even though I was told it wasn't ideal.

The box was starting up fine but then wouldn't receive any channels, they sent out an engineer and diagnosed the box as faulty. New one sent in the post and has been working fine ever since.

G

Do you still see the box menu when you select the right input on your TV?

If not then the issue is not the signal or the coax cable.

You could connect the coax directly to the TV and search for analog channels. If that works signal should be fine.

best advice, in addition disconnect it from the mains

our box goes down all the time, this is the only solution.

Just to close the loop - Thanks a million to all for some very decent replies - Went through some of the mentioned suggestions last night with them on the phone (tried new cable, tested wall plate, tested signal in separate bedroom wall plate etc.) and it seems like it's simply a faulty box....didn't realize they had a tendency to breakdown so often....they are sending a new one in the post....watch this space as they say.