X1 Technical Issues

Sorry, you have an XG2 not a dvr.

For signal purposes, you could leave it as is or move it to the 3.5 leg, it'll be in spec either way.

For the secondary box, it wasn't able to talk to the dvr before that's why it wouldn't work.

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@CCAndrew wrote:
Kafix15, is there anyway to home run any cables that the X1 boxes or modem is attached to, back to the amp to eliminate splitters?

The -7db splitter, is it a 3 or 4 way splitter?

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I could easily home run the cable for the main X1 box but the secondary box would be a big undertaking. There is only one coax cable that goes through the wall up to the second floor of the house (where the secondary X1 box and one of the DTAs is), so I'm not sure how I would go about running a second coax up to that floor.

 

The -7dB splitter is 3 way but only has two devices plugged into it. The ports are -7db, -7db, -3.5db.

Kafix15, is there anyway to home run any cables that the X1 boxes or modem is attached to, back to the amp to eliminate splitters?

The -7db splitter, is it a 3 or 4 way splitter?

When I first got my X1 installed I had very low signal strength downstream, so they installed a house amp and even then I was barely in spec. I started having a lot of macro-blocking a couple months ago, and after it simply would not go away on its own I finally called to have a tech come out. They said the amp was causing noise and replaced it with another, then said my levels were too hot and installed a splitter to bring them down. They were really nice guys, but I'm still a bit dumbfounded by that, to amplify the signal then attenuate it because it's too strong? By now I'm sure you've come up with the same conclusion I did, so yes I removed the amp, split it back the way I needed (a 2-way with one leg to another 2-way since I only have 3 drops), and my levels are perfect. The macro-blocking has also improved greatly, almost non-existent. I'm positive my levels were bad years ago, but over the years I have noticed they slowly improved, most likely from techs sweeping the nodes and balancing the levels apporopriately, maybe swapping my tap to a different value, to the point where I was much better without the house amp.

 

That may not be the case at your home, but it's worth a shot. I would say perform your own little audit, if you can and want to (it sounds like you want to). Get an extension cord and a laptop and plug your cable modem directly into the side of the house before any splits, go to http://192.168.100.1 and see what your levels are as a baseline, then figure out each drop and split into the home. It can help to draw it out. Every split is -3.5 dB, which you can round to -4 dB to make it simpler, and potentially more accurate due to a small amount of loss from the connectors and cables (longer runs will have more loss). It doesn't have to be perfect, it's just for piece of mind. As an example, if you have +10 dB at the side of the house, then split it once and go upstairs and now you're -15 dB, that does not add up and you know it's a bad drop/cable/connector and not something else you're pulling your hair out over. My memory is getting worse with age, but I swear in one of my homes I had a nail going through a cable that I didn't know about, things like that.

 

P.S. Be careful about a $40 charge after the tech visit. I had to argue mine away after it showed up on my bill, even though the issue was clearly with the install/amp and not the house wiring.

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@CCAndrew wrote:
Kafox,the box that you have know is independent of the XG2, the box that you had needed communication for the XiD/xi3 to work.

Causes may have been
-being on the wrong port of the amp
-splitters not passing moca (how the boxes communicate)
-bad box

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Thanks. The amp and both splitters mentioned were installed by an Xfinity tech so I would hope they would provide the correct splitters and know how to correctly arrange the the ports on the amp so everything would work as expected. He didn't have the same type of box on hand (you would think they would bring a spare) so we weren't able to determine if the box was good or bad. So what else can I do here?

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@lightstorm22 wrote:

When I first got my X1 installed I had very low signal strength downstream, so they installed a house amp and even then I was barely in spec. I started having a lot of macro-blocking a couple months ago, and after it simply would not go away on its own I finally called to have a tech come out. They said the amp was causing noise and replaced it with another, then said my levels were too hot and installed a splitter to bring them down. They were really nice guys, but I'm still a bit dumbfounded by that, to amplify the signal then attenuate it because it's too strong? By now I'm sure you've come up with the same conclusion I did, so yes I removed the amp, split it back the way I needed (a 2-way with one leg to another 2-way since I only have 3 drops), and my levels are perfect. The macro-blocking has also improved greatly, almost non-existent. I'm positive my levels were bad years ago, but over the years I have noticed they slowly improved, most likely from techs sweeping the nodes and balancing the levels apporopriately, maybe swapping my tap to a different value, to the point where I was much better without the house amp.

 

That may not be the case at your home, but it's worth a shot. I would say perform your own little audit, if you can and want to (it sounds like you want to). Get an extension cord and a laptop and plug your cable modem directly into the side of the house before any splits, go to http://192.168.100.1 and see what your levels are as a baseline, then figure out each drop and split into the home. It can help to draw it out. Every split is -3.5 dB, which you can round to -4 dB to make it simpler, and potentially more accurate due to a small amount of loss from the connectors and cables (longer runs will have more loss). It doesn't have to be perfect, it's just for piece of mind. As an example, if you have +10 dB at the side of the house, then split it once and go upstairs and now you're -15 dB, that does not add up and you know it's a bad drop/cable/connector and not something else you're pulling your hair out over. My memory is getting worse with age, but I swear in one of my homes I had a nail going through a cable that I didn't know about, things like that.

 

P.S. Be careful about a $40 charge after the tech visit. I had to argue mine away after it showed up on my bill, even though the issue was clearly with the install/amp and not the house wiring.

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Yes, this is along the lines of what I am thinking of doing. I think the techs that originally installed the amp did it as a last ditch effort when we couldn't get X1 working originally. When they discovered that the box needed to be swapped out, they didn't bother to put things back the way they were before and just left the amp and whatever other changes they made to the coax. I will have to find some time when no one else is home to complain about the internet and TV not working and try this all out. Thanks! 

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@CCAndrew wrote:
Sorry, you have an XG2 not a dvr.

For signal purposes, you could leave it as is or move it to the 3.5 leg, it'll be in spec either way.

For the secondary box, it wasn't able to talk to the dvr before that's why it wouldn't work.

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Ok, are you seeing anything else that could possibly explain the issues? If not, I guess I will have to get a tech out if the issues continue.

 

Why would the original box they gave us not be able to talk to the XG2, but the older box with less functionality would? Do we have any options in upgrading that secondary box or are we stuck with what we've got?

Kafox,the box that you have know is independent of the XG2, the box that you had needed communication for the XiD/xi3 to work.

Causes may have been
-being on the wrong port of the amp
-splitters not passing moca (how the boxes communicate)
-bad box

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@kafox15 wrote:

Thanks. The amp and both splitters mentioned were installed by an Xfinity tech so I would hope they would provide the correct splitters and know how to correctly arrange the the ports on the amp so everything would work as expected. He didn't have the same type of box on hand (you would think they would bring a spare) so we weren't able to determine if the box was good or bad. So what else can I do here?

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See my reply above.

 

Edit: Didn't see you already saw it. Good luck! Let us know what you find and if there's anything we can do to help from here.

Hello,

 

I received a self-install kit today but one of the boxes refuses to "activate". It's an XiD-C. It gets to the point where it asks me for the last four digits of my phone number and then it starts "verifying your information" and after a while it dies with error code XRE-00294

There's a box with the error code. it says "Let's try that again. Sorry we're having some trouble." and gives me the option to "try again". So far I've tried everything I can think of. Trying again, pulling the power, booting the box and trying again, and again, and again. I've also changed cable "outlets" as well to make sure it wasn't a signal issue on that specific cable run to the room I'm putting it in.I even manaully entered my acct number and phone number as well. Nothing has worked so far. Two of the other X1 boxes I received have worked perfecly. (haven't tried the fourth one yet) 

 

I even tried calling and had the automated system send the reset thing to the boxes. Didn't help. 

 

While googling I found only one other mention from a few months ago about an XiD (in that case an XiD-P) with the same error code. Guy said a tech came out, replaced the XiD and the new one worked fine. So I'm wondering if I should bother trying to get this XiD-C working or just swap it out for a new one when I return the old boxes at the service center? 

Is the ability to extend all sports longer than 30 minutes a technical issue or a feature request?

 

Either way, can somone please fix it?

 

Of course the easy solution is to allow the 1 and 1.5 hour extension on every program, then you don't have to differentiate.

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@Ccncomm wrote:
I get this code on a regular basis. I have to call often and they have sent me several boxes

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could you outline your X1 equipment and how it is wired? any way to remove or reduce splitters? do you have a powered zero-gain splitter that might be losing power?

I get this code on a regular basis. I have to call often and they have sent me several boxes

Is it a technical issue that when you go from one FF to the next, eg. FF2 to FF3, it has to pause first, it can't just go straight to the faster speed?

Is that an issue with my service, or does everyone's X1 work that way (kind of 1980s vcr-ish)?  Maybe others don't have this noticable pause?

 

I don't remember this with the prior comcast DVR platform.  Does Tivo do that?

Anybody else experiencing sort of a slow motion jittering?