X1 Technical Issues

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The first thing I would check is to make sure your Comcast gateway is setup right. The moca must be turned off on the gateway so it doesn't confict with that box. If it is a arris gateway this can be done on the console. If it is a technicolor 105+ than you must call modem support.

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Pizza,

Just an FYI_

I have an ARRIS TG862 and I have NEVER had to turn anything off in the MOCA for that device....

I believe that the LOCATION of the POE filter has more to do with this than anything else...

Just my 2 cents...

-=Ray=-

Ray the let me give the IT lowdown on what happens..The gateway will broadcast the moca at the same time that the two boxes are trying to talk. Since Comcast has not set the firmware on the gateway to talk to the x1 boxes and vise versa they are trying run on the same sub channel without knowledge of each other doing it.

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@ComcastIrma wrote:

Hello @Rustyben,

 

Appointments are always schedule with customer's time zone.  As soon as we pulled their account to schedule the appointment, the time frame given are on their own time zone.

 

Thanks,

 

Comcast Irma 

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I know that is what they say but when they offer 8-10 then the my account says 9-11 and the tech says it is 9-11 on his system shows you there is a proble. my live time indicator is showing eastern time now on 146.05 clock is right

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@ComcastIrma wrote:

Your appointment has been confirmed for Friday 10/17/14 between 8-10 AM.   Please keep me posted after tech's visit.

 

Thanks, 

 

Comcast Irma 

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In the meantime, I discovered the "cable signal strength" menu in settings/comcast labs. Currently, it reports my signal strength as "good". I've enable the low signal indicator, so I suppose I'll get on-screen notification next time my signal starts to degrade. What is the metric used to measure signal strength? Is there a recommended minimum level for X1 to function correctly? I would like to verify when the service tech comes.

Here is a thought. Signal strength monitoring should have been an essential feature of X1 before public rollout. Not only should the user be notified of a low signal that could impact service, but Comcast should be monitoring all boxes for low signal notifications so they can flag a misbehaving receiver and notify customers that they may be having a bad experience. The burden should not be on the user to report bad service when it can be detected remotely. DirecTV used to notify me when it detected my receiver had disconnected my from home wireless network.

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@raffenet wrote:

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@ComcastIrma wrote:

Your appointment has been confirmed for Friday 10/17/14 between 8-10 AM.   Please keep me posted after tech's visit.

 

Thanks, 

 

Comcast Irma 

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In the meantime, I discovered the "cable signal strength" menu in settings/comcast labs. Currently, it reports my signal strength as "good". I've enable the low signal indicator, so I suppose I'll get on-screen notification next time my signal starts to degrade. What is the metric used to measure signal strength? Is there a recommended minimum level for X1 to function correctly? I would like to verify when the service tech comes.

 

Here is a thought. Signal strength monitoring should have been an essential feature of X1 before public rollout. Not only should the user be notified of a low signal that could impact service, but Comcast should be monitoring all boxes for low signal notifications so they can flag a misbehaving receiver and notify customers that they may be having a bad experience. The burden should not be on the user to report bad service when it can be detected remotely. DirecTV used to notify me when it detected my receiver had disconnected my from home wireless network.

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hold exit for 5 to 8 seconds, press down down 3. on summary hit OK. navigate to in-band network and see all tuner information (if that tuner has been used so far). Hit Exit to exit.

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@RickGr4 wrote:

I have a feeling the new "cable signal strength" meter does not test enough parameters to be of any great value. I believe Shane (pizzman) expressed concerns over this. It might help in the event of a "catastrophic" failure but I doubt it can be relied on as a diagnostic tool.

Should X1 have included something this at launch? Probably but where would this have fallen on the long list of X1's coulda, woulda and shoulda list???

I don't know what Comcast can and cannot detect within their network but I did see an example about six weeks ago. My townhome association had new mailboxes installed. While digging a hole in the ground for a new post, someone whacked Comcast's main underground line that feeds my neighborhood. They didn't completely cut the cable, they just injured it. I noticed no change in performance. But Comcast somehow detected the injury to the cable and had a line crew out the next day. They had it fixed by early afternoon. Had I not noticed the line truck and went and talked to the tech, I may have never noticed what had happened. The line tech told me that none of my neighbors had an interruption or called in. Comcast's network internally detected the problem. I was pretty impressed.

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Here's the thing. The X1 remote apparently relies on non-local services and if signal strength is not ideal, the remote performance degrades. This forum is full of people complaining about their remotes not working well. It's 2014! How can we have regressed like this? And so customers report the problem and Comcast will suggest your signal might not be strong enough...

How did this product get out of QA? If the answer is remotes were only tested in ideal signal situations, well then QA is not doing it's job. If the problem was noticed, why wasn't it solved before release? Who okayed a flawed product? Can the box not fetch all information needed and cache it locally so remote operations don't have to go out to some server? Can certain functionality be disabled when it's determined that it's not performing?

Good tech companies do complex monitoring of their services to ensure a good user experience. They have teams of site reliability engineers thinking about these problems. If Amazon or Apple provided this kind of service, they would apologize and fix the service, not apply a band-aids on each customer's complaint.

Hello Raffenent,

I am going to do my best to address all of the questions I am able to. starting with the RF levels.

Here is the list of what the RF levels need to be:

1. Upstream Transmit Power Level: 25 to 53 dBmV.
2. Downstream Receive Power Level: -8 to 10 dBmV.
3. Upstream Receive Power Level: -2 to 2 dBmV (technically should be as close to zero as possible or if padded should be as close to the padded number as possible and should be as straight a line as possible without a lot of jumping around).
4. Downstream Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): minimum of 35 dB.
5. Upstream Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) Individual Modem: minimum of 31 dB.
6. Upstream Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) Channel Average: minimum of 31 dB.
7. If any of the readings fall out these ranges as you check signals, schedule a trouble call for a technician to visit the premise to investigate/resolve the signal issue.

And here is a list of your current RF levels:

For the most part, your signal levels appear to be ok. However, this test is only done twice a day. It appears your signal levels are changing throughout the day, which appears to be affecting your service (from the chart above, your signal levels look pretty good. But now for example, from a live reading, I can see that your USSNR is too low. This low signal can cause issues with both the remote and the box).

As for the testing portion of things, I can't provide an answer on those. My main focus is repair. And i'm more than happy to do what i can to provide what answers and education I can.

As for your appointment, I also see it set for 8AM-10AM CDT.

If I can help with any other questions, please let me know. I'll do my best to assist in however I can.

Thanks!

Raffenet. Looking over that stats post by Jessie I see where your Upstream snr is way low at the bottom and now it is higher. Sounds like heat or moister maybe a factor here. I would look into that.

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@ComcastJesse wrote:

Hello Raffenent,

 

I am going to do my best to address all of the questions I am able to. starting with the RF levels.

 

Here is the list of what the RF levels need to be:

 

1. Upstream Transmit Power Level: 25 to 53 dBmV.
2. Downstream Receive Power Level: -8 to 10 dBmV.
3. Upstream Receive Power Level: -2 to 2 dBmV (technically should be as close to zero as possible or if padded should be as close to the padded number as possible and should be as straight a line as possible without a lot of jumping around).
4. Downstream Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): minimum of 35 dB.
5. Upstream Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) Individual Modem: minimum of 31 dB.
6. Upstream Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) Channel Average: minimum of 31 dB.
7. If any of the readings fall out these ranges as you check signals, schedule a trouble call for a technician to visit the premise to investigate/resolve the signal issue.

And here is a list of your current RF levels:

 

Pulled DSRX DSSNR USTX USSNR T3 T4 LOST SYNCS RESETS DS FEC UNC US FEC UNC 10/14 21:24 -6.5 37.5 46.2 34.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/14 13:43 -6.5 37.5 46.2 35.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/14 07:19 -6.7 37.5 46.2 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/13 21:31 -6.9 37.5 46 35.3 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/13 13:35 -6.8 37.5 46.2 34.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/13 07:10 -7 37.2 46 30.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/12 21:28 -6.7 37.5 46 32.6 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/12 13:28 -6.6 37.5 46 34.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/12 07:08 -6.5 37.4 46 32.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/11 21:25 -6.1 37.5 46 32.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/11 13:30 -6.9 37.3 46 33 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/11 07:06 -6.5 37.5 46 34.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/10 21:27 -6.5 37.5 46 33.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/10 13:31 -6.2 37.5 46 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/10 07:10 -6.8 37.5 46 33.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/9 21:31 -6.6 37.5 46 32.8 0 0 0 0 0 0 10/9 13:29 -6.7 37.5 46.2 34.5 1 0 0 1 0 0 10/9 07:11 -6.8 37.5 46 33.6 1 0 0 1 0 0 10/8 21:29 -6.3 37.5 46.2 34.1 0 0 0 1 0 0 10/8 13:30 -7.3 37.1 46.2 34.2 0 0 0 1 0 0 10/8 07:07       34.6           0 10/7 21:26 -6.6 37.5 46.2 33.8 0 0 0 1 0 0 10/7 13:35 -6.7 37.4 46.2 32.4 0 0 0 1 0 0

 

For the most part, your signal levels appear to be ok. However, this test is only done twice a day. It appears your signal levels are changing throughout the day, which appears to be affecting your service (from the chart above, your signal levels look pretty good. But now for example, from a live reading, I can see that your USSNR is too low. This low signal can cause issues with both the remote and the box).

 

As for the testing portion of things, I can't provide an answer on those. My main focus is repair. And i'm more than happy to do what i can to provide what answers and education I can.

 

As for your appointment, I also see it set for 8AM-10AM CDT.

 

If I can help with any other questions, please let me know. I'll do my best to assist in however I can.

 

Thanks!

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Thanks. This is helpful for me to better understand the problem. FWIW, someone other yahoo parachuted into my rant to complain about timezones :).

Haha! No worries. I just wanted to reassure you that the appointment was correct.

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@RickGr4 wrote:

Lee,

Once again, your answers are clearly spelled out in this forum. But I will make it easy for you. First of all, which X1 DVR do you have? XG1-P with a green power light of XG1-A with a blue power light? If the problem started a month ago, I am fairly sure I know what is happening.

I will walk you through this but you are gonna need to provide me with the information I need if you aren't gonna do the research...

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@Leedoug61 wrote:
Thanks. But as my particular problem, surround is an option, but will not remain chosen is a 4 week old problem (it worked before) I posted it to the forum hoping for an easy solution. The forum informed me there was anX1 technical issue thread and I moved it to that hoping for help. The only model designation of my 'box' isXC1-P orXG1-P, (it's small lettering) I'm usingHDMI to a Sony5300ES receiver. I've already tried running directly to my Panasonic model VT-50 plasma instead and no help. Still doesn't allow surround setting to remain chosen and although when I select it the audio clues that I've changed something, but the receiver, in auto sound mode, gets the same stereo signal from the box, no change. Even tried a newer MonsterHDMI cable I have, no difference in either hookup method. No surround

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 Rick, i've got 3 XG1-P's 2 blue one green. The blue is the newest 'color' for power light maybe?

this is our 4th box since signing up a few months ago.

I just got this new box a couple weeks ago, it will randomly shut off when I am channel surfing or just no reason at all but my tv is still on and everything. Then if you use the controller it randomly puts in channel 2 while you are no where near it. I tried other controllers and it does the exact same thing so it has to be an issue with the box. I just want ONE month where I don't have to have a technician or talk on the phone with these people. I am so frustrated.