X1 Technical Issues

Is there a way, within the X1 TV app, for it NOT to automatically start streaming the first channel in my lineup?   (In my case, ME tv).   It makes the app so sluggish.   I would much rather be able to select the channel or DVR recording I want to stream BEFORE it starts buffering content.

We have the X1 platform. Our box in the basement was working fine, after an initial installation problem in July, but this weekend the picture went out. The sound works, we've reset, we've changed the input and checked to make sure it wasn't the tv but nothing has helped. Would love to avoid a service call if anyone has any suggestions.

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@Leedoug61 wrote:
And, as an aside, the forum posts from other folks having this same issue and even some of the 'solutions' given.....none of that would tell me I needed to say what color the power button is. If these seriously advanced x 1 boxes need to be identified by which color the power button is (?) pretty lame. And to seemingly chide someone "for not wanting to do the research", is lame as well. First of all, researching x 1 boxes problems is being done because??? I've done something 'wrong' ? Rather not have your help if your going to blame me. So help me or not, but drop the chiding. So far, no one has helped. My box doesn't even HAVE a update choice in the software. So I can hardly do that. The box was updated 3 days ago,btw, shortly after a customer service conversation via chat with Comcast,. During which I was assured that a service tech appointment was needed & I would be contacted in 24-48 hours. That was 6 days ago, no call. I turned to the forum for assistance only to discover it to be a place where you can be chided for doing something you shouldn't have to need to do?X1 is annoying enough without any extra annoyance thrown in non-helpfully

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There are 6 different model x1 boxes on the market, So that is why sometimes we ask what color light you have. I took A look at some of your post. I see that it will not let you choose anything but stereo. Without swapping your box out you will have to try different methods of turning the box on. Most have found that turning everything off, and unplugging the x1 will get it working. Turn the tv on last. you will have to experiment. Also using the toslink to the AVR works the best even if you are running the HDMI to the AVR. Just change the input On the AVR to take from the toslink.

You may in the end have to get the arris built x1 box, it is hard to tell. There are also other built boxes besides x1 that work on comcast systems, some aftermarket some comcast spec boxes.

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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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Rick,

You are absolutely correct....

Since I have medical issues that I would rather not go into here, I am sometimes awake all night...   last night, I woke up to an RDK-00030 wihich ion reality COULD NOT be cured with power down or a reboot as this was a total COMCAST OUTTAGE...

Including VOICE-DATA-CABLE...

When these situations occur, using a standard IT'S YOUR BOX PROBLEM error message and told to reboot isn't very truthful.

ANYTIME it is a TOTAL OUTTAGE, that EXACT ERROR should be broadcast from the DVR/STB....  it's quirte simple programming actually.... I could writer that code in the few seconds I "do" actually sleep at night!  

It is very frustratuing though, to be told to use the MyAccount APP and to find your WiFI connection is also DOWN so unless your smart enough to turn your Wireless off and switch to your 4G ONLY setting in your phone, the APP is useless.....

Stepping off soapbox now....

-=Ray=-

I had received 2 x PR150BNMD to replace my old legacy boxes.  I received them at the Xfinity Store and was told I could install them myslef.  I then received an email about a Tech appointment the next day to install.  They didnt show up so I Hooked them up and after putting in account number and phone number the bedroom one was working.  I go and install the Living room X1 and it works but then the Bedroom one doesnt work gives me an error saying I do not of the service and to call Customer Support.  I hook up old box in Bedroom and it works with old interface and the X1 in living room still works.  How do I get the second X1 box to work in Bedroom?  The two boxes do come off of a split cable in wall between the bedroom and living room.  Also,  I do not have a DVR box just 2 standard X1 boxes.

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@Tdunphy wrote:

I had received 2 x PR150BNMD to replace my old legacy boxes.  I received them at the Xfinity Store and was told I could install them myslef.  I then received an email about a Tech appointment the next day to install.  They didnt show up so I Hooked them up and after putting in account number and phone number the bedroom one was working.  I go and install the Living room X1 and it works but then the Bedroom one doesnt work gives me an error saying I do not of the service and to call Customer Support.  I hook up old box in Bedroom and it works with old interface and the X1 in living room still works.  How do I get the second X1 box to work in Bedroom?  The two boxes do come off of a split cable in wall between the bedroom and living room.  Also,  I do not have a DVR box just 2 standard X1 boxes.

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 Could tell you how to fix this, but what is the purpose of getting the boxes in the first place. You won't be happy with them without the DVR. those boxes are very slow to do anything. I would get your old boxes back. If you still want them than you are going to have to do some work on the wire or call Comcast...lets us know if you want help with understand all that needs to be done to the wiring.

tDunphy

I am attempting to push a working firmware version to your 150 boxes. For some reason the 150s are not happy with our newest firmware update.

The 150's will restart after the new firmware has been pushed.

Let me know how they're working now.

I have had the X1 system for about a month now and found it to be VERY glitchy. Sometimes the topboxes do not connect correctly with the main DVR box and will not play my recordings. Other times while I am watching a recorded program and try to fast forward through the comercials, it will jump way ahead like 5 or 10 minutes even though I am using the slowest FF. Sometimes the series recordings will record EVERY episode even though it is set to only record new episodes. Other times the whole system freezes up and I have to reboot the box. Sometimes when using ON DEMAND it does not show the names of shows or movies, instead I will get a screen filled with grey boxes. A few times I have had errors in a recorded program that will only let me watch a portion of the recording and then it just freezes. I have tried restarting the show and even tried watching it in a different room but it always will stop in the same spot so the problem is with the recording and not the box. I do not have nearly as much space to record as I did with my old box even though I was assured this DVR had MORE space. I realize that this is a new system and bugs still need to be worked out but overall I am disappointed. The only thing keeping me from asking for my old system back is being able to watch my recordings in any room.

We are newly relocated to the West Coast, with two new TV's purchased at Best Buy. A  Comcast technician came and installed service on 10/14/14 and hooked up the two TV's, DVR, phone and internet with Comcast modem, DVR, and cable boxes that he brought and which were brand new.  Everything has been working fine.

Last night, we were watching a program on the TV and dozed off.  When my husband awoke, there was a message on the TV that said that "This device needs to be activated before we can continue..."  and it advises the user to call Xfinity for service or a techinician to go to an activation screen. He checked the TV in the bedroom and it had the same message.

Below are all the steps my husband and then I went through to fix this.  I can't find anything about this problem anywhere.  It shows as an error code on the Xfinity site but without instructions to reset.  Can anyone help?  The thought of waiting several days for service is a bit maddening as I am home alone all day due to serious medical problems.  We paid for installation, we are paying for service, it's frustrating not to have acccess.

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Our efforts to resolve this:

My husband called what he thought was Xfinity but wasn't.  Instead of walking over to the TV to get the exact number to call, he Googled it and got a number for what he thought was Xfinity but was obviously a paid advertiser who solicits maintenance calls for MSN.  The rep he spoke to indicated that this was caused by a virus infecting our ISP address and said that neither the Geek Squad nor Comcast could resolve this as it's a "Level 5" problem and we needed to pay an-MSN company (one was Pyramid, the other I don't know, but located in Clovis CA) between $300-400 to fix this.  That sounded ridiculous and so I got on the phone and asked repeatedly, is this Comcast to which he consistently replied, "We are authorized to repair service for Comcast (or something to that extent) and that is why the call was routed here."  At that point, I said I was not going to to that, I wanted to speak with someone at Comcast and he hung up.

I then called the xfinity number on the screen and the first gal I spoke with said that this would be easy to fix. First she sent a refresh signal and when that and a few other things didn't work, she gave me another comcast # to call for X1 support. The second gal ran some troubleshooting programs and sent a  refresh signal.  Then she had me press Exit on the remote 3 times and type in a code.  A different error screen came up and she had me press "Restart" and at first, nothing happened - just black screen.  She ran troubleshooting for the black screen and then theTV seemed to come on and start to go through the normal initial boot proigram -- wait while it powered up, wait for the program linepup, wait for you entertainment experience.... then black screen again.  We did this multiple times with 2 TV's. 

She said to wait an hour and turn them both on again - they should be fine, but just in case, she was going to put through three tickets - two for the error code and one for the black screen.

Please let me know if there is a simpler way to reset this.  Thanks!

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@CathyandSteve wrote:

We are newly relocated to the West Coast, with two new TV's purchased at Best Buy. A  Comcast technician came and installed service on 10/14/14 and hooked up the two TV's, DVR, phone and internet with Comcast modem, DVR, and cable boxes that he brought and which were brand new.  Everything has been working fine.

 

Last night, we were watching a program on the TV and dozed off.  When my husband awoke, there was a message on the TV that said that "This device needs to be activated before we can continue..."  and it advises the user to call Xfinity for service or a techinician to go to an activation screen. He checked the TV in the bedroom and it had the same message.

 

Below are all the steps my husband and then I went through to fix this.  I can't find anything about this problem anywhere.  It shows as an error code on the Xfinity site but without instructions to reset.  Can anyone help?  The thought of waiting several days for service is a bit maddening as I am home alone all day due to serious medical problems.  We paid for installation, we are paying for service, it's frustrating not to have acccess.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Our efforts to resolve this:

 

My husband called what he thought was Xfinity but wasn't.  Instead of walking over to the TV to get the exact number to call, he Googled it and got a number for what he thought was Xfinity but was obviously a paid advertiser who solicits maintenance calls for MSN.  The rep he spoke to indicated that this was caused by a virus infecting our ISP address and said that neither the Geek Squad nor Comcast could resolve this as it's a "Level 5" problem and we needed to pay an-MSN company (one was Pyramid, the other I don't know, but located in Clovis CA) between $300-400 to fix this.  That sounded ridiculous and so I got on the phone and asked repeatedly, is this Comcast to which he consistently replied, "We are authorized to repair service for Comcast (or something to that extent) and that is why the call was routed here."  At that point, I said I was not going to to that, I wanted to speak with someone at Comcast and he hung up.

 

I then called the xfinity number on the screen and the first gal I spoke with said that this would be easy to fix. First she sent a refresh signal and when that and a few other things didn't work, she gave me another comcast # to call for X1 support. The second gal ran some troubleshooting programs and sent a  refresh signal.  Then she had me press Exit on the remote 3 times and type in a code.  A different error screen came up and she had me press "Restart" and at first, nothing happened - just black screen.  She ran troubleshooting for the black screen and then theTV seemed to come on and start to go through the normal initial boot proigram -- wait while it powered up, wait for the program linepup, wait for you entertainment experience.... then black screen again.  We did this multiple times with 2 TV's. 

 

She said to wait an hour and turn them both on again - they should be fine, but just in case, she was going to put through three tickets - two for the error code and one for the black screen.

 

Please let me know if there is a simpler way to reset this.  Thanks!

 

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Make a note of the X1 tech support number (24 hours/7 days a week) 877-896-8678. It sounds like you got to that good team eventually. Please let us know what happened after the techs call (saying fixed) or come out to your home.

Sounds exactly like what I have.  Hopefully after the hour it was fixed.  I just got done chatting with tech support and they're doing the same thing.   luckily one room works fine.