Cable TV Signal Problem

Discussion of all things technological and/or gadgety
User avatar
Darrell
Posts: 6586
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:12 pm

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Darrell »

When it rains, it pours... the cable went tits up Thursday morning, quit working altogether. Have yet to get it going. Technician is coming back Saturday.

And then, to add insult to injury, Mister Computer went tits up today. It had been limping along on its last legs for a year or more, had to restart it often. I learned the hard way to do restarts, not hard starts from shutdown--had a hard time getting it to come back on. Well, today, I shut it down instead of restarting, took a nap, got up to no start at all. Dead as a doornail. Sometimes the on button lights up for just a moment, and the fans start momentarily, but no joy. I suspect the power supply, but who knows? :roll:

I actually had another PC on standby, bought it a while back. It's what I'm using right now. Having to start from scratch, though, I need to get my documents, tax records and such from the old one if possible. Unfortunately, the new PC is running Windows 8.1. Oh joy. :roll: :roll:

I was jonesing pretty bad this afternoon with no cable and no internet, I was reduced to listening to AM radio. :roll: :roll: :roll:
Eppur si muove--Galileo
User avatar
McClarkus
Posts: 802
Joined: Tue May 12, 2009 10:50 pm

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by McClarkus »

At least the AM radio around here is conservative for the most part. If that helps.
One secret to life. Step #1 - Find something you enjoy doing. Step #2 - Find someone foolish enough to pay you to do it.
User avatar
Darrell
Posts: 6586
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:12 pm

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Darrell »

At cable's tech support suggestion, I went to the local cable office this morning to swap out boxes again, before the technician arrives this afternoon. Lo and behold, the next door neighbor was there, seems his (cable supplied) internet quit the same time my TV did Thursday morning. Hah. I told the customer service guy at the office about it, and I called it an outage. He corrected me, saying that it's not an outage. I think it's mincing words at this point, they obviously have a problem out at the street/neighborhood level. This is getting ridiculous.
Eppur si muove--Galileo
User avatar
Darrell
Posts: 6586
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:12 pm

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Darrell »

The cable guy came out Saturday afternoon, and traced the neighbor's and my cables to a box in another neighbor's back yard. Unfortunately, those neighbors weren't home, and the gate to the back yard was locked. They got in Sunday morning, and found that a competing cable company had been in the box Thursday morning (when we lost our signals). The cable guy found our two lines disconnected, so he hooked them up again. Problems solved. :roll:

As for the new PC: I have yet to get an email program to work on it, so I'm getting by on webmail for the time being. Other than that, I rather like the new computer. Windows 8.1 is wonky, but I found that if I just work from the desktop tile, it's just like Windows 7, which I much prefer to the Win 10 on the old system. I need to get my information off the old PC, need it to do taxes, plus I miss my recipes and such.
Eppur si muove--Galileo
User avatar
McClarkus
Posts: 802
Joined: Tue May 12, 2009 10:50 pm

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by McClarkus »

Glad to hear cable is fixed. And yes 10 is aggravating.
One secret to life. Step #1 - Find something you enjoy doing. Step #2 - Find someone foolish enough to pay you to do it.
User avatar
randy
Posts: 8334
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:33 pm
Location: EM79VQ

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by randy »

When you can, invest in a multi-terrabyte (I have a 4TB) external hard drive and use something like Karen's Replicator to back up your files on a regular basis. (My WD is hooked to a port on our router, so it is available to all PCs and laptops the family has, and with a little work, all mobile devices).

I set this up late last year, and barely a month later my PC died. Having all the data files on the external drive made it quick and easy to get all my files onto the news system without messing with pulling the HDD from the old one. And while waiting for the new PC, I was able to get to critical files from my laptop.

I also created an install folder on the external drive with the current version installation files for my favorite programs so that I could easily install them on the PC over the local network. A lot quicker than surfing to each site and downloading. And I always forget a few until I need it and realize I have to install it.

Not much use this time around, but could be a big time saver the next time (and there will be a next time) it happens. Especially if next time is a failure of the HDD and you aren't able to recover files.
...even before I read MHI, my response to seeing a poster for the stars of the latest Twilight movies was "I see 2 targets and a collaborator".
User avatar
Darrell
Posts: 6586
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:12 pm

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Darrell »

Oh, I have an external HDD for back ups, but the old PC evidently missed some stuff. Last year's tax return for one, which I need for this year's return.
Eppur si muove--Galileo
User avatar
Weetabix
Posts: 6106
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:04 pm

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Weetabix »

Karen's is the bomb. I've been using it for years.
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
User avatar
McClarkus
Posts: 802
Joined: Tue May 12, 2009 10:50 pm

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by McClarkus »

Apparently, there is a great propensity for these cable tv companies to resort heavily on the obscure fine print. I called Direct tv today to inquire about the $20/deal with all the extras. While they were willing to comp the Genie DVD recorder HD box combo, they wanted a monthly fee to actually turn the damn thing on and use it. This made the $20/mo advertised offering jump up to about $50/mo with the tv in the house and the one in the shop. I'm back to screw them again, as in permanently. Therefore the Netfix, amazon and hulu is going to be the way for me to go. Thanks for the tip...
One secret to life. Step #1 - Find something you enjoy doing. Step #2 - Find someone foolish enough to pay you to do it.
User avatar
Denis
Posts: 6570
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:29 am

Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Denis »

Weetabix wrote:Karen's is the bomb. I've been using it for years.
+1. I wish the late Karen would have managed to port it to Linux too. I am insufficiently guru to do the same thing with command lines, though I suppose I could/should RTFM and figure it out.
Post Reply