Unhappiness and desparation is turning on the BIG flatscreen....

[Dockem]

Unhappiness and desparation is turning on the BIG flatscreen....

<center>and getting one of those ominous blue Comcast messages:

"ONE MOMENT PLEASE"
This channel should be available shortly.
Ref. Code: S0a00

</center> So you wait a bit, no change. Try changing channels, same thing on EVERY channel! Now I'm getting worried. Playoff game is almost on.

Every small TV in the house is working just fine, but NOT the big screen! Crap.

Resign myself to suffering through watching the game on a itsy bitsy TV.

(Sorry Chaz, C-Hawks lost!)

Finally log on to Comcast website and go thru "Chat" with support and went thru all the gyrations of checking connections, etc., etc. No luck. Here's your appointment for a technician to show up and "fix things" so you can use your big screen.

So, instead of being fat and happy, lounging in my chair in front of a "big screen" (like someone I know),
I have a large doorstop on top of a nice cabinet full of audio-visual electronics for a week until Mr. Tech-Know-It-All shows up.
<center>
SH*T

Stuck in a house with an ice storm going on with a large doorstop. (pic this a.m.)




My take: the "big" Motorola control box is toast.

</center>

 

[dickdb]

I'm sure tech support told you this but unplug your cable box, let it sit for 30 seconds and plug back in. I had to do this every time I turned the TV on. Finally a repairman came and replaced the box.

 

[Dockem]

I'm sure tech support told you this but unplug your cable box, let it sit for 30 seconds and plug back in. I had to do this every time I turned the TV on. Finally a repairman came and replaced the box.

That must be a standard tech request!

 

[1dn5up]

Why couldn't ya swap out a box for now :Shrug:

 

[Dockem]

Why couldn't ya swap out a box for now :Shrug:

No time for it today, went out of town. If the main box is disconnected, others don't work. Xfinity high tech? Plus major PIA to get at plugs/wires behind entertainment center that weighs a ton to move. My bum knee doesn't help. I'll wait till techie arrives and use other TVs.

Otherwise, swapping boxes not a bad idea.

 

[desertclassic]

Don't you hate things like this. I remember as a kid sitting for hours watching the test pattern waiting for the show to start. :clapping:Jim

 

[Ozarkryder]

Don't you hate things like this. I remember as a kid sitting for hours watching the test pattern waiting for the show to start. :clapping:Jim

I would get up early in the morning before school and turn on the TV to watch cartoons. Mom would lay out my clothes, and I would eat a bowl of dry (I preferred it that way) cereal, usually Cheerios. If I got up too early there was just audio and video static, which we called the "maggot fights". The static would go away, the test pattern would come on, and a few minutes before the programming started a tone would come on. We knew something was going on - much better than today's blue screen with meaningless codes.

 

[Dockem]

Remember when they closed the programming day with a inspirational speech or prayer from a member of the clergy???

Showing my age.....:Shrug:

 

[rhino65]

DirecTV. In 7 years only out less than a day unless power outage or HEAVY downpour.

 

[cjmitch]

Thats not your tv with the problem... you cable box is not accessing the ESPN stream.
Ill bet your cable box is bad
OR your signal is low to that box, (or S/N ratio is high... ie bad cables)

did you switch the cable boxes on different tv's

 

[Dockem]

Ding Ding Ding Ding

Thats not your tv with the problem... you cable box is not accessing the ESPN stream.
Ill bet your cable box is bad
OR your signal is low to that box, (or S/N ratio is high... ie bad cables)
did you switch the cable boxes on different tv's

For those making odds, it was indeed the Cable Box. The Comcast Kid proclaimed that ours was an antique (had it nearly 20 years!) and gave us a brand new one, about 1/5 the size of the old Motorola box.

All is well in the TV universe again and I can watch the playoff games this weekend on the big screen! ThumbUpThumbUpThumbUp

 

[cjmitch]

For those making odds, it was indeed the Cable Box. The Comcast Kid proclaimed that ours was an antique (had it nearly 20 years!) and gave us a brand new one, about 1/5 the size of the old Motorola box.
All is well in the TV universe again and I can watch the playoff games this weekend on the big screen! ThumbUpThumbUpThumbUp

I thought so

 

[desertclassic]

Technology is so nice when it is working. Jim

 

[Burnerboy]

:clap::yahoo::bye::dance:

Don't yea just love technology?/ I guess it's still got to be better than the rabbit ears on top our TV when I was growing up...............

Ronnie

 

[1dn5up]

:clap::yahoo::bye::dance:

Don't yea just love technology?/ I guess it's still got to be better than the rabbit ears on top our TV when I was growing up...............

Ronnie

With the tin foil wrapped around the ears .

We were rich , had a 200lb magnifying glass for wide screen

 

[rhino 2]

With the tin foil wrapped around the ears .

We were rich , had a 200lb magnifying glass for wide screen

And i bet the TV was a Dumont.........:laugh:....

 

[Peter A.]

Tv remote

......imagine kids today having to get up and walk all the way ACROSS the room to change

channels or adjust the volume........:laugh:

 

[BillR]

......imagine kids today having to get up and walk all the way ACROSS the room to change

channels or adjust the volume........:laugh:

Back when I was a kid, I was the remote and did all of that. :laugh:

 

[1dn5up]

And i bet the TV was a Dumont.........:laugh:....

Don’t know the make , just remember my dad going to the drug store to check/replace the tubes when it was on the fritz....:Shrug:

 

[2006gold]

Don’t know the make , just remember my dad going to the drug store to check/replace the tubes when it was on the fritz....:Shrug:

Had a uncle who started TV repair as a side gig, and bought a tube tester. Ours went on the fritz so I borrowed the tester. Before I could return it, he visited our house and I tried giving him the tester back. He adamantly refused. Confused, then his wife explained that people would call him all hours to fix their TV’s, and since I had his tester, he could honestly say he had loaned out his equipment and couldn’t help.

 

[rhino 2]

Don’t know the make , just remember my dad going to the drug store to check/replace the tubes when it was on the fritz....:Shrug:

My Farther had a whole milk crate [wooden] of extra tubes and testers..

But the one thing i remember him teaching me was to ''Always'' take this big insulated screwdriver and ground out the high voltage tubes even though the power plug has been disconnected from the wall outlet for hours..:blowup:.

 

[Phu Cat]

'Always'' take this big insulated screwdriver and ground out the high voltage tubes even though the power plug

​Always good advice. Capacitors can store voltage for a L-O-N-G time. Used the same trick to shut down our lawn mower and learned quickly to touch the head with the screwdriver before touching the spark plug cap, not vica- versa.

PC