I have a 4250 HD receiver question, what is the USB port for on the front of the box? Can the receiver be hooked up to an external hard drive from that USB port? It would be great if you could record direct to a hard drive instead of getting their very expensive HD PVR box.

The USB is not activated by Rogers. It can be used to charge or power USB devices like lapcool, your phone, etc. You can also connect a keyboard or mouse. It can't be used for an eHDD, the 4250 has no PVR functionality at this time. This question has been asked many times before.


Please see the following post, useful for those new to the forum - FAQs, Search Tips, Optimization, etc:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741

Sorry 57, I should have done a little reading. Thanks for the info.

Need help!

I've had my SA 4250HD box for 2 years. Today I unplugged it to move things around in the room. When I plugged it back in the mail, bypass and power lights come on and nothing else. I've tried the reset that is suggested on many websites by unplugging the box and leaving it without power for 10+ minutes (longest being an hour today).
The only time I get something different is if I unplug the power and plug it back in within 10 seconds. Then a dash, upside down u, u, and dash appears on the display.

Any suggestions?

(I have done searches through the internet but I have not come up with any solutions, possibly due to my lack of terminology in this subject, so I do apologize if this is a simple fix.)

Last thing to state: I've called Rogers and they were no help. Basically, I was told someone would call back in 24 hours. (From past experiences, that usually doesn't happen either.)

are you able to access the diagnostics screen? if so you can check your signal strengths and snr strengths, perhaps when you re-connected it, there might be a weaker signal or loose connection? you can easily narrow down the list and this can help with troubleshooting.

Diagnostics screen does not come on. Holding any of the buttons and plugging the power cable in does nothing.

It's possible there is something wrong with the STB. Here's the FAQ on SA STBs:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17719

If it doesn't boot, then you can't see the diagnostics and you may need to call Rogers for assistance (again). I suspect that you may not be properly connected to the system - bad coax connection, etc. Move the STB as close as possible to the demarcation point in the home and also remove any splitters temporarily and check your RF-coax connections.

There must be something wrong with it. I wonder if it was upgrading itself when I unplugged it.
It's consistently plugged into a Battery-UPS, so no chance of power surge. The box does not work in any other outlet.

I'd love to know what kind of an error is associated with the message I have on the display (mail, bypass and power button all being on). I wonder if their was a way to force a firmware upgrade to the machine. :( I'd hate to buy a new box when this one was so rarely used.

Total noob question here...are the firmware updates sent automatically or do I have to do something to cause an update to happen? I've looked around this thread but can't find an answer.

The updates are sent automagically.

i received an update this morning around 7:40am and while watching tv tonight i noticed that the option to select either quickstart or tv listings is not working for me.

i have had it set to launch tv listings since i dont like the quickstart, but tonight the quickstart keeps coming up first. also, pressing guide again then closes quickstart where before it would jump to the tv listings.

anyone else noticing this?

i received an update this morning around 7:40am and while watching tv tonight i noticed that the option to select either quickstart or tv listings is not working for me.

i have had it set to launch tv listings since i dont like the quickstart, but tonight the quickstart keeps coming up first. also, pressing guide again then closes quickstart where before it would jump to the tv listings.

anyone else noticing this?
Yes, and it is quite annoying! What did Roger's do?

No change here.

what if you pick quickstart first, then go back and change it to guide first? will it fix itself? care to post your location cus some people say they dont have this issue?

i have had it set to launch tv listings since i dont like the quickstart, but tonight the quickstart keeps coming up first.

I just checked both of my 4250s and they're working fine.

no problems here, former mclean hunter cable customer

I have been using the Explorer 4250HD cable box for about a year now. I have it hooked up to a 50" LG 50PQ30 Television via HDMI. I have been browsing the forum here for a while trying to find out the answer to this problem but I guess it is unusual.

So when viewing SD programs I have always had the box borders set to "Dark," which is the darkest setting, and the borders have always been black. Recently the bars have been showing up as grey. I have checked all my TV and cable box settings. The Border setting is still set to "Dark" and I still have grey bars. It doesn't matter if I have it on Light, Medium, or Dark the bars are always Grey. There are no settings on my TV to change the borders.

Is there something I am missing?

Make sure that you're on the correct input on the TV. Also, if you send 480i to the TV and the TV adds the bars instead of the STB, then they'll be grey. Pressing "info/display/enter" or similar button on the TV remote will indicate the signal going to the TV.

Set the 4250HD to 1080i Fixed, instead of Auto-HDMI or passthrough and that'll fix the issue. Press settings button twice, go to Set picture format, choose "fixed", then go to quick settings - press setting once and scroll up to format - choose 1080i.

Post useful for those new to the forum - FAQs, Search Tips, Optimization, etc:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741

Ah thank you very much :)

how do I change the way this box starts up? I have a 8300HD and a 4250HD, when the 8300HD is powered up it goes to previous viewed channel but when my 4250HD is powered up it goes to the same channel all the time (in my case channel 90). I want to change this to previous channel like my 8300HD.

I have gone to the 4250HD settings , the Viewer:Power ON but there are only channels to choose from, no options like a previous channel viewed?