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Can you use a non-Eastlink box? (Yes, depending)

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#1 ·
If I bought a dct-6200 or 6412 from Future Shop or on eBay, would it work on a 2nd television if I already rent a 6412 from Eastlink for my primary television?
 
#33 ·
can't activate DCX3400-M

Hi folks

Located a DCX3400-M on Best-Buy. They show a Shaw branded box (not available in the local ON store) with a 500gig HDD and dual HD tuners for a $150 less than the 250gig Eastlink branded DCX3400 with 1 HD and 1 SD tuners. Phoned Eastlink and they confirmed I could use it so I ordered one of the Shaw boxes from BC.

Eastlink activation CSR's could not activate it and neither could the service call tech the next day. It displayed a zero and the blue power light was on, but the PVR would not respond to the remote or any touchscreen presses including attempting a cold boot. Have successfully been using a DCX700 at same coax location.

Returned the PVR to the local store and ordered another from their site when I got home. Fast forward 10 days and the new second DCX3400-M once again cannot be activated by the CSR's. Same tech comes for second service call and the call ends the same way with a blue light and a zero. This time he takes all the info and forwards it in an email to someone. Asks me to leave it connected.

24 hours later nothing has happened so I try a cold boot and this time it worked. I am currently in a menu whose choices are run, Auto, oob, Sudb, EnEt, and dlSP. I cannot find info on the www re these commands and I hesitate to power down in case I get the zero again. Is there something I can do now that will allow Eastlink to activate this PVR?
 
#34 ·
Resolved

Was contacted by an Eastlink manager **** who saw this post and offered to help.

As it turns out, the DVR's Unit Address (UA) had been entered incorrectly into their system. If you ever have an activation issue it is probably a good idea to ask the CSR to read back the numbers you gave them.

Additionally the Shaw DCX3400 needed a cold boot on this end to download the Eastlink firmware and software. It was accessed by holding down only the menu button while re-applying AC power; then finding the "cold" command with the up/down arrows; then pressing select to run it.

Thank you **** and thank you Digital Home forum.
tsys
 
#35 ·
really? I've never had any success with that on DCX units. In fact I've never been able to bring up those commands like you can do on the DCT series.

Mostly i just tell people to make sure the unit is on the proper frequency, as I've never been able to figure out a way to reset the firmware on cable card units.
 
#43 · (Edited)
Thanks, Doppelganger. The reasoning behind my request is that Eastlink listed an 877 number in the instructions packaged with the Sudbury area 3400-M that I had purchased and out of the four CSRs I have spoken with over the course of the past several weeks, only one – the one at the 877 number – was even aware that the UA # was required for activation. The other three were contacted via the 888 number and the last one of those emphatically stated that the UA # was not required. The Sudbury 3400-M, although eventually activated, was malfunctioning out of the box and returned. The current one in hand is a 3400-M Shaw unit purchased online from Best Buy (for convenience, and the larger hard drive). I'm just trying to reduce the variables in getting the Shaw box up and running by going through the 877 number.

Admin has directed that we not discuss the Shaw boxes in this thread but it needs to be said that you pay your money and you take your chances going this route. Poster tsys (above) was successful; not so here. The last CSR I spoke with, the one who emphatically stated that the UA # was not required, was the one who fielded the activation call for the Shaw unit. He also emphatically stated that there was no way to enable the Shaw unit because it was not listed in Eastlink's inventory (and why would it be?). So be warned.
 
#44 ·
Duh me. Eastlink has a pdf copy of the retail installation guide posted on the Reference Guides page of its web site. The 877 number is in that brochure.

The Shaw 3400-M wasn't acknowledging the signal the 877 CSR sent it and I was handed off to 888 support. I did a 'cold boot' from my end before contacting the triple 8ers and the first call to that number got the unit online but not fully functional. A re-downloading of the F/W and S/W was done during the second call and that resolved most of the issues. Following that, the unit was recording to the hard drive as it should but I could not access the recordings from the list. Live rewind (chase play) was not working either. Unplugging the unit for a reset was the cure.

The 500 GB hard drive is a Seagate and it's quiet. (ST3500414CS.) The fan, however, transmits a fair bit of hum through the case so at some point I'll have a look at how it is mounted. Hopefully just a re-torque of the screws is all that is required, but otherwise it gets a mod before the 3400 can replace the 6416 in the bedroom.

FYI: initiating a 'cold boot' can be a finicky process. It took a half dozen attempts to get the timing just right in order to get into the boot screen. (Simply pressing the soft-touch MENU button - which requires power to function - whilst plugging in never worked for me.)
 
#46 ·
You shouldn't need to do a 'cold boot' to get the units working. As long as you can get the unit to 'hunt' the proper frequency it should take the 'hit'.

The thing about cable boxes is they are really meant to be activated on a DAC first. This is especially true if they are still active in another providers system.
 
#47 ·
I did press the MENU button to get to the boot screen, just not at the instant I applied AC power (which, as I mentioned, never worked for me). You can hear the MENU button functioning if the 3400 is plugged in but not powered up so I suggest you do a dry run to figure out how you're going to place your finger (or thumb). Unplug the DVR for a bit, get your finger into position, then plug the 3400 in and immediately start sliding or rocking your finger to get the MENU switch to trigger. As I stated, it's a finicky process and if you get the timing just right you will see "boot" on the LCD screen of the DVR. Then use the Channel up/down buttons on the DVR to scroll through the LCD screen until you see "cold boot". Then press SELECT.

If you're too slow on the timing you'll see the 8.8:8.8 business come up on the LCD screen. (If the gods are with you the DVR might still go to the boot screen after the 8s come up but if the 8s are present for longer than a second or two then you're pooched and you'll have to start the process all over again.)

Follow protocol. Get the 1-877 number from the Eastlink RETAIL 3400 Installation Guide (NOT the guide for the rentals) and call that CSR. This will at least get your Shaw 3400 listed in the Eastlink system. In my case the 3400 wasn't responding to the hit the 877CSR sent it so she had me contact tech support at the 888 number. Since my Shaw unit wasn't responding, I forced a cold boot before calling the triple 8ers.

I cannot say if you can get away without a cold boot. The Shaw unit reacted in exactly the same manner as the Eastlink sourced 3400 that I had originally purchased (but was malfunctioning). The tech support CSR said she couldn't "see" the Eastlink retail 3400 when I called to activate it and essentially gave up. I called back the next day and the CSR I spoke with was successful in getting the Eastlink 3400 initialised. The only difference between the Eastlink and the Shaw unit when first plugged in and before activation was that the Eastlink unit would accept input from the remote but then go to 0 on the display. So, I could enter, say, channel 601, and the DVR would hold that 601 for a few seconds then go to 0. The Shaw unit would not accept any input and would not budge off of 0. Calling the 877 number removed one variable; doing a cold boot removed another. (For what it's worth, the Shaw unit came loaded with F/W 24.33; July 20, 2011.)

My warning about you pay your money and you take your chances still applies with respect to the Shaw units. I wasn't going to post at all about being eventually successful but then a chap posted in the Eastlink DCX3400 thread and made it out to be a cakewalk. In my opinion, a call to Customer Service for any reason is a veritable crap shoot. To toss in a few examples, despite repeated attempts I have never been successful in getting Eastlink's CSRs to enable the external hard drive feature on our 6416. On two of those attempts I politely and diplomatically requested access to a higher level of tech support and in both cases the CSRs refused, one of them saying, "Sure" then hanging up on me. The 888CSR I spoke with when I first tried to activate the Shaw unit told me no way no how could it be done, put me on hold for a bit then came back to say that he had spoken with several other people and none of them knew how it could be done. And that was that, until I found the 1-877 number.

Call the 877 number first to get your unit at least registered. If you need to call tech support afterward then you can try lorcaweb's suggestion and skip the cold boot and hope you get a knowledgable CSR, or you can do a cold boot before calling.
 
#49 ·
vitalsigns I've moved your question to this existing thread and have the following comments.

1. Whenever you purchase a STB, you need to check with the provider to see if they will activate it. You need to get the serial number and confirm that the STB will work on their system and ensure that it's not stolen.

2. Once you have the STB, you can then activate it on Eastlink. You will then be a digital customer.

3. You will get the channels that you pay for. If you want additional channels, you'll need to pay for them.

4. It is possible after purchasing from another customer that the STB may work for a short while without activation, however, after a while it would be deactivated and you'll have to activate it yourself, assuming that the STB meets the requirements above.

Here's an article on the topic:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/2011/05/buying-a-used-cable-set-top-box-in-canada/

Here's a useful Post for those new to the forum:

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