What am I doing wrong here? Need some help... (Cabling?)

[scarecrow]

I know nothing about cable and its interworkings so would appreciate if i can get a fresh pair of eyes to look at this for me...

I am trying to 'activate' a cable jack in my basement by relocating my cable box from Bedroom (point J) to what I suspect is the jack to the basement (point F). After relocating the cable box to the basement i turn on the cable box i get the 'No Data Available' screen or something like 'Signal Not Available'.

Im thinking Rogers 'filtered' this jack out as i am already at the 4 jack allowance on my VIP package....is this even possible?

That being said....at the demark in the basement, i took out the cable at point F (basement) and plugged it into the splitter where point J (bedroom) used to be plugged into....theoretically i should now get the signal in the basment ...still no results.

Could it be that the pre-installed cable from the demark to the basemt is crap?!?!

I am trying to attach a diagram of the setup in the basement at the demark...

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

[hugh]

Could it be that the pre-installed cable from the demark to the basemt is crap?!?

Could be. Do you get analog cable on it

[57]

Sounds like the cable is bad, or simply that you're connected to the incorrect tap somehow?

Digital cable STBs working at one tap in the home should also work on another, provided the cable is actually connected. I know that when going through walls, you can sometimes connect what you thought is the correct cable, but it's not.

There is a way to check if you've got the correct cable - short the one end of the cable and use an ohmmeter to measure resistance at the other end. Resistance is high (infinite) when the cable is not shorted and goes close to zero when shorted.

To display a diagram, upload it to a photo sharing site and copy the URL into your post.

[scarecrow]

here is the link to the diagram...guess i cant attach images here since im a
r00kie:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/9vvqn2...o-Drawing1.pdf

How do I short the cable?

[57]

You short the cable by placing a piece of metal/wire so that it touches both the center conductor and the outer cable casing/screw at one end of the cable. The multimeter leads touch the same two items at the other end of the cable to complete the circuit - basic electricity.

[Jase88]

Sometimes outlets are wired to the outside "CSE" box...even when there's a splitter inside the house feeding other outlets.

Note that Rogers (or any cable company) does not generally leave cable lines hot without terminating them. Signal leakage levels must be kept to a minimum, or the cable company faces sanctions from the government.

[Paolo]

May I chime in here?

why not remove the first Antronix 3-way splitter, since it seems you do not actually need it. Connect your PCT Amplifier output direct into your 4-way splitter, disconnect the wire for J that leads into your bed room. Connect the F wire that is from your suspected basement jack, to that leg.

Do you know for a fact if the F run is a continuous run with no splits or breaks in the line? any kind of split or break in the line could cause it to do what its doing... you may want to double check the run for breaks or splits too

hope thishelps.

[scarecrow]

I checked for continuity as per 57 advice...the suspected Jack is indeed the basement Jack. I didn't use the multimeter technique though....I just connected the Rogers box while the cable was unhooked and got a 'cannot connect to network message'...when I hooked the cable back and rebooted the cable box I got the following results:

Rogers banner on every channel showing the channel, tv show, and time....but no picture!

From this i knew I had the right Jack.

In regards to paolo's advice I did removed the 2nd splitter (not 1st splitter as the 1st splitter is needed for the modem and the phone line).

By the way...the Jack in the basement, I suspect it is split in the wall to other bedrooms in the bedroom

I've almost got this solved...anyone got any addtl advice given the following results and observations?

Do I have to cOnfigure something in the cable box? Is my wiring crappy? Should I do something without the other cable jacks in the basement bedrooms?

I think my wire is crap but I don't want to face it...are the 3rd parties out there that can rap lace the wire? Damn

[scarecrow]

Figured out the answer....I read another site that the type of cable in older homes might not be compatible with today's cable providers frequencies (ie on demand)....you can tell cuz the cable is skinnier that the standard grade coax.

So what I did was used an extra long cable...kinda ghetto looking and a bit of an eye sore bc it's so exposed...but I'll figure something out

So yeh the wire is crap

Thanks everyone for ur input

[Jase88]

Is it that copper-clad stuff? Where there is no braid on the outside of the centre conductor, but a solid layer of metal?

[Paolo]

You should be able to go to the diagnostic screen and check your signal strength. I'm guessing you have signal, but it could be very weak, too weak to show any picture.

As well, a rule of thumb, when splitters are hidden behind a wall, it makes it difficult to diagnose and troubleshoot when something goes wrong. Ideally you would like to have your splitters accessible, and at a central location and have runs off of the splitters to each of your outlets.

[coghlan]

Originally Posted by scarecrow

Figured out the answer....I read another site that the type of cable in older homes might not be compatible with today's cable providers frequencies...

Yeah. RG6 has lower signal loss at higher frequencies than RG59, but the latter can work under ideal conditions, I guess.

[scarecrow]

Paolo - how do u get to the diagnostics screen again? I saw a tech do it o ce but can't figure out which buttons to press

What is a suitable signal strength and cud I simply boost it by adding another amplifier?

[57]

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

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

Rogers will add any appropriate amps/splitters (rated 5-1000 MHz, bidirectional at a minimum). Call them.