TV guide says to be announced, unable to reconnect to virgin media service

[MColmant]

Good evening,

I have some problems with my TV box. I already read lots of posts, but still unable to find an answer.

So, here are the symptoms.

TV box connected through Wifi since last technical intervention, last year, due to coax cable damaged. Hub sees it, with correct mac ID and IP 192.168.0.11.

Cables connected into the box : Power, HDMI and coax

When i goes to network connection screen, I can read the following :

• Next attempt : Wed 19/05/ 21:37
• Last attempt : Wed 19/05 20:50
• Last status : Failed
• No network connection
• Last success : Thu 06/05 02:45
• Wireless connection detail
• Name : VM818 (correct network, but won't give it online)
• Signal : 27% (marginal) - but varies between 22 and 78%, depends on when I look
• IP addr. : 192.168.1.109
• Mac ID : same as shown on hub page (192.168.0.1)

When I follow the possibilities on the menu : 

• Connect to the virgin Media Service now : Fail with "preparing", says "Network cable unplugged). When clicking on OK, tells about N27 error
• Change network settings : I tried to give again the network ID and password, didn't change anything.
• View network status : 
  • MacID : same as previous
  • Wireless mode : infrastructure
  • Link status : Connected (5GHz)
  • SSID (name) : VM818...
  • Channel : 42
  • Signal strength : 22% (poor)
  • Connection speed : 585 Mbps
  • Wireless security : WPA2-PSK AES
  • Service status : Connected
  • Autoconfig TCP/IP
  • IP Address : 192.68.1.109
  • Gateway address : 0.0.0.0
  • Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
  • Broadcast address : 192168.1.255
  • DNS address : 192.168.1.255
  • DNS addr. (1,2,3) : 192.168.1.249, 0.0.0.0, none

Can anybody help me ?

[japitts]

Let's check some basics here, because you've posted in the TiVo board but something doesn't add up...

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@MColmant wrote:

So, here are the symptoms.

TV box connected through Wifi since last technical intervention, last year, due to coax cable damaged. Hub sees it, with correct mac ID and IP 192.168.0.11.

Cables connected into the box : Power, HDMI and coax

---

The TiVo box doesn't have WiFi, so I suspect you have a V6. Check here if you want to make sure. However, you've also mentioned coax cable damage - but it's the coax cable that carries your TV signals on all VM boxes.

You've also quoted marginal WiFi strength & "no connection" errors, those two won't be unrelated.

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@MColmant wrote:

• Connect to the virgin Media Service now : Fail with "preparing", says "Network cable unplugged). When clicking on OK, tells about N27 error

---

Which box do you have? There are scenarios where a TiVo-especially would do this.

[MColmant]

Hi,

Correct that's a V6. Tivo was in our old house, I always named it like that.

At the beginning, the hub/modem was near the V6, with a RJ45 cable between them. However, due to that coax damage, the internet connection was poor and the technician moved the hub to another place. Internet was then restored, and the tech connected the v6 through wifi. Well, that's the past, everything was alright for a few months. 

Back to actual problem : V6 don't load the guide.

[japitts]

Righto, I've moved this post to the V6 board.

So your V6 has 2 connections. Coax cable provides your TV signal, and a connection via your homehub provides internet connectivity for OnDemand, EPG Updates and suchlike. That can be wired or wireless, and in your case it sounds wireless.

By means of confirming whether that connection is working, can you use OnDemand ok? If you're not sure, please try it - find a programme in your EPG or V6-menus that lets you "watch now", and see what happens. If it works, then your 'net connection is fundamentally working.

Other than that, there's a few alarm bells in your posts thus far.

1: You're seeing an error "network cable unplugged" error. I'm not 100% on this, but I recall a TiVo uses the phrasing "network cable unplugged to indicate a failed onboard modem, whereas a V6 uses the phrase "Ethernet cable not connected" to indicate the presence of an Ethernet cable in the back socket, but it not being connected at the other end. If the Ethernet socket is in use, the WiFi is disabled. You shouldn't be getting any WiFi indications if there's an Ethernet connection present.

2: Numerous references in your posts to WiFi signal being poor & flaky. The EPG updates themselves are of relatively negligible size, but all the same - a flaky WiFi connection means an unstable 'net connection. Refer to the VoD test please.

Let's check/try these suggestions, and depending how you get on, we can go from there.

[MColmant]

Thanks for your help 🙂

So, On demand : "On demand is temporarily unavailable.(V210) Please try again in a few minutes"

Wifi: I just copied what was written on the connection pages. However, Wifi is running smoothly on my laptop (in front of the TV), even while watching Tv through Virgintvgo. I works even while other computers are busy with live videoconferences. I would say Wifi network is not the problem.

There is no ethernet cable plugged into the V6.

One thing I don't understand is that everything is running with 192.168.0.xxx ip's, and V6 shows 192.168.1... So, maybe the onboard modem is concerned.

[japitts]

The V6 doesn't have an on-board modem, that's the whole basis for the home-hub requirement.

Vxxx error codes tend to be connectivity related, so it's tying in nicely.

I'm not liking the variation in received WiFi strength - 20odd% through to 70ish is going some, even allowing for 2.4Ghz/5Ghz roaming.

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@MColmant wrote:

• No network connection
• Last success : Thu 06/05 02:45

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Going on a 6hourly cycle, whatever has caused this, happened between 2.45 - (roughly) 8am, which might suggest an overnight reset or software drop somewhere.

Have you reset your V6 since this started?

Are you able to plug an Ethernet cable into the V6, for the sole purpose of (hopefully) toggling the WiFi being disabled on/off? Something else to eliminate.

There's something odd about this, and I can't put my finger on it at the moment.

[MColmant]

Hi,

I turned it off and on, but no full reset atm because I suppose If I do so, we will lose all records? I preferred to ask here first, but I can do it.

I may plug an ethernet cable, but that won't be a long term solution, as that mean leaving that cable all along the corridor, in passage an luggage area, and it need to go through a door as well. I have currently no 10m ethernet cable here, but for the purpose of testing, I may bring the v6 near the hub (which means removing the coax, plugging it elsewhere, ... and I not a technician, I may break other things😅 ).

[japitts · Accepted solution]

I'm not suggesting an all-out reset, just one reboot is plenty sufficient. But for future reference, a TiVo/V6 details the various resets under Home > Help & Settings > Clear or restart, including good info on what happens with each. I was trying to eliminate a software glitch or even the glaring obvious "have you restarted the box". If you've done that, great.

I'm not going to rule out the V6 having a fault with its connectivity, but if so, it's a decidely weird one. The IP address mismatch could have been caused by a non-standard router/mesh setup, but you've mentioned VMxxxxxx SSID's which seems to rule that out.

I still can't fathom how your V6 is reporting Ethernet & WiFi-info parameters simultaneously, plugging an Ethernet cable in (even if not connected at the other end) was an attempt to toggle that on/off and give the software a boot up the rear.

I've been presuming but you've not confirmed.... are your live TV channels ok? That would also help eliminate an equipment activation problem.

The other thought I've had is to try forcing a reconnection to the WiFi router. The V6 doesn't have an option to "delete" saved WiFi networks, but you can change the password and in doing so force the V6 to fail the connection and need configuring again. May be worth a try.

[MColmant · Accepted solution]

Well, I've a good news. It seems the problem is solved, the screen says it's loading (4%, counting up slowly but I won't wait) and IP in connection status is now 192.168.0.11.

What did I do ?

I took your last message, and was going to try the ethernet cable and the wifi thing. Before that, I shut down the main power from the plug, THEN unplugged the power. I didn't touch to the power button on the V6. I came back 2 hours later, plugged everything and turned the main power on. The V6 took a while to restart, more than a minute on the "starting" page. I had the notification page saying that the guide was not loaded, I used the link at the bottom and it worked.

So, maybe when I shut the power the first times, the time was not long enough. Can't say anything.

Anyway, @japitts, thanks for your time and your help.

[Kath_F]

HI MColmant, 

Thanks for your post and apologies to hear you were having an issue with the Guide loading on your V6 box. 

I'm glad the help and support from japitts helped to resolve things. 

Whenever you do a reboot, it's always worth unplugging at the mains and leaving for a good minute or so just to refresh things. 

If you have any further issues, pop back and let us know so we can help further. 

Thanks,