Tom's Hardware > Forum > Home Theatre > Digital TV > Getting a used cable box to work

Getting a used cable box to work

Forum Home Theatre : Digital TV - Getting a used cable box to work

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
dclapper53   03-13-2009 at 04:59:43 PM

I recently purchased a Comcast Cable box off of eBay to use on my 2nd TV. It is a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300. When I hooked it up a phone no. popped up on the TV screen for Comcast in the Houston area which is where the box came from. Is there any way to get it to work without paying costly fess to Comcast? Thanks

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
Wolfshadw   03-13-2009 at 07:23:22 PM

I would think you would have to contact Comcast and have them troubleshoot your cable box. Not sure how they'd react to you having purchased one of their boxes off of EBay.

When my Comcast cable modem died, I plugged in one that I picked up at Radio Shack for $10. Everything seemed normal, but I couldn't connect to the net. Called Comcast and let them know. They had to configure something on their end to get it to work (something like registering the unknown modem). I wouldn't be surprised if you have to do the same thing since it's an out of area cable box.

-Wolf sends

------------------------------ System Specs:
Gigabyte EP43-UD3L Intel Core2Quad Q8400 8 Gig RAM
NVidia Geforce 8800GTS-640/Creative X-FI Extreme Music/Dual-Boot XP-64&Server2008
 Reply to Wolfshadw
dclapper53   03-20-2009 at 02:32:39 AM

Comcast in my area does not allow you to use your own box at this time. I talked to a representative. He said that may change in the near future. I just re-listed it on eBay and sold it for what I had paid for it. When they do allow it, I will shop for another to avoid the monthly rental fees. Thanks for taking the time to help me with this issue

Reply to dclapper53
Viking_AM   05-04-2009 at 03:15:33 PM

In a lot of cases, the M-Card MUST be swapped from the box you got from Comcast, into the one you now have.
Cablecards are now the digital subscriber identification unit which allows you to watch cable from a box in your house. Otherwise.... How else could they track you?! lol.

Reply to Viking_AM
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Home Theatre > Digital TV > Getting a used cable box to work
Go to:

There are 764 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.512 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
Related Content
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them