NIT Scan Failed
 

I wish to continue from my previous post entitled "No Channels Available", which was a result of an electric trip in the house.

Since, everytime the cable box is turned off it seems not to be able to receive the Channel Table, which results in it being stuck on Tune.

I've gone in to the engineer menu to see what is actually going on... And I find that it is trying to acquire the NIT for quite a while... then something called SDTD, then "Looking for updates", after this all services become available.

This only happens while in the engineer's menu for some reason, if I leave the box for more than the amount it takes in the engineer's menu, it fails.

After I receive the services available (238), I still have to hold the DOWN arrow button, the set top box then boots up and all channels including on demand and interactive are available. I find it strange that; the signal is available, and that if I unplug the box, the same thing will have to be done again.

If I skip the engineer's menu step, I will hold the down arrow and the box will boot up okay, although no channels will be available, only the channel "0" is available with no information or stream.

Seems to me like a memory problem, where the frequency is forgotten.

I've also seen errors such as "Can't lock to last tuned" and "Can't lock to home frequency"

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Box swap needed me thinks or at least an engineer visit.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Yep, sounds like something has been fried in the box. As unlimited says, let the engineer look at it.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Engineer came, took a look at the box, fiddled with the green box at the end of the street, did exactly the same as I did previously (held the down arrow) and all booted.

I tried to act as though I hadn't been fiddling with it too much and said "shouldn't it boot without holding that arrow?". He said it was because "the new signals haven't come through yet, it should be ok in an hour".

Off he trot... back to his van and drove off. I am left in exactly the same situation as before, and have been fobbed off tbh. I work 9 til 5 Mon-Fri and every other person in the house does too, so nobody is available to take another engineer call... I booked time off work for nothing.

Anybody know if engineers do visits outside of these hours? As it's a real pain, I just hope I get a legitimate and decent engineer who is not going to lie.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

"Its because the new signals haven't come through", what a load of bull.

The STBcan't lock onto the Network information table,(NIT) therefore can't go through the boot up process. Either there is a low signal level going into the stb and by holding down the Down button you are skipping the tune process, bypassing getting the NIT and hoping that it will work after this or the STB is knackered and needs replacing. I would say the STB is faulty and needs replacing.

Get back onto faults and insist that the STB is replaced.

Yes they do visits after 17:00hrs, can't remember up to what time though.

What you find normally happens is the STB will work with the low levels and also with the STB being faulty, then either there is a network outage or like in your case an electrical fault, the STB goes off then it won't work after power is restored or the netwotk outage has cleared. Or in your case the electrical surge, spike whatever is was has damaged internal components in the STB.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Sorry Sollp but a lot of what you just said is also incorrect.
The NIT table is carried on all transport streams, not just one.
When the box boots up it does a check on the home transport stream before then continuing onto the last frequency it was locked to. By pressing the down arrow on boot up you simply bypass the check of the home transport stream.
If the STB fails to find a NIT then it completely fails to boot. The STB does not store the NIT when it is rebooted. If the box is booting then it is finding the NIT on whatever stream it is locking to.

The Home Transport stream level needs checking and adjusting.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Hi the engineer should not have booted up the box like that.As most of you know this is way round the boot up sequnece.Another tech is needed to look at you box / Signal We have appointments from 6 to 8 :tu:

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Hi, thanks for this explanation; this seems most likely.
This is due to since the surge, I have noticed a memory loss (ie. on demand help coming up etc.. saying welcome to your new service, when i've had it for months, and only got that the first week).

It also therefore seems likely that it has forgotten the home frequency to lock on to, in order to get the NIT tables, therefore has to search which probably explains why it takes longer to boot.

I am also pleased to know that engineers do call after 17:00, and will be calling NTL either tomorrow morning or late afternoon. Thanks for all your help.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

The check on the home frequency isn't to pick up the NIT. As I said the NIT is contained on all frequencies.
The Home frequency check is to do with STB software, I believe the box checks the current software reported on the home frequency against what it has loaded.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

The default frequency carries the Home transport STREAM,this can be any transport stream(broadcast multiplex) all the download info for the STB to do an over the air code download, so i'm hardly incorrect. Everything i said was correct. If you want a game of i know more than you,then carry on, i'm sure i could get the manuals on the STB and how it works like any other person can. You've repeated what i said. Apart from saying that all the Transport streams carry the NIT as you say,(don't think this is the case myself i think it is carried on a couple of streams, but might be wrong)i'm not totally incorrect as You say.

If you look on the engineering screens, on page 5 it will show the frequency the STB was last tuned to, if the AGC is higher than 70% or the SNR is lower than 29% the problem could be low input levels, this could be why it is stuck on tune.

If stuck on NIT it could indicate corrupted data, again on page 5 if the PRE and POST errors are incorrect either the data is corrupted by the network being at fault or more likely the STB is faulty.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Sometimes Sollp you are going to meet people who do know a little more than you. It even happens to me! ;) Like Escapee, I was a Principle Engineer within ntl in the past.

The Home transport as you correctly call it carries the STB software data for all hardware versions, its on Mux 17.
All transport streams carry the required PSI and SI tables. Therefore as I said all transport streams carry the NIT.
The bit in your post above where you say
is wrong. Theres no bypassing getting the NIT. The STB does not store the NIT, so a reboot means it has no idea what frequencies the streams exist on, until it re-gathers the NIT and SDT tables.

I don't need to read the manual. I remember how it works.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Well now you have pointed what i didn't quite get right, though not totally incorrect as you say, how about pointing out exactly what someone might get wrong instead of making sweeping statements like you did. I know as much as one thinks they know, someone else might know more or less or equal, you can't judge someone on one mistake unless your the kind of person that seems to want to point out these mistakes to make themselves seem more knowlegeable than the person who has made the mistake, I.E Smart Ass!

The fact you used to be a Principal Engineer for NTL means nothing really as i've heard plenty of people talk a good job over the years whilst working for NTL but actually doing the job is another matter.

And yes i do need the manuals as i can't remember absolutely everthing.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

No ones judging you Sollp. You made statements, a couple of which were completely wrong, I merely corrected you. You could have accepted that and learnt from it.
You then said,
I then again pointed out what you had got wrong in your original post.

I apologise for trying to help you in correcting your misunderstandings.

I'm making sweeping statements?

:angel:

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

The last point i make is not a sweeping statement, more of like what i have experienced over the years.

Re: NIT Scan Failed
 

Shall we call this a score draw and move on???