88 CAK Callback Attempt

[Feenix]

Hey all,
just got home and my stb (samsung) had frozen so rebooted and had a look at the event log. There are tons of entries for ;

88 Callback Connection Attempt
89 Callback Connection Failed.

Signal levels were 6dB too high so slapped in an FPA but still occuring.
Any ideas what this is? I asked the guys in service and they just asked if the box was working normally

Cheers for your help

[spiderplant]

If your return path (interactive) is working ok, it's nothing to worry about.

How often is the box freezing?

[Feenix]

Very rarely - couple of times a month at most. Signal levels are now spot on -8dB high digi and a 10dB slope. Return path locked on @ 37dB.

[jupiterhd]

I get these errors too - ever since i got this new box. in fact i also get post rs errors on specific frequency's.. all this is listed in the page up page down blue 'user info' screens. SNR is usually over 34 and cable modem light is always stable. Me thinks this is a bug in the samsung hardware or software!!

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by jupiterhd

I get these errors too - ever since i got this new box. in fact i also get post rs errors on specific frequency's..

As I said before, the "CAK" errors are nothing to worry about. However, post-RS errors indicate a problem with the signal to your STB, and will usually correspond with picture breakup. You should call ntl if this happens.

[jupiterhd]

thanks spiderplant. I noticed that the tech who installed my samsung stb, tested the signals with the use of a handheld computer and said the signals were fine.. then proceeded to install the box and finally checked everything including a spectrum graph with plots on it - never seen this screen before on the older boxes. I never get any picture breakup - in fact this box seems to display crisper, brighter pictures with less pixelation and digital artifacts than any of the ntl pace boxes i've had before... so it is a real delight with my 42 inch screen. Just checked the SNR on the user info pages: it's 37.8 - is that too high? Return power: 48DBmV and the error screen shows: Post Rs Errors mainly on 666.750 89 CAK Callback connection failiure and 88 CAK callback connection attempt. Oh and the card status is 10. Other than that it is super fast to use and change channels.
PS: I had a cable re-pull from street cab to house year and a half ago as signals were not good..

[spiderplant]

You can't have a too high SNR. (It only calculates it from the error rates, anyway - it there are no errors, it comes up with an arbitarily high figure). You've clearly got some sort of intermittent problem to get any post-RS errors, but if the picture isn't breaking up maybe it's nothing to worry about. Whereabouts in the country are you? No idea what card status 10 means.

[jupiterhd]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

Whereabouts in the country are you? No idea what card status 10 means.

In Peterborough (ex-cwc) (is the regional headend here or in Norwich?)

[spiderplant]

I've just noticed that you can get spurious post-RS errors logged - I suspect this happens when the STB is rebooted. The fact it logs frequency as 666.750 adds weight to this, as this is the frequency that the STB first tunes to. Don't worry about it.

[Feenix]

not worried just curious

[Feenix]

ah ha!

CAK = Conditional Access Kernal - to do with upload and download of billing information for PPV etc. from the STB. Failure can be caused by all sorts of things, most too boring to mention here.

As stated above by spiderplant - nowt to worry about.