ATI TV Wonder DCT, cable card pairing problem

[rlipoff]

Apologies for the long post, I just want to get everything out there before I get asked a bunch of questions. I have a PCI-express ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner, Windows 7 x64. My computer is a Falcon NW Mach V, but I installed the card myself (NOT OEM) I updated the card's firmware when I got the card about 2 years ago, version 1.19.12.09050155 (May 1 2009). I have never been able to use its digital cable features due to previous cable companies claiming not to support such a device, but my current provider, Comcast in Little Rock, AR, is trying to help me get it set up. The cable card (Motorola M-card) installed fine, with two green lights on the tuner, and is recognized by Windows Media Center (WMC), ATI's tuner diagnostics page, and a DCT diagnostics tool I found on a forum somewhere. Instead of the cable card's Host ID and ID, WMC and the card's web page both show the following on the "CableCard Pairing" page:

CableCARD(tm) Pairing

Authorization Failure 1090

There was a technical problem
during the authorization
process. This product may have
some component failure or may
not be designed to be fully
compatible with digital cable
television services. Please
contact the manufacturer or the
retailer.

The DCT diagnostics tool just shows blanks for all cable card information fields except for Status (Inserted), Manufacturer, Version, and Type, all of which are correct. The DCT tool found no problems other than the pairing status, which is yellow or "marginal." OOB status is locked (green) and virtual channel table version is 14 (green). Comcast's higher-tier cable card support believes it's a problem with my tuner, not their system. I tried multiple M-cards when the cable tech came over to install it, and they all gave the same result. The card's serial number is entered in my account correctly, but obviously they don't have the cable card's Host ID, ID or Data fields to work with, so they claim they can't do anything until I get those numbers to them. It seems to me from reading elsewhere about similar problems that they may have to send some sort of signal first for these fields to show up, and "init" or "hit" signal or something similar. My knowledge of this stuff is limited to what I've read in various forums, which are confusing and often contradictory. I've sent ATI/AMD an e-mail, but haven't heard back yet, assuming they want to support this device at all, which doesn't seem to be on sale anywhere (and was hard to find even when I got it). I've done extensive searching for this error online and haven't found this particular error anywhere, though I have seen similar problems--none of which were resolved in forums, including this one.

I can still see "unscrambled" channels, even the HD ones (local networks). SNR is -33 and signal level is -6 to -9 on all channels (from DCT diagnostic tool). I ran the digital cable adviser tool when first installing the card with no problems. When run again now, it says I'm already set up. I also tried powering down the computer, removing the cable card, then installing it again. I also uninstalled the tuner from Device Manager, then rebooted and reinstalled it, and even re-flashed the firmware. I have no firewall running, though McAfee security center is running. My router is set to allow the ports listed here: http://blog.jasontsang.ca/2007/05/cable ... le-vs.html

The bottom line: my card won't or can't pair, and I don't know why. Should I just scrap it and buy a Ceton InfiniTV 4?

[erkotz]

Either your CableCARD or ATI tuner is bad. Start by getting another CableCARD and trying again.