Media Center EPG Cutover

[SpencerC]

Hello,

Any help would be appreciated. I've noticed that one of my series doesnt seem to be recording, so I decided to set it up again. When going into the Guide and finding what I want to record and right clicking on it there used to be a record series option. This no longer is present. But record is still present, but this will only record that one episode. Any thoughts?

[Moderator note: topic merged]

This is probably a problem with the source data. If the show is not marked as being a "series" it will not have the "record series" option. You should open a case with Microsoft about this.

I think I need to follow the steps in this thread first and re-run the guide setup on WMC. I say this because anything that I right click on in the guide no longer shows the record series option.

[ewtaylo]

nvm

[imaham]

I posted a "connect" about 2 weeks ago for the Buffalo OTA Lineup (a.k.a. Youngstown lineup) as reference number 1609451, Zip Code 14174, Headend ID 309582194. It describes some impossible references by the guide between Logical (Virtual) channel numbers and their associated Physical (R.F.) channel numbers. Since I submitted this I discovered an extra channel (Logical 35) which references Physical 3 and it should reference Physical 35. However, I can't seem to open my own "Connect" item by either "Edit this Item" or by UpVoting it. Another concern is that I believe Google autofill changed my "Country" and "Postal Code" from US, 14174 to my Canadian location, even though I have Media Center configured as U.S. 14174. Once I pressed the "Submit" button, it appears that these oversights are permanent. Channel 35 is beyond my range, so it doesn't affect me, but it may affect others in the Buffalo NY area. The item is still "Active".

If there's anyone out there who knows how to use Connect to allow corrections/Edits to be made, please let me know. I've considered also perhaps closing it (if that's possible) and rewrite the whole thing correctly.

JK

[SLK in SF]

I have given up. I've tried every fix given on this thread and none have worked on two of my three computers. One computer started getting Rovi data after several signal setups. I have had to restore my main box from image three times because any time I mess with the ehome files I lose menu options for downloading the guide manually and the about guide option.
I purchased a TiVo Roamio OTA and now I have to pay them every month. But at least I have an accurate guide and some nifty other features as well. Microsoft missed the boat. They could have charged a nominal fee for the program guide and I would have paid them.

I am on the point of going with the Roamio myself. Nothing I've tried has worked to goose my Windows 7 Media Center to go with Rovi. As I read other people's reports of eventually finding success I'm feeling more and more left behind, and am bitterly cursing Microsoft.

At present I am stuck with manual recording, which I suppose is better than nothing.

[dkaffenb]

After spending hours searching forums like this, I finally got mine to work. I completed 2 different parts of my fix. Changing the host file and adding specific DNS servers. I believe this issue has to do with Microsoft not updating the proper DNS addressing. By using a combination (although I'm not certain both are necessary), we are working around the issue until they fix it.

Add there 2 lines to the host file.
1. Open START menu and find Notepad program
2. Right click Notepad and choose Run As Administrator
3. Choose Open and browse to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\
4. In bottom right corner, change ".txt Files" to "All Files"
5. Select the "host" file to open
6. Add the following 2 lines at the very bottom of the document and save
65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

Manually add 2 Microsoft DNS servers:
1. Click Start and search for "Network and Sharing Center"
2. In upper left hand corner, click "Manage Network Adapters"
3. Right click your network adapter and choose "Properties"
4. Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4 . . . "
5. Check the box in bottom section for "Use the following DNS . . . "
6, Enter in the following 2 DNS servers
198.64.251.145
50.242.77.61

After this is complete, run the Media Center restart command and reboot before going through the setup once again:
1. Click Start and search for "cmd"
2. Right click CMD and Run As Administrator
3. Type the following lines and press enter between each line
cd ..
cd ehome
mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
4. Reboot the computer
5. Open MCE and go through the TV Signal Setup using your zip and normal options

I do NOT believe these will need to be permanent. Over the next couple days or weeks, Microsoft will discover the issue, and resolve it. At that point, both of these settings can be removed.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************
This solution worked for me!!!! I also had gone thru all the postings on this site without success...this time BINGO!!!
I am running Windows7, HD HomeRun Prime w/ Comcast Cable Card.
Just a couple clarifications(Perhaps "Lucky_Dog" was using something other than Win7)
Clarifications/changes in BOLD type below:

Add there 2 lines to the host file.
1. Open START menu and find Notepad program
2. Right click Notepad and choose Run As Administrator
3. Choose Open and browse to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\
4. In bottom right corner, change ".txt Files" to "All Files"
5. Select the "host" file to open
6. Add the following 2 lines at the very bottom of the document and save
65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

Manually add 2 Microsoft DNS servers:
1. Click Start and search for "Network and Sharing Center"
2. In upper left hand corner, click "Manage Network Adapters" Windows7= "Change Adapter Settings"
3. Right click your network adapter and choose "Properties"
4. Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4 . . . "
5. Check the box in bottom section for "Use the following DNS . . . "
6, Enter in the following 2 DNS servers
198.64.251.145
50.242.77.61

After this is complete, run the Media Center restart command and reboot before going through the setup once again:
1. Click Start and search for "cmd"
2. Right click CMD and Run As Administrator
3. Type the following lines and press enter between each line
cd ..
cd ehome
mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask (Note: There is a space between "exe and -MediaCenter)
4. Reboot the computer
5. Open MCE and go through the TV Signal Setup using your zip and normal options

Thanks to Lucky_Dog_33 for taking the time to Post these instructions in a form which a novice could read/understand. Thanks also to all those who have posted in an attempt to help. This has been 2 weeks of utter chaos!!!

[Anthonx]

I'm still trying to figure out why I can't get my EPG working again (thread starts here.)

Going back over some recommended solutions, one suggests (among its steps) to run "ObjectStoreRecoveryTask" from the Task Manager.

I noticed while doing so the following error:

"Class not registered (0x80040154)"

Not sure if this is the source of my trouble or how to fix. Does anyone know? Thx.

Time to do an install in place of Windows 7 to refresh your O/S. You have said that you cant install IE10 or 11 without getting errors. That along with this indicates issues in you O/S not related to WMC.

Hmmm. I may try that, but this would be my THIRD in-place re-install trying to fix this problem.

I have not had any luck after a "clean" Win 7x64 Pro install

[Anthonx]

After spending hours searching forums like this, I finally got mine to work. I completed 2 different parts of my fix. Changing the host file and adding specific DNS servers. I believe this issue has to do with Microsoft not updating the proper DNS addressing. By using a combination (although I'm not certain both are necessary), we are working around the issue until they fix it.

Add there 2 lines to the host file.
1. Open START menu and find Notepad program
2. Right click Notepad and choose Run As Administrator
3. Choose Open and browse to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\
4. In bottom right corner, change ".txt Files" to "All Files"
5. Select the "host" file to open
6. Add the following 2 lines at the very bottom of the document and save
65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

Manually add 2 Microsoft DNS servers:
1. Click Start and search for "Network and Sharing Center"
2. In upper left hand corner, click "Manage Network Adapters"
3. Right click your network adapter and choose "Properties"
4. Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4 . . . "
5. Check the box in bottom section for "Use the following DNS . . . "
6, Enter in the following 2 DNS servers
198.64.251.145
50.242.77.61

After this is complete, run the Media Center restart command and reboot before going through the setup once again:
1. Click Start and search for "cmd"
2. Right click CMD and Run As Administrator
3. Type the following lines and press enter between each line
cd ..
cd ehome
mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
4. Reboot the computer
5. Open MCE and go through the TV Signal Setup using your zip and normal options

I do NOT believe these will need to be permanent. Over the next couple days or weeks, Microsoft will discover the issue, and resolve it. At that point, both of these settings can be removed.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************
This solution worked for me!!!! I also had gone thru all the postings on this site without success...this time BINGO!!!
I am running Windows7, HD HomeRun Prime w/ Comcast Cable Card.
Just a couple clarifications(Perhaps "Lucky_Dog" was using something other than Win7)
Clarifications/changes in BOLD type below:

Add there 2 lines to the host file.
1. Open START menu and find Notepad program
2. Right click Notepad and choose Run As Administrator
3. Choose Open and browse to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\
4. In bottom right corner, change ".txt Files" to "All Files"
5. Select the "host" file to open
6. Add the following 2 lines at the very bottom of the document and save
65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

Manually add 2 Microsoft DNS servers:
1. Click Start and search for "Network and Sharing Center"
2. In upper left hand corner, click "Manage Network Adapters" Windows7= "Change Adapter Settings"
3. Right click your network adapter and choose "Properties"
4. Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4 . . . "
5. Check the box in bottom section for "Use the following DNS . . . "
6, Enter in the following 2 DNS servers
198.64.251.145
50.242.77.61

After this is complete, run the Media Center restart command and reboot before going through the setup once again:
1. Click Start and search for "cmd"
2. Right click CMD and Run As Administrator
3. Type the following lines and press enter between each line
cd ..
cd ehome
mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask (Note: There is a space between "exe and -MediaCenter)
4. Reboot the computer
5. Open MCE and go through the TV Signal Setup using your zip and normal options

Thanks to Lucky_Dog_33 for taking the time to Post these instructions in a form which a novice could read/understand. Thanks also to all those who have posted in an attempt to help. This has been 2 weeks of utter chaos!!!

Still failed after all these steps. Cannot download setup data... Cannot download program guide due to previous failures. After a clean Win7 install! Win 7x64 Professional

[JohnW248]

A couple of suggestions to the long lists of tasks.

1. You can change the host file on your MC machine, if you do, then you should not need to change the DNS server.

2. I would change the DNS server first since that is the easiest and you can either do that in your router or by going into your adapter settings for IPV4 and plugging in those numbers for the DNS server

3. If you really want to run the recovery task, just right click on computer and choose manage and then open the Task Library and keep opening until you get to windows and then expand Media Center. The recovery task is listed and you highlight it and then go to Action at the top menu and choose run. Then reopen MC, if you have a cableCARD, re-run the cableCARD advisor and then run TV set-up.

4. One final thing I haven't seen listed in any of these lists and of great importance is to flush the DNS from you MC machine. Open a run command and type "ipconfig /flushdns" and hit run. That will clear the DNS and any old listings. Without doing that, you've still got your old addresses locked into the machine.

[Anthonx]

After spending hours searching forums like this, I finally got mine to work. I completed 2 different parts of my fix. Changing the host file and adding specific DNS servers. I believe this issue has to do with Microsoft not updating the proper DNS addressing. By using a combination (although I'm not certain both are necessary), we are working around the issue until they fix it.

Add there 2 lines to the host file.
1. Open START menu and find Notepad program
2. Right click Notepad and choose Run As Administrator
3. Choose Open and browse to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\
4. In bottom right corner, change ".txt Files" to "All Files"
5. Select the "host" file to open
6. Add the following 2 lines at the very bottom of the document and save
65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

Manually add 2 Microsoft DNS servers:
1. Click Start and search for "Network and Sharing Center"
2. In upper left hand corner, click "Manage Network Adapters"
3. Right click your network adapter and choose "Properties"
4. Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4 . . . "
5. Check the box in bottom section for "Use the following DNS . . . "
6, Enter in the following 2 DNS servers
198.64.251.145
50.242.77.61

After this is complete, run the Media Center restart command and reboot before going through the setup once again:
1. Click Start and search for "cmd"
2. Right click CMD and Run As Administrator
3. Type the following lines and press enter between each line
cd ..
cd ehome
mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
4. Reboot the computer
5. Open MCE and go through the TV Signal Setup using your zip and normal options

I do NOT believe these will need to be permanent. Over the next couple days or weeks, Microsoft will discover the issue, and resolve it. At that point, both of these settings can be removed.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************
This solution worked for me!!!! I also had gone thru all the postings on this site without success...this time BINGO!!!
I am running Windows7, HD HomeRun Prime w/ Comcast Cable Card.
Just a couple clarifications(Perhaps "Lucky_Dog" was using something other than Win7)
Clarifications/changes in BOLD type below:

Add there 2 lines to the host file.
1. Open START menu and find Notepad program
2. Right click Notepad and choose Run As Administrator
3. Choose Open and browse to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\
4. In bottom right corner, change ".txt Files" to "All Files"
5. Select the "host" file to open
6. Add the following 2 lines at the very bottom of the document and save
65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

Manually add 2 Microsoft DNS servers:
1. Click Start and search for "Network and Sharing Center"
2. In upper left hand corner, click "Manage Network Adapters" Windows7= "Change Adapter Settings"
3. Right click your network adapter and choose "Properties"
4. Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4 . . . "
5. Check the box in bottom section for "Use the following DNS . . . "
6, Enter in the following 2 DNS servers
198.64.251.145
50.242.77.61

After this is complete, run the Media Center restart command and reboot before going through the setup once again:
1. Click Start and search for "cmd"
2. Right click CMD and Run As Administrator
3. Type the following lines and press enter between each line
cd ..
cd ehome
mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask (Note: There is a space between "exe and -MediaCenter)
4. Reboot the computer
5. Open MCE and go through the TV Signal Setup using your zip and normal options

Thanks to Lucky_Dog_33 for taking the time to Post these instructions in a form which a novice could read/understand. Thanks also to all those who have posted in an attempt to help. This has been 2 weeks of utter chaos!!!

Still failed after all these steps. Cannot download setup data... Cannot download program guide due to previous failures. After a clean Win7 install! Win 7x64 Professional

Success finally! What did I do in addition to the above?

1. flushed the dns: cmd > ipconfig /flushdns
2. ran cmd > cd ..\ehome > mcupdate.exe -DataStoreRecoveryTask
3. on setup, tried selecting a different region than the United States and then selecting the United States again, and shutting down and restarting WMC
4. Used one of the other zip codes reported working for Denver 80228, even though it had not worked for me before and 80206 worked on a different computer.

I don't know which of this steps did it, or whether it was corrected at the back end between attempts. Just glad to be back up. I could have set up manual recordings for life for less work than what I put into this.

[HDTV-WMC-fan]

Major APPLAUSE to kdurbin82 and hueyatl1 !!!

After several days of trying various fixes to get my guide back, your fix worked for both my Windows 7 Pro and Windows 8.1 HDTV Windows Media Center systems!! (placing the IP addresses in the Windows host file and the rest)

kdurbin82 and hueyatl1, THANK YOU very, very, very, very, much!!!!!

My systems were both locked on to the Zap2it guide download and would not change to Rovi until I tried your fix.

Thanks again!

[terryj47]

I'm glad some of you are making progress. But I have to say that I'm not sure ANY of these suggestions work. I run to 4-tuner W7 MC systems. One is a DVR appliance and one is my desktop system used. I never felt that the guide was 100& correct. It was good but not perfect. Anyone, one of my systems switched over all by itself a few days after the fertilizer hit the ventilation system. Nothing worked until it worked if you know what I mean. The other took two weeks. Trying everything including a clean reinstall. No guide service-period. Then one day it just worked. That last time I used zip 90001 (L.A.) rather than my zip of 91331. There is no way of knowing whether that was the key or my number came up in the MS lottery. And MS is being pretty hush hush about this fiasco. OK enough ranting. The Rovi guide is working pretty well but there are still some first run/rerun issues but all in all, it is usable.

Since I see no hope for long term Windows 7 support (Jan 2020 I think) I started looking at alternatives. My first effort is NextPVR on a clean Windows 7 install. I got it kindof working but there are a lot of rough edges. The worst being that the MCR remote doesn't work as well as I would like. WAF and all. And launching it with the green button on the remote also launched WinTV which I had installed to make sure that the tuners were working. So I uninstalled WinTV and NextPVR lost the sound. Also other windows sounds don't work but some windows 7 features do provide sound. Like Media Player and some of the audio format tests. And you need to pay for the guide. Now $25 a year would be fine if the WAF was acceptable. It's not. At least for my testbed system. You can't seem to fully operate NextPVR with an MCE remote. I tried Teamviewer on my iPad. That was a mistake!

I also installed Kodi (formerly XBMC). Haven't successfully tried to tie NPVR into it as a DVR backend. But I didn't try very hard either.

I heard once that only 1% of Windows users ever even launched MC to see what it did. And only about 1% of them (us) actually use it. So unless NextPVR makes some major improvements, it will probably be Tivo or two for us.

Maybe MS will reconsider. Yeah right.

While NextPVR is a huge effort and may get there, it is no MC. At least yet.

[abeloffv]

As I started to set up my new Windows 8.1 Media Center PC I became very familiar with this thread. Nothing seemed to work. The more I read, the more I tried. Over and over with no positive results. I think that a typo had something to do with my lack of success.

One of the host table entries wound up with a changed IP address; which I noticed as I read further and further back in the thread.

At the end of the thread 72.246.56.59 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com was ending with 56.69

I changed my host table to have the 56.59 entry and retraced my steps and voila, I now have the guide. It took my correcting the host table, then doing both of the processes listed below; the one with ObjectStoreRecovery, then the one with mcupdate

After that, it took me two times through TV Setup to get the guide.

===================== first this ==============================

close WMC
click start button
type CMD in search box
right click CMD and run as administrator
cd c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc
notepad hosts
Add the following 2 lines
65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.59 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com
(if there are other lines in your file that are for data.tvdownload.microsoft.com or cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com comment them out by placing a # at the beginning of the line)
save the file and exit notepad
in your cmd window
ipconfig /flushdns

click start button
in search box type taskschd.msc
after task scheduler opens
In the left tree expand Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows
click on Media Center folder to highlight it
In the upper window of the center section scroll through the activities under the Name column.
right-click ObjectStoreRecoveryTask, and click Run
Let this run for a minute or two

Reboot and re-open WMC. You will receive a warning that WMC corrected a problem and will download the Guide EPG data again

Tasks > Settings > General > Windows Media Center Setup

Use the Advanced instead of the Express option.

Remember to use the zipcode from the MSN Rovi website!



============= then this =============

Verify the 2 lines are in your hosts file
open an elevated command prompt
cd c:\windows\ehome
mcupdate -uf -pscn 0
let it finish (many minutes)
mcupdate -uf -pscn 0
let it finish
then try your tv setup again

then tv setup once more and the guide downloaded

[Vistaar]

I uninstalled WinTV and NextPVR lost the sound.

You had selected Hauppauge's audio decoder for AC3. Free alternatives include AC3Filter and LAV. No, NextPVR isn't as easy to use as WMC. There are reasons why Microsoft wanted $99.99 for Windows 8.1 Pro Pack. This thread wouldn't exist if customers hadn't stayed away in droves. Yes, NextPVR can be used as backend for Kodi. BTW I share your skepticism about the many suggestions offered in this thread and post hoc reasoning in general.

[terryj47]

I uninstalled WinTV and NextPVR lost the sound.

You had selected Hauppauge's audio decoder for AC3. Free alternatives include AC3Filter and LAV. No, NextPVR isn't as easy to use as WMC. There are reasons why Microsoft wanted $99.99 for Windows 8.1 Pro Pack. This thread wouldn't exist if customers hadn't stayed away in droves. Yes, NextPVR can be used as backend for Kodi. BTW I share your skepticism about the many suggestions offered in this thread and post hoc reasoning in general.

Thanks. I'll look at one of the other decoders. And you are correct I had selected the Hauppauge decoder. No rush. And you would think that MS would publish THEE way to get it to work. Take care.

[TSev]

After spending hours searching forums like this, I finally got mine to work. I completed 2 different parts of my fix. Changing the host file and adding specific DNS servers. I believe this issue has to do with Microsoft not updating the proper DNS addressing. By using a combination (although I'm not certain both are necessary), we are working around the issue until they fix it.

Add there 2 lines to the host file.
1. Open START menu and find Notepad program
2. Right click Notepad and choose Run As Administrator
3. Choose Open and browse to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\
4. In bottom right corner, change ".txt Files" to "All Files"
5. Select the "host" file to open
6. Add the following 2 lines at the very bottom of the document and save
65.55.186.113 data.tvdownload.microsoft.com
72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

Manually add 2 Microsoft DNS servers:
1. Click Start and search for "Network and Sharing Center"
2. In upper left hand corner, click "Manage Network Adapters"
3. Right click your network adapter and choose "Properties"
4. Double click "Internet Protocol Version 4 . . . "
5. Check the box in bottom section for "Use the following DNS . . . "
6, Enter in the following 2 DNS servers
198.64.251.145
50.242.77.61

After this is complete, run the Media Center restart command and reboot before going through the setup once again:
1. Click Start and search for "cmd"
2. Right click CMD and Run As Administrator
3. Type the following lines and press enter between each line
cd ..
cd ehome
mcupdate.exe -MediaCenterRecoveryTask
4. Reboot the computer
5. Open MCE and go through the TV Signal Setup using your zip and normal options

I do NOT believe these will need to be permanent. Over the next couple days or weeks, Microsoft will discover the issue, and resolve it. At that point, both of these settings can be removed.

Lucky_Dog_33 THANK YOU!!!! I have spent an unbelievable number of hours trying every other possible solution out there for the past 3 weeks and yours finally got me cut over to Rovi and allowed my guide to be updated. I am so relieved, I created an account here just to be able to thank you.
-TSev-

[davidhp]

I have one minor problem with the cutover to ROVI, in zip code 89117 (Las Vegas) I am not getting schedule updates for three channels: 6.2 This TV, 8.3 Movies and 13.3 Heroes & Icons. It is a pain to have to manually set recording and to look up schedules on other guides. When the switch over originally occurred I had this problem and downloaded my tv setting again and I was receiving all the program schedules. Then a couple of weeks ago these three channels stopped getting updates. Am I going to have to keep downloading the tv settings every couple of weeks to get this to work and being one of those who had to pay $100.00 to get Media Center with Windows 8.1 I am not happy that it doesn't work the way it is supposed to.

[BucK]

Can someone clarify - is it 72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com
or
72.246.56.59 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

69 or 59 at the end of the IP?

[imaham]

Can someone clarify - is it 72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com
or
72.246.56.59 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

69 or 59 at the end of the IP?

It doesn't make any difference. If you use the nslookup command for those 2 ip addresses, you'll see that they both resolve to the same place. What is far more important is that you use the ipconfig /flushdns command after you change anything in the Hosts command, or if you change your Network DNS to a different system. See the following very short article for a simple explanation dated 2002 but still valid.

http://windowsitpro.com/networking/how- ... he-content

[Crash2009]

Can someone clarify - is it 72.246.56.69 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com
or
72.246.56.59 cdn.epg.tvdownload.microsoft.com

69 or 59 at the end of the IP?

This is what mine looks like......

[pawcio]

Download Failure
The new TV setup data could not be
downloaded. The existing data, if available
will be used as you continue through TV
signal setup.

* after this error message, the setup fails to ask me what Cable TV provider I use. When finished:
* no channel names are showing
* no guide gets downloaded no matter how many times I try (I suspect it doesn't know what cable provider I use, so it doesn't know which guide to get)
* I CAN watch all the channels including HBO, etc (I do have a cablecard and HDHomeRun tuner, but it's irrelevant info here)

My second PC when I re-run the setup does NOT have this issue, and the setup goes through all of the steps:
* I use the same zip code (01775) then after acquiring new TV setup data (no DOWNLOAD FAILURE),
* asks me to select whether I have Comcast or Verizon FIOS, then when finished,
* channel names are showing correctly.
* still an issue with the GUIDE, but that's a separate issue

I've re-installed Media Center multiple times, deleting the eHome dir, playReady and running manual commands to mcUpdate etc...
Something is screwed up in the Media Center setup on this PC and I don't know what it is.

How do I completely remove any and all settings for Media Center, and start completely new, besides what I have already tried and described above? What registry settings can be removed? Any other hidden files or directories?
What is blocking the new TV setup data from downloading successfully?

This post is NOT about the GUIDE not downloading - I hear it's a separate issue that a lot of people I experiencing.
This post is to get the TV setup data downloaded so that the Media Center ask for my Cable Provider and displays the Channel line up names
I am lucky in a way that my second PC with Media Center works correctly and goes through the setup without a problem.

I don't want to re-install Windows to get this issue fixed - there should be a way to completely reset Media Center, so it goes through the setup correctly and doesn't fail to acquire new TV setup data (not the electronic programming guide)