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jca2's avatar

Why might my cable TV not work but the phone and internet work fine?

Asked by jca2 (16269points) November 26th, 2023
15 responses
“Great Question” (2points)

Something happened the other day and all of a sudden, the TV doesn’t work but the internet and landline phone work fine.

When I turn the TV on, on the screen it says “check the antenna cable connection and then “run auto program.”

The router has power. I’ve turned the power on and off a few times to the router and cable box. The TV has power.

I can call Comcast/Xfinity but I tried calling the other day, and it’s such a pain going through the whole automated system, and then the automated system tells you that you must be willing to accept a system refresh before they will allow you to speak to a person. I let it do the system refresh and the automated system said someone would call me back, and they never did, and I was out anyway so even if they did, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. I can and will call them again but I dread it, because with the automated system, every time I call it’s at least a half hour, which is why I am seeing if Fluther might know the answer.

I have pushed in all cables and cords and everything appears to be plugged in ok.

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Answers

elbanditoroso's avatar

The TV’s internal configuration input is mis-set.

You may accidentally have set the TV input to HDMI1 when the cable is in HDMI2 (if you have
a set-top box). Or, if your coax goes straight to the TV, you have set the input to HDMI when it should have been set to Coax.

It’s going to be something silly like that.

jca2's avatar

@elbanditoroso The cat stepped on the remote and it happened right when that occurred. The remote doesn’t seem to be doing much now.

janbb's avatar

Did you put new batteries in the remote?

jca2's avatar

No. The remote works, to turn the TV on and off, but when I click on where I can choose TV or HDMI, the arrow up and down doesn’t do anything.

Blackwater_Park's avatar

That auto program is for over the air channels. You may have damaged the remote by stepping on it. First, unplug the TV and take the batteries out of the remote for a minute or so. Put fresh batteries in the remote and turn the TV back on. Your TV probably has a“source” button physically on the TV, you can use that to get back to your cable feed. See if that fixes it.

jca2's avatar

The cat stepped on it when it was on the bed, not me @Blackwater_Park.

Just replaced the batteries in the remote and unplugged the TV for a few. Will report back. Hopefully it’s going to work…...

Blackwater_Park's avatar

It likely stepped on the source button then

jca2's avatar

When I click on “source list” the arrow doesn’t work to move it from TV to HDMi. Ugh.

jca2's avatar

OMG OMG OMG I clicked it twice and then I could move the arrow and now I have the TV back.

Thank you everyone and thank you @Blackwater_Park!!! So happy! no TV for about five days and now I have TV!

jca2's avatar

That was “TV input” that I clicked twice. Then the source button arrow worked. OMG. Oh. Em. Gee.

elbanditoroso's avatar

Problem solved through mob wisdom.

jca2's avatar

Yes, thank you Mob!

JLeslie's avatar

Yay!

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

I find it funny that when my tv or internet is slow that the commercials work fine.

SnipSnip's avatar

CATV doesn’t come in via telephone or internet service unless you have internet TV service like Youtube. If you have internet and landline service those will come in together. First thing is make sure your cable wire is tightly connected to the source/antenna plug on back of TV. If you have CATV the Charter or Comcast website will show where they have significant outages.

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