How to Reset A Cable Box

Many digital cable television problems can be solved without a technician coming to your house. Follow these simple steps to remedy most minor problems that may plague your service. Most of these techniques are for Comcast, but should work for most cable services and cable box providers.

Instructions

1. Far and away the easiest and most effective method of dealing with cable issues is to power cycle the cable box. To do this simply power off the cable box and unplug it for 30 seconds. When you plug it back in it will be forced to reconnect to the local cable office to download guide content and authorize your various service options. This will usually fix your problem.

2. If the power cycle doesn't work you can check your signal strength. This is particularly useful if only certain channels are being effected. To do this, turn off the cable box with the remote and immediately hit the "enter" button. This will pull up a diagnostic screen. You normally can't do any harm, so don't be intimidated. Look at the In-band and Out-of-Band SNRs. They should say "good" if the signal is strong enough.

3. As a last resort you should call your local office for technical assistance. They will usually begin with a box communication check, where a signal is sent to and then back from your cable box. They can then remotely reset your box if necessary, which also has a pretty high success rate.

4. If they can't diagnose or fix the problem remotely, as a last resort they may have to send out a technician. If nothing else, be proud that you did all you could to avoid the hassle!