Not So Smart TV

Another project I have been working on while recouping from my surgery is figuring out the new television.  It is a Samsung and a Smart TV, like they show in the commercials.  Alison wants to be able to talk to the TV and wave her hand to make it do things. 

So I took out the manual to read up on it and if I install a wireless LAN adapter, I should be able to do a bunch of things with it via the internet.  Unfortunately, Samsung doesn't include the adapter with the TV, it has to be purchased separately.  So I headed back to Best Buy and of course, they don't carry the Samsung adapter.  What is even worse, is that they are not interchangeable between TVs.  But what they did have was an adapter that I could hook into the TV with an ethernet cable that will pick up the signal from my wireless router.

I spent about four hours messing with it on Wednesday, and couldn't get it to pick up the signal.  Then I finally realized that I didn't have the WPS enabled on the router.  Once I did enable it, it worked for about 5 minutes, and while I was resetting everything, it lost the signal again.  And once the signal was lost, all the computers and ipods, etc. that used the router lost their signals too.  After an hour, I figured it out and was able to reconnect everything, everything except the TV that is.  But I figured I would lweave it alone and work on it again in Thursday.

On Thursday, I plugged the adapter back in, but didn't enable it, or so I thought.  I was busy doing some other things around the house and when I was able to sit down and look at it, I noticed that once again, all the computers in the house had lost their internet connection.  I finally just completely unplugged it figuring this was going to be something I would need quite some time to figure out.  I then spent the next hour or so resetting the router and reconnecting all the computers AGAIN. 

So right now, our Smart TV is not very smart.  I know that based on all the instructions I have it should be working, or I should be able to get it working.  I am just going to need some time to work this out.  I should be able to figure things out.

AT & T Sucks

Our new phone/tv/internet portal got here yesterday.  However, AT&T lists the time and day that I can install it, which was yesterday after 8:00 PM.  Kris said the customer service rep told her to wait until the next business day to install it, so I had to wait until today.  Well I spent 45 minutes trying to hook it up and didn't have any luck.  I followed the instructions to the letter and while it powered up, I never go the dial tone I was supposed to.  And I couldn't activate it for the TV and internet service until I could call to do so, which is hard because THERE IS NO DIAL TONE!

In the end I got frustrated and hooked the old one back up, so at least I can watch tv and type out my frustration on here.  Maybe I'll try again later tonight or tomorrow, but right now I just don't have the patience for it.

Dead Box

Our DVR box has been having problems. Last week it reset itself, just out of the blue and I couldn't get it working again for about an hour. Today, just as we were getting ready to take Alison to school it did it again. I left it figuring I would try resetting it again when we got home. Then Kris told me that it had happened a couple of days earlier as well, for a total of three times in a week.

When we got home from running around at about 1:00, I turned it on, and it still wasn't working, so I did the unthinkable, I called technical support. Ultimately it turns out there are "hardware problems" with the box and it will need to be replaced. AT & T will be sending me one but in teh mean time I will need to make due.

I switched boxes with the one in the basement, and everything seems fine. And wouldn't you know, as soon as I plugged the DVR box in downstairs, it started working again. The only thing is that it wiped out everything we had saved. I guess it is no big loss, most everything was "kid TV".

They told me that it would take two business days to get here, which means probably by Monday it'll be here. I hope it makes it through the long weekend.

Connection is Down

Back in August (or was it September?) we had a problem with our internet connection/TV with our AT&T U-Verse. Our gateway went out completely. The result was that we needed a whole new gateway installed. It took about a day to get a technician out here and get it taken care of.

Ever since at least once a week we had been having a problem with the TV going out. Going into the basement, the gateway was completely out. All it took was a little bit of wiggling of the cable that was plugged into the gateway and it would come back on. Well it went out last night and I couldn't get it back on. That meant no internet connection, no TV, and no phone. That just wasn't going to work.

I had to call from work on my cell phone and luckily the guy I spoke to managed to get us an appointment the next day. And being only 10-15 minutes from home, I was able to just run home when the guy called and said he would be at our house in 20-30 minutes. Well he came in and switched out the gateway again, and the battery backup. It took about 30 minutes, but everything was up and running again. good thing too. I think without TV or an internet connection we were going stir crazy (we can do without the phone).

On the plus side, it did allow me time to watch a few movies that I have on DVD that I hadn't seen yet, but had been wanting to.

Then later in the day Kris called to tell me the AT&T technician called and said they were going to be working on the lies in the area, something about squirrels chewing thru some lines and bypassing the area for now, but they would be working on it for the next day or so.