Shaw (Rogers) issue.

[DarrenH]

Okay, my wife and I moved over the last week. At the old place, we had the Ignite, new system.  At the new place, because they are on a bulk plan, we were told we had to downgrade to an old Gateway, Gen 2 I think they said.  We have two TVs but since the movers broke the stand on one, the installer set up one box.  The second, he place in the bedroom, turned it on and left it.  The Shaw phone, we didn't have the base so he couldn't set that up either.

Since Friday, yes we can watch TV and Video on Demand.  When we try to record a show, just 1 or 2 unlike our last two systems, upon trying to play the recorded shows, we get 2 seconds.  Under list where it shows what was recorded, how long it is and space used, it shows zero space used.  It does show the program that was to be recorded and how long the recording should be.

We called Shaw today to report the problem and try to get an installer to come back out.  Nope the rep on the phone said that she couldn't do that.  She walked through what is obviously a flowchart and the more things that didn't work the more frustrated we became.  We asked again to have someone come out and was told that procedure was for her to trouble shoot.  It wasn't working and after 20+ minutes, my wife said that she was starting to feel like we should switch to Telus.  What was the reps response?  Go ahead!  WOW what a change from before Rogers took over. 

After 40 minutes, the phone rep said, "Just leave things and see if the problem still occurs tomorrow."  We did get the system to record 6 minutes of a show we were watching and it played back.  But was this recorded or was this buffer? 

With more failed recordings, tonight I moved the cable box from the bedroom to the living-room and set it up.  Remember, the installer plugged it in and said it was fine in the bedroom.  No luck.  The box would not download the guide and kept saying that I should retry the download later.  30 minutes later, I gave up.

I guess we call Shaw again tomorrow and see what they choose to do.  They were successful sending me our cable bill tonight.  I can see where the priorities are.

[rstra]

@DarrenH  It is most likely a hardware issue. You can watch TV, but not record, so possibly the hard drive is failing. The legacy gateway systems are as old as dirt, Rogers really needs to move bulk customers over to Ignite.

Call back and demand a service call.

[mdk]

@DarrenH wrote:  At the new place, because they are on a bulk plan, we were told we had to downgrade to an old Gateway.

That "bulk" plan probably gives everybody in the building a discount on "basic" TV services, because the cost of "basic" TV is bundled-in with your monthly rent.  If you add-on some channels, you (and only you) have to pay the incremental cost. 

Do you have a closed-circuit TV system that shows you the entry-way to the building?  That is delivered as an additional TV channel. The equipment to make it work is old -- requiring you to use the older Gateway TV box to receive that channel.

I agree with @rstra -- the disk-drive inside the Gateway is not functioning normally. I am surprised that Shaw did not offer to ship you (via courier) a different Gateway box, for you to self-install.  

If you are willing to tell a "white-lie" to Shaw, power-off the Gateway (disconnect the power-cord), and then contact Shaw, and tell them that it will not power-on, i.e., that the Gateway has "blown-up-real-good" (SCTV reference, if you are old-enough to remember that comedy series).  Since Shaw cannot detect it as being "active" on their network, pretend to follow their agent's flow-chart, i.e., try an ordinary lamp in the same power-socket, to prove that the socket is supplying power, and pretend to unplug/replug the power & the coaxial-cable.  Let them try to remotely connect to it; that attempt will fail.  At some point, that should force them to the end of their flow-chart, namely to order a replacement Gateway to be shipped to you.

From: https://support.shaw.ca/t5/tv-articles/equipment-info-shaw-tv-boxes/ta-p/5181

there do not seem to be any other "legacy" TV boxes that are alternatives to the Gateway system.  This seems to imply that if you decline to use that closed-circuit TV channel, Shaw/Rogers should upgrade you to their currently-supported TV boxes.