Attention - Sorry your SmartCard is not inserted properly.

[aliciac]

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to help a friend with her NTL box. It's not like the Eurovox type I have. The model number is Pace Di400NC (looks like the old type NTL box) and from what she says, it has had it's SmartCard modified in some way in the past. The box is working, but when watching premium channels, the following message appears every few minutes:

Attention -
Sorry your SmartCard is not inserted properly ... (the messge goes on to describe how to reinsert the card).
Press OK to close window.

Obviously, the card has been wiped clean and inserted properly. Pressing OK gets rid of the message for a few minutes, but then it reappears.

Is there a solution for this? Other than to replace the box? I'm no expert, but I think that the card may need reflashing? What would I need to do this for her?

And also, for the movie channels, the box is asking for a PIN, but she cannot remember what it is. And after three attempts, it locks and you need to cut off the power and reboot the box for another three attempts.

Any help would be much appreciated. I look forward to the comments.

Thanks so much.

Alicia. x

[spikebaby]

rewrite a different imge to the gard this will stop the pop up, you will need to pull the red jumper to set the stb to gain access to pin function, take it you are c/w area

[aliciac]

Spikebaby, thank you for your post. Unfortunately I'm a newbie and don't understand what you mean by write a new image to the card. Could you possibly point me in the direction of a guide please? I presume I'll need to buy some some of USB card reader (from ebay?) and then download software from the Bigmaq toolbar - am I right, and which software?

Also regarding the PIN thing, is that just a case of opening up the box and pulling some sort of red jumper and then putting it back again?

Thanks so much. Sorry for being a bit clueless!

Alicia. x

P.S. Ex NTL, Leicester area. Thanks.

[spikebaby]

as your pure area open the stb and next to the battery is a little red jumper pull it of ..wait a min put it back on, your net id and freq will set itself, then go into eng menu bottom of first page your pin willread 0000 the reset it using your controls on the stb up and down

then we will work on the rest

[Marc]

Dont forget to add a camid to the image ,one that looks valid to the area 2C for TW
24 Pure, and 27 for excw followed by any number 0-9 and number A-F

That will sort this issue out

Marc

[aliciac]

Guys, thanks for taking the time to post responses. Spikebaby, I did as you suggested and it worked a treat! I was a little unsure how to get to the engineer's menu, but Googled for it, and found that I had to hold down the UP and DOWN buttons on the front of the box and then power on. It went into the engineer menu, and I set the PIN as 0000.

Having looked more closely at the picture output of the box, I have noticed that the picture freezes for a less than a second, every ten seconds or so, although the quality of the picture is good. At first, I thought that this would only be a problem on the premium channels because the SmartCard required reflashing, but it also happens on ITV1 and the other free to view channels. I asked my friend about this, and she said she had just put up with this. I might now persuade her to opt for a Eurovox box, to solve the freezing and SmartCard not inserted problems in one go.

I also tried removing the SmartCard to see what error message would appear. The same 'SmartCard is not inserted' message appears, but if OK is pressed, the message disappears, and the box acts as if the SmartCard is inserted even though it isn't. Weird! But maybe the box itself has been modified as well as the card? If so, I guess this will be a tough job, beyond my means, and a new box may be the more easier solution.

Just out of curiosity though - is the freezing issue related at all to the SmartCard, or is the box failing?

Thanks again guys, you've been very helpful.

Alicia. x