Xfinity cable box troubleshooting

Cable boxes are the conduit through which all of our live entertainment flows and when it’s acting up, especially when it’s an Xfinity cable box, it can be understandably frustrating. It’s not as if Comcast is new at this business, after all. When your Xfinity cable box isn’t working, what troubleshooting options do you have?

Fixing an Xfinity cable box that isn’t working involves a few troubleshooting scenarios, such as restarting the box, unplugging it, factory resetting it, and so on. However, if the box is broken, there’s nothing outside of Comcast Customer Service and a replacement that’s going to fix the problem. 

Nine times out of ten, it’s going to be something that you can handle on your own, but that’s not the case all of the time, unfortunately.

Xfinity cable boxes are generally very reliable pieces of hardware, with a lot of complex inner workings that bring your hours, weeks, months, and years of endless entertainment value.

Xfinity Cable Box Troubleshooting Tips

There are several different things that can go wrong with an Xfinity cable box that will cause it to not work.

In fact, “not work” is a pretty broad definition because there are multiple eventualities that will cause it to “not work.”

No Power Light

Any time that you are not getting a power light indicator on your Xfinity box, you should always start by turning on the TV so you can see whether the box is truly off or if it’s working and the LED light is just broken.

If the box isn’t working, unplug it and leave it unplugged for around five minutes. Plug it back in and see if it cycles back on like it’s supposed to.

Reset Xfinity Cable Box

Restarting anything electronic is a time-tested and age-old method for dealing with just about any inoperable piece of technology. 

It works so often that it is a mainstay in troubleshooting methods and should always be your first, go-to option. However, if it doesn’t work, we will just have to dig a little deeper.

  • Soft Resetting the Xfinity Cable Box
  • Factory Resetting the Xfinity Cable Box
  • Xfinity My Account App
  • Comcast Customer Support

Soft Resetting the Xfinity Cable Box

You always want to start small, with the simplest solutions while working your way up to the more difficult and time-consuming ones.

Technically, performing a soft reset is the same thing as unplugging the box and plugging it back. Or, at the very least, that’s one version for soft resetting. 

To perform a soft reset without unplugging the Xfinity cable box, simply press and hold the power button on the cable box. Hold it for ten seconds, or however long it takes for the box to start powering down before it restarts. 

Once it restarts, you’ve completed a soft reset of the system. If the LED is still not on and indicating that there is power to the box, make sure that the TV is on and it is set to the correct input for the cable box and not something else.

If you just leave the TV on while you troubleshoot and keep it at the right input, you will instantly know if your troubleshooting efforts have resulted in success, since you will see it on the TV. 

Reset Using Xfinity My Account App

You can do a full, factory reset with either the TV or by accessing the Xfinity My Account App (Android or iOS). Since the cable box isn’t working, there is no option for doing a  factory reset with the TV or box. You’ll have to perform the factory reset directly from the app. 

Of course, when you do a factory reset, you will lose all of your previous data, including any shows or movies that you have recorded, along with any kind of pre-arranged recordings or settings that you have applied since you first received the cable box.

Everything returns to the original state of the Xfinity cable box when it was first installed in your home. It’s not the most exciting thing in the world to initiate a factory reset, however, sometimes it’s the only tool left in the toolbox and you have to do what you have to do. 

  • On your smartphone, open the Xfinity My Account App
  • Locate the “TV Option” on the main screen
  • Select your Xfinity cable box
  • Select “Troubleshoot”
  • Choose “System Refresh”

Once you confirm the System Refresh option, your smartphone app will remotely factory reset your Xfinity cable box and return it to its original settings by completely wiping it.

After the factory reset, if your Xfinity cable box is still not working, you probably have a defective box and it needs to be replaced. 

Contact Customer Service for a Technician

You can contact Comcast by calling their 1-800-COMCAST number or by visiting their website for Comcast Customer Care Support. They will most likely send out a technician to troubleshoot or replace your cable box. 

You will have to set aside a day and a time in which they can come out and someone will be at home. However, before they do anything else, Comcast will troubleshoot your box on their end, likely doing most of the things you have already done, but from their end, where they are privy to certain information that you are not. 

They will do both a signal reset (the incoming signal for live television) and a system refresh.

If your box is essentially dead, as in not turning on or giving any kind of LED lighting indication, none of those things will probably work anyway. 

However, it’s a part of the process so you will have to endure it and be patient while they test and refresh your system.

If all of that fails, then the technician will be scheduled to come out to your home at a time that is convenient for you. 

Final Thoughts

If your Xfinity cable box is not working—as in, lights off and nobody’s home—your own troubleshooting steps and those provided in this article are not likely to work.

However, it’s worth the try to get your system back up and running. 

If all else fails, a technician will have to fix it, and it’s doubtful that it will be charged to your account.

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