I have two Samsung gx-sm530cf smart media boxes. I use them solely as cable boxes with M cable cards from my provider (RCN). The units do not get a lot of use, but as of last November, they were working fine. Just the other day, I turned one of them on and I no longer can get the cable guide. Channels come in fine but when attempting to pull up the guide, I get the message ' the guide is being updated and is not available now - try again later. RCN says the guide is generated by the box.
I get this on both my boxes - so I factory reset one of them, and going through the setup again, I get the message 'Network Error' when searching for my cable provider (when you put in your zip code). The box is on my Wireless network fine. So is there some site that you go to when searching for the providers that's no longer available? I'm stuck.... need tech assistance.
I understand having issues with the guide can be frustrating. While the guide is generated by the box, the information is provided by the provider's server. Did they send a reactivation signal to the card when you talked to them? This particular set to box is supported through the Samsung Business support team. You can contact them directly at 877-870-9019 for further assistance.
So I called the number given above and that's not the correct number for this smart media boxes. They transferred me to the home Theater support group... waiting for CSR to find the right help... This isn't going to be easy...
So far I have been disconnected twice - no call back even though they took my number so they could call back in case of a disconnect...
WOW - this could be THE worst service call I have ever been on... Three disconnects - I had to call back... the CSR's phone system sounds like it's running on a cup and a string... hard to believe - so bad for an electronics company. I'll bet this 'support team' is in the Philippines. CSR wanted to send a Samsung tech to my house at my expense!!! Huh? Wait what???
NO... problem is at the Samsung end... ugh - so painful. CSR is not understanding the issue.
So when we hung up yesterday, a supervisor from Samsung was going to call me... I'm still waiting.
I have 4 samsung gx-sm530cf boxes they all did same thing as stated above... as of 1/3/22 I can no longer get cable guide and get the message 'Network Error' when searching for my cable provider (when you put in your zip code). Box is on my Wireless network fine, also connected with hardwire (ethernet cable direct) no change.. ordered 4 replacement cable cards still same issue.. So did Samsung change something or network address is there some sight that you go to when searching for the providers that's no longer available?
So after three calls and one chat support call - still no help. Seems like no one wants to look into this issue. But Samsung continues to sell them as does Amazon, Ebay and others sites. I sent an e-mail off - let's see if this can go further... Pretty bleak support from Samsung. Sad.
We had the same problem as described and our Spectrum TV Guide stopped working in December 2021. After several days of trying to fix, we bought a Roku Ultra and added the Spectrum Channel. We now have the Spectrum Guide along with a lot of other streaming channels. I am afraid to say that the Samsung gx-sm530cf has now been replaced by newer technology. We owned our Samsung cable box for over 8 years and it saved us a lot of money on cable box rental fees.
I also have 2 of these Samsung GX-SM530CF devices and they both lost the grid-type cable guide for my FIOS local cable channels a few months ago (very annoying). I have called Samsung numerous times and they always tell me it's Verizon's fault. How could that possibly be? When working properly, the device requests your zip code and then provides you with a list of carriers in that zip. You then choose your carrier and it will produce the approriate guide. If you choose the wrong carrier, the grid guide will show you the other carrier's channels. But now, the device times out after you enter your zip. It is therefore failing to retrieve the list of carriers from a server somewhere. This can't possibly be the carrier's fault. It's either one of two things: (a) your router has for some reason blocked this server address or worse (b) this server no longer exists. If the latter, this is definitely Samsung's fault. I will try rebooting my router and maybe accessing its control pages. Will post update soon...
This is Samsung's fault... somewhere at the start of 2022, they dropped support for these things and the servers that they connect to. I think the server IP addresses are imbedded in the firmware of these GX-SM530CF. I have e-mailed them three separate times without a reply... nothing, nada, zippo. I would accept an answer of ' They're no longer supported' - but nothing. Calling tech support is even worse... I had a Samsung washer back in 2014 - it broke numerous times. No more Samsung products for me - ever.
The funny thing is there are numerous what I would call “tv listings providers”. And they all operate the same way. You enter a zip, they list a number of carriers to choose from, you choose one and they provide the listings that carrier has. Two examples are ontvtonight.com and tvpassport.com among others. Actually, one more possibility exists: (c) the server changed its methodology of logging in by 1 little step. This would involve changing 1 little line of code in the device. It would be so easy for Samsung to fix this!
