Hi All,

According to Dell's Direct2Dell website, all XPS 420's have Digital Cable Support as a base option, however my system did not come with it, and I do not have the Digital Cable Product Key sticker. Contact with over a dozen Dell support representatives has not come close to solving this issue. I do not know who to contact regarding this anymore as I have talked to every Dell department. 

I have posted the details in a narrative format to my blog: http://lostincode.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/lost-in-dell-support-maze/

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Chris

I'm sure you already know this, but I figure let's get the obvious out of the way. There is no separate sticker for the digital cable key. It should be listed on the same sticker on the case as the Vista product key.

yah, as g808 is correct. There's a 2nd Digital Cable key on that same sticker that has your Vista COA. It's pretty small.

Having said that the key is very small and there is only one sticker, not ALL XPS420s included CableCARD support.  If you purchased via eBay or via a corporate site, there is a good chance yours doesn't have CableCARD support.

My Product Key only says "Windows Vista Home Premium" and does not mention "OCUR" or a second key. I have now learned that Chris is right, not all XPS 420's come with it, but according to Dell's blog here they do: http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/12/09/37725.aspx

I have also read many people had two stickers, but regardless the one I do have makes no mention of OCUR or Digital Cable Support. I got the BIOS, just not the product key. Anyone dealt with anyone within Dell that could possibly help with it? I've exhausted all normal tech support / customer care options.

Thanks for your responses!

The wording would actually be "Digital Cable Support for Windows Vista" on the sticker (COA).  Where did you buy the machine?

I got it from Dell on their website just a few days ago...

ChrisCicc:

I got it from Dell on their website just a few days ago...

Did you buy it brand new or from the Dell Outlet?

Also, if you bought it brand new did you purchase a tuner along with the PC?

Shouldn't matter if he purchased a tuner or not.all xps 420 purchased from consumers site should be cable card ready.

But some from the outlet and all from buisness/corporate purchases are not.

Run the ocur bios check and see if you bios is ocur complaint if not then you need to send the entire thing back to get it fixed not just get a key.

Got it from the Dell Outlet. It was spec'ed exactly the same as the base model on the retail site. The specs the outlet provides are bare, and when I tried to call Dell to confirm it was Digital Cable Ready I was told by two people "no one at dell can provide you that information". One guy thought it shipped with Windows XP (and I think for a time, the dell computers did say that as they were changing asset tags).

As far as the Tuner, I bought that separate from Dell Phone Sales. No issue there, except I didn't get a remote control. I can live without that though.

The BIOS is OCUR compliant, but I enabled it myself with the help of Chris M in the forums.

EDIT: By the way, the first time I turned on the computer it said "Windows failed to start...", the message it gives after a failed boot. So much for "factory recertified", been fine since, though I only use it for Media Center.

EDIT 2: I had read this on Dell's blog, so I wrongly assumed that the Dell Outlet computers would have this as well: "Back when we supported digital cable tuner on the XPS 410, we only offered it on a single configuration. On the XPS 420, it is a base option on the system."
http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/12/09/37725.aspx

There's your problem. Chris wrote an article in his blog a while back that stated from a certain point on all XPS 420's were shipped with the necessary stuff for CableCARD. When they first launched they weren't all shipped with it.

I posted something a while back on how to determine if an Outlet 420 was CableCARD ready because I went the same route. I found out the Digital Cable Ready PCs had a different item number for Vista. If you find one with the item number YN974 then that is the correct one. You probably had item number DT012 for yours. I think they've recently changed the YN974 number but as long as it's not DT012 it should be Digital Cable Ready.

Just curious...how much were you able to purchase the tuner from Dell for? I tried to do this and was rejected everytime. They said they couldn't even find the part number for those tuners and therefore could not sell them to me.

I paid $175 shipped. The sales rep was able to find the part. If you still need it I'll give you the part # and the personal number of the sales guy who helped me (he deserves the commission it seems). It shipped the same day. 

He said he also checked with colleagues and they all agreed that it would come with a product key, so Dell seems to have some product documentation issues...

Nice. Yes, please give me that information. I'm not looking for a third tuner right now but may be at some point in the future and this would be good information to have.

Can you still return your XPS 420? If so you may want to go that route. I can give you more info on how to find one that should be OCUR compliant. Just let me know.

Wow I have never heard of dell selling the tuners seperately maybe they did this because they added to your order which already had the xps 420 on it?

You shouldn't have had to enable the ocur bios it should have been there like JHALE said send it back if you can.

jhale, check your PM.

I may have to return this model and try to find another with the OCUR product key, but it would cost Dell a whole lot less money if they just sent me one haha. I'm tempted to give HP a try, but I really like the XPS 420...