Bad HDD or Bad Hopper 3?

[brianohio]

Ok guys, so before I have to contact and deal with DISH, I am trying to troubleshoot if I have a hard drive issue or an issue with the Hopper 3 itself.

Hopper 3, about 8 years old I believe, no Joeys. I did replace a failed hard drive about 5-6 years ago. Current software is H387. No error codes or error messages but I have done a couple hard resets restoring to factory settings but problems remain and are as follows:

• Unit won't always wake up from standby. It shows the sleep/screen saver but unit won't respond or wake up when pressing the "Sat" button on remote. I have to press the red reset button on the Hopper 3 to reboot it then it works, for a while.
• Paused channel won't always start playing when paused for the max 60 minutes. I will switch back to a paused channel (maxed at 60 minutes) and it just hangs there and won't do anything, won't skip forward or play.
• Sometimes when skipping forward 30 seconds on a paused show, it will instantly advance all the way to live with just one skip press.
• Sometimes when a show is paused and I skip forward several key presses, it acts like it is stuck in a loop and will actually skip backwards to where it was when I started.
• Sometimes a recorded show is not actually recorded. It will display it is there in the DVR menu screen but if I try to play, it says "recording not available" or something similar.
• Usually when any of the above issues occur, the whole unit becomes very sluggish and takes forever to respond to any user input. I have to reset the unit from the red button on the Hopper 3 to make it work again.

As I said, no Joeys, and it's been the same installation for several years. No hard drive errors or messages. Factory resets don't seem to help. I don't know if DISH will replace The Hopper 3 with a new unit (I've heard they just use reconditioned ones) or if I should just buy my own new one and get it activated or if this is just an ongoing software issue yet to be resolved. Just wanted to know what you all think.

Any ideas? Thanks

 

[navychop]

There are no new ones. Manufacturing stopped years ago.

Why not lease? Less money upfront and same monthly rate.

And with Dish declining, I don't see much of a resale market.

 

[HipKat]

Ok guys, so before I have to contact and deal with DISH, I am trying to troubleshoot if I have a hard drive issue or an issue with the Hopper 3 itself.

Hopper 3, about 8 years old I believe, no Joeys. I did replace a failed hard drive about 5-6 years ago. Current software is H387. No error codes or error messages but I have done a couple hard resets restoring to factory settings but problems remain and are as follows:

• Unit won't always wake up from standby. It shows the sleep/screen saver but unit won't respond or wake up when pressing the "Sat" button on remote. I have to press the red reset button on the Hopper 3 to reboot it then it works, for a while.
• Paused channel won't always start playing when paused for the max 60 minutes. I will switch back to a paused channel (maxed at 60 minutes) and it just hangs there and won't do anything, won't skip forward or play.
• Sometimes when skipping forward 30 seconds on a paused show, it will instantly advance all the way to live with just one skip press.
• Sometimes when a show is paused and I skip forward several key presses, it acts like it is stuck in a loop and will actually skip backwards to where it was when I started.
• Sometimes a recorded show is not actually recorded. It will display it is there in the DVR menu screen but if I try to play, it says "recording not available" or something similar.
• Usually when any of the above issues occur, the whole unit becomes very sluggish and takes forever to respond to any user input. I have to reset the unit from the red button on the Hopper 3 to make it work again.

As I said, no Joeys, and it's been the same installation for several years. No hard drive errors or messages. Factory resets don't seem to help. I don't know if DISH will replace The Hopper 3 with a new unit (I've heard they just use reconditioned ones) or if I should just buy my own new one and get it activated or if this is just an ongoing software issue yet to be resolved. Just wanted to know what you all think.

Any ideas? Thanks

The Skip Forward and Back thing is a software issue that affects all the Hopper, not just yours.
The not waking from standby is something though, that implies to me that the Hopper has issues

 

[brianohio]

There are no new ones. Manufacturing stopped years ago.

Why not lease? Less money upfront and same monthly rate.

Ok I was under the impression DISH only sent out reconditioned units and I thought the Hopper 3's I saw on SolidSignal were new, but I guess not. Makes more sense then to just get another one from DISH if I can do it without them hammering me into another long term contract.
Been with them for 20+ years and was looking at switching over to just streaming services but as silly as it sounds, to get all of the 7 or 8 networks I actually watch, it would take two streaming services plus add ons and then I'm getting back up close to what I pay for DISH. Not to mention I've grown accustomed to the dual DVR thing where I can pause one live show and switch back and forth to another one. If it weren't for that, I probably would have gone full streaming years ago.

 

[navychop]

Cue Bruce…..