Another Big Hot Hopper Mess

[rtmjmm]

We got a Dish Hopper /no Joey in mid June to use with our Olevia 242 LCD. From the very start nothing seemed to work right. The first day we thought it was our inexperience with the new system. The next day, after many freeze ups, reboots, random cursor movements, search not working, 30 second delays after button press on the remote, etc., I called tech support. The rep walked me through using several features and after about 2 minutes she realized nothing was working as it should.

Since then, we've had 7 visits from Dish technicians in less than a month.

We're now on our third Hopper. They've moved the node, replaced the node, installed all new cables, replaced the LNB, replaced the remote and did a lot of reprogramming on the Hopper.

It's definitely better than our first night, but we still have all of the problems we originally had, but now only 2 or 3 incidents per day.

To give credit to Dish, everyone we've dealt with has been extremely nice, tech support is easy to reach, communication is excellent, the technicians prompt and professional, but all they do is scratch their heads and say they don't know what is causing the issue. Dish says there is no way to get any history from the Hopper that might help them diagnose the problem.

As it is now, it's almost useless. We have a disk of half recorded shows, we've lost dozens of our favorite shows when the Hopper freezes and/or reboots on its own - or gets replaced. We've watched live TV only to have it freeze during the last 10 minutes of the show...

When we signed up for this we realized there might be a few bugs with such a new and powerful system, but does anyone actually have a Hopper that works as expected?

I relied on Dish's skill and judgment to furnish a suitable DVR, and that it would be suitable for watching and recording TV. I'm amazed they can legally sell a system like this.

Looking for any suggestions.

RTMJMM

 

[cosmo_kramer]

I would recommend you contact the OP of the other "hot mess" thread. Their issues seemed to eventually get corrected with the help of many of the members here....

 

[rtmjmm]

Thanks Cos. Newbie here - not sure how to reach the OP directly. Also saw another software update is due today.

 

[sparc]

See if any of the advice here helps:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/288064-hopper-has-been-nothing-but-big.html
http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/287893-hopper-problem-random-lockups-slowness-network.html
http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/287210-hopper-s213-feedback-issues.html

 

[Scherrman]

Something seems odd. There must be something that is causing all the problems somewhere in the installation. I can't imagine you would get that many bad Hopper receivers. Honestly I think there have been very few problems with the equipment just issues with the installs. Hopefully everything gets straightened out because this machine is pretty awesome.

 

[mike123abc]

Make sure that a hawk is not making the dish arm its favorite perch?

Given all the dropouts I would investigate if something is getting in the way of the dish... A tree would be obvious, but given all the tech visits they would have noted it, which makes me wonder if it is not some sort of critter? A squirrel cracking nuts open while sitting on the dish arm...

 

[Poke]

Yeah the 1st thing I would check and replace is the NODE... They had 2 that were bad on my install and since I always deal with a local reseller since I know them I had them bring me a NODE that had been working on a system. So have them replace the NODE and if possible bring one that for sure has been running on a working system if you can. One of the bad NODE that we had delt with it would work on the system for awhile or go through the system setup on the install but once you shutdown the Hopper it started acting up. So again replace the NODE even if it's already been done once do it again see what happens..

 

[rtmjmm]

I think (hope) I got the answer. HEAT! All 3 of the Hoppers have been running very hot. Almost too hot to touch. The reading at the right hand vent yesterday was 160 F. Sits on a shelf with 3" clearance above, and 8" all around, but the short feet under the Hopper don't leave much clearance underneath.

Someone in an earlier post suggested a poor design for the fan and no ventilation in top panel. So I raised the feet up an inch and have an external fan blowing in the left hand vent. Temperature at right vent is now down to 129 F. 24 HOURS WITHOUT ISSUES! IT'S A NEW RECORD!

BTW - Still running S213.

 

[Poke]

Yeah some of the issues as far as heat people put their equipment in entertainment centers that have poor air flow and on top of that they close the doors on them too. So this ends up making equipment run allot warmer than some entertainment centers that or more open where air flow can flow..

 

[rtmjmm]

Sad to report it wasn't the heat causing the problem. The most time we've ever gone without a lockup or reboot is about 36 hours. Still at a loss, and still locking up several times a day. My wife wants it outta here. I was being patient, but this is ridiculous. This is the worst piece of electronic gear that I've EVER seen.

It's bad enough that many of my recordings are in two and 3 segments (with a several minute gap) becuse of the constant rebootin, but now I see with the S217 release that I won't be able to watch any movies taped during my free premium promo unless I continue subscribing to them.

 

[rocket69]

for me testing the hopper it has gotten better only needing reboots 1-2 times a week. One thing most dish techs dont do is use a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter that has solved many issues in the past with VIP gear that is getting reboots at random. Worse case you could go back to VIP gear

 

[rtmjmm]

Thanks Rocket 69...Changing it as we speak.

Dish suggested replacing my Hopper with a 722. What do you think about it? 3 tuners is nice, but not nearly as nice as 2 tuners that actually work! Also, I've got A LOT of Hopper movies ( mostly segmented due to reboots) on a EHD. Would they be backwards compatible with a 722?

 

[Bobby]

Yes...

 

[rtmjmm]

Thanks Bobby.

It looks like that's what it's going to come to then.

 

[rtmjmm]

Bobby,

In reading the 722(k) manual it says the EHD can be up to 750GB. Mine's 1.5 TB. Any thoughts as to it possibly working? Possibile to transfer back to Hopper, then back to a smaller 750 drive?

Thanks

 

[Bobby]

722s are good to 2TB today. Some say to 3TB.....

 

[rtmjmm]

OK

Hopper's outta here. Got my 722K "UPGRADE" as DISH calls it. Had to add 6 extra weeks to my contract, but if it works as advertised I'll be a happy camper. So far the first 4 hours have been perfect.

Thanks for the info Bobby. The EHD works fine EXCEPT... APPARENTLY NO WAY TO ALPHABETIZE OR ORGANIZE MY 262 RECORDINGS! A good percenage of which are 2 and 3 part movie segments from the constant rebooting of the Hopper.

 

[rtmjmm]

LATEST UPDATE!

722K's been here a month now. Not a single reboot, everything's been great. I'm definitely a happy camper. Only a couple of downsides: no pretty logos for the channels, only 2 tuners, and the picture quality might be a "very, very very slightly poorer quality" - really hard to tell when not side by side, but absolutely 100000% better than my SD DTV TIVO. And all my EHD movies from the Hopper are playable. And I can organize them in alphabetical order and they automatically go into proper folders. Still, I do wish the hopper would have worked.

 

[keckge]

That is one thing I truly have to say I miss, Is stability my 722k was stable it never needed restarted ever.......... I wish these hoppers were more stable. I guess with beauty comes pain LOL.

 

[bwexler]

My experience is just the opposite. My 722k would reboot at the most inconvenient times and I would miss at least 5 minutes of what I was recording and what ever I was watching.
My 2 Hoppers seem to be working OK.