Constant Black Screen

minimall

New Member
Original poster
Aug 26, 2021
1
0
Chase City, Virginia
My grandma's hopper (she doesn't know the specifics of which type she has) has started randomly cutting to a black screen. When its like this she can still get into the menu and guide, but the DVR doesn't work. The time zone on the dish is also wrong and whenever the screen goes black it says whatever we were watching has any time from -1 to -5 hours left. We don't have internet and we have 1 joey. This happens with the joey too, but not always at the same time as the hopper. Resetting the hopper sometimes fixes the problem, but only temporarily. Does anyone know if there's any way to fix this or do we need to get it replaced.
 
Blackouts in programing where the device still appears functional (Guide/Menus still operating) is usually due to either a signal related problem (low signal at the satellite dish, wiring/switch/LNB malfunctioning) or the Hopper itself being unable to unscramble the satellite signal, and that could be due to a variety of reasons. If you are able to pay her a visit, first thing I would do is check signal levels for all satellites (HOME three times or MENU twice, then option #3) and go from there. If the signal is low, it may be as simple as grabbing a 7/16 wrench and moving the dish side to side in very small adjustments to see if there is an improvement. Otherwise, if you are unable/unsure on how to do it they calling Dish to see if a replacement/tech is necessary would be your best bet, because there is no guarantee that just replacing the Hopper would help.