H3 EHD lists upcoming airings instead of recordings on EHD and often won't recognize EHD is connected after reboot

[JohnGalt1234]

Thanks JohnGalt1234 - That's interesting. I wonder are the Boot Strap versions different between a Hopper 3 only and a Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus setup as I have the later. I guess when charlesrshell is able to since he has both setups, he can do the test. Unless the bootstrap version is tied to when the specific Hopper 3 is manufactured, in my case, mines is from February 2016 when it was installed.

At least Google Search AI is saying the bootstrap version will never change and unique to each Hopper 3.

View attachment 194853

This is probably why different people seem to either have the issue or they don't because the bootstrap code could also be tied to the hardware revision and
components other than the internal HD.

The image I just sent for master H3 is on hopper+., casino is not but both Vs and bootstraps are the same.

 

[Almighty1]

JohnGalt1234 - So you basically have 2 Hopper 3's. The CasinoH3 is the one that is Hopper 3 only while Master Bedroom is a Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus setup.
Master Bedroom uses Android TV (ATV) software so the DISH part is actually a app and will behave differently as you can probably tell the Guide's are different on the Master Bedroom which will resemble the same guide used on other ATV devices such as the Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4. If I am correct, the CasinoH3 is the one with the problem since you did say the one dated 09/05/2026 is the naughty one while 08/15/2026 named Master Bedroom is the nice one. Usually I would expect the CasinoH3 to be the one without the problem because it's Hopper 3 only and Master Bedroom would be the one with problems because it has the Hopper Plus involved. That is why they behave differently because CasinoH3 is running the native Hopper 3 software while Master Bedroom is running the Android TV software and also it runs a app called DISH known as package com.dish.atv.launcher, the version for mines is P15403 2026100917 so it's probably the same version as the Hopper Plus software version with the date of October 9, 2026, not sure what the 17 means except maybe revision 17?

This explains it better than I can. Sorry, had to take all the ads out.

 

[JohnGalt1234]

JohnGalt1234 - So you basically have 2 Hopper 3's. The CasinoH3 is the one that is Hopper 3 only while Master Bedroom is a Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus setup.
Master Bedroom uses Android TV (ATV) software so the DISH part is actually a app and will behave differently as you can probably tell the Guide's are different on the Master Bedroom which will resemble the same guide used on other ATV devices such as the Joey 4 and Wireless Joey 4. If I am correct, the CasinoH3 is the one with the problem since you did say the one dated 09/05/2026 is the naughty one while 08/15/2026 named Master Bedroom is the nice one. Usually I would expect the CasinoH3 to be the one without the problem because it's Hopper 3 only and Master Bedroom would be the one with problems because it has the Hopper Plus involved. That is why they behave differently because CasinoH3 is running the native Hopper 3 software while Master Bedroom is running the Android TV software and also it runs a app called DISH known as package com.dish.atv.launcher, the version for mines is P15403 2026100917 so it's probably the same version as the Hopper Plus software version with the date of October 9, 2026, not sure what the 17 means except maybe revision 17?

This explains it better than I can. Sorry, had to take all the ads out.

View attachment 194857

As I understand it, the android is just the display signal from the hopper+. I can disconnect the H+ and plug the hdmi directly into the master hopper3.

 

[Almighty1]

As I understand it, the android is just the display signal from the hopper+. I can disconnect the H+ and plug the hdmi directly into the master hopper3.

It is not just a display signal as explained above. When you have the Hopper+ connected, it uses Android TV for pretty much everything except for the satellite signal which is why it uses the DISH app for the standard Hopper 3 functions. But that should not matter because in your case, CasinoH3 is the Hopper 3 with the EHD which is what you call the naughty one based on the dates you mentioned and Master Bedroom which has the Hopper Plus connected to the Hopper 3 that does not have the problem. So one way to test the theory is disconnect the Hopper Plus from that Hopper 3 and then use the EHD's connected to CasinoH3 currently to see if the same issue exists. That way you will know if the problem is there without a Hopper Plus connected or if CasinoH3 is just a bad hopper to begin with.

Normally when you disconnect the Hopper Plus, it will be 30 minutes or more before you can use the Hopper 3 again.

What you want to do is:
hold the POWER button in, not the red reset button, for about 45 seconds or so while disconnecting the power to the Plus and moving the HDMI cable and it will reboot to the normal Hopper only immediately.

 

[bookworm370]

It'll only see two EHDs at a time.

Yes, I have only two online at a time.
One comes online, the other one consistently will not come online

 

[bookworm370]

Yes, I have only two online at a time.
One comes online; the other consistently won't. Also, when I connect the EHD, the USB Detected status light on the EHD itself changes from Red to Green. But the Hopper (713) does not start the EHD read process. The light changes to indicate that the EHD has detected a valid USB cable, but the Hopper does not recognize it.

 

[JohnGalt1234]

It is not just a display signal as explained above. When you have the Hopper+ connected, it uses Android TV for pretty much everything except for the satellite signal which is why it uses the DISH app for the standard Hopper 3 functions. But that should not matter because in your case, CasinoH3 is the Hopper 3 with the EHD which is what you call the naughty one based on the dates you mentioned and Master Bedroom which has the Hopper Plus connected to the Hopper 3 that does not have the problem. So one way to test the theory is disconnect the Hopper Plus from that Hopper 3 and then use the EHD's connected to CasinoH3 currently to see if the same issue exists. That way you will know if the problem is there without a Hopper Plus connected or if CasinoH3 is just a bad hopper to begin with.

Normally when you disconnect the Hopper Plus, it will be 30 minutes or more before you can use the Hopper 3 again.

What you want to do is:
hold the POWER button in, not the red reset button, for about 45 seconds or so while disconnecting the power to the Plus and moving the HDMI cable and it will reboot to the normal Hopper only immediately.

Yeah, I read through that and understand that now. It rebooted itself last night and upgraded to H713, and lost the EHDs again. As usual, power cycling the EHDs, did nothing, software H3 reboot didn't either, but it only took one cold boot to get them to come back.

Did you ever answer how to trigger that external hard drive test? Had the guys over Saturday to watch college football and BS (mostly BS) and in my rec room (casino H3) I have two TVs one from Casino H3, and the other either duplicates the H3 (if we only want to watch one game) or a separate Joey4 if we want to watch 2 games. In the last Quarter of the Rutgers at Maryland game, Casino H3 decided it wanted to do that EHD test, which it said could take up to 100 mins. I set up the game on tablet with dish anywhere for two guys most interested in that game because I wanted to see what the test said when it was completed. I missed it but the EHDs were working fine and I put the game back on that TV (took about 15 mins for the test).

 

[Almighty1]

Yeah, I read through that and understand that now. It rebooted itself last night and upgraded to H713, and lost the EHDs again. As usual, power cycling the EHDs, did nothing, software H3 reboot didn't either, but it only took one cold boot to get them to come back.

Did you ever answer how to trigger that external hard drive test? Had the guys over Saturday to watch college football and BS (mostly BS) and in my rec room (casino H3) I have two TVs one from Casino H3, and the other either duplicates the H3 (if we only want to watch one game) or a separate Joey4 if we want to watch 2 games. In the last Quarter of the Rutgers at Maryland game, Casino H3 decided it wanted to do that EHD test, which it said could take up to 100 mins. I set up the game on tablet with dish anywhere for two guys most interested in that game because I wanted to see what the test said when it was completed. I missed it but the EHDs were working fine and I put the game back on that TV (took about 15 mins for the test).

Maybe what you might want to do the next time is first disconnect the EHD's and then reboot using the physical Red Button Reset in the Hopper 3 and let it boot up and basically Live TV, wait 10 minutes or so after that and then plug in EHD #1, give it 5 minutes to detect and either after it detects or if after the 5 minutes whichever comes first, plug in EHD #2 and give it 5 minutes to detect. If you got both detected successfully, then you can use the Menu based Reboot and see if it detects itself within the first 10 minutes. But don't hit the DVR button on the remote until that 10 minutes after Live TV in both scenarios.

As for how to trigger the External Hard Drive Test, I have no idea except I know I saw it periodically like it says but some people on reddit apparently has seen it daily everytime it does that nightly reboot as seen in this thread on reddit:

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/dishnetwork/s/zEDfVfgBQv


and as of a few days ago, they are still complaining about that:

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/dishnetwork/comments/1x7uxtp/so_sick_of_this_with_the_hopper_3_didnt_want_to/


So not sure what is triggering it for them but basically they lose up to 110 minutes every night which can include sleep for at least one of the persons because of the "periodically" External Hard Drive test and waiting for a fix promised fix while no one on here seems to have the issue. I had not seen the External Hard Drive test for years. If I had to guess, it is similar to Linux/Unix and Windows when the system was not shutdown properly so you will see the fsck running at startup or the Windows Filesystem Check.

Google Search AI says the following:

The Hopper 3 determines whether to run the external hard drive (EHD) test at bootup based on a set of internal firmware rules. At its core, the Linux-based operating system on the Hopper looks for specific hardware markers and system file states when initializing:

1. The File System "Dirty Flag" (Most Common Trigger)
Like a computer running an unexpected disk check, the Hopper 3 looks at the drive's file system table during boot.

• If the drive was unmounted safely before the reboot, the system sees a "clean" status flag and skips the test entirely to speed up boot times.
• If the Hopper lost power suddenly, froze up, or received a forced hard reset while the drive was spinning, the status flag remains marked as "dirty" (unclean shutdown). The bootloader detects this flag and automatically triggers the test to scan for corrupted file segments and index errors before allowing playback.

2. Linux Kernel Device Interrogation (fsck)
When the Hopper 3 initializes its Linux kernel at bootup, it queries every connected USB peripheral.

• If it detects a new or altered hardware ID (such as plugging a drive into a different USB port, swapping cables, or attaching a drive that was disconnected during the last power cycle), it runs a foundational mount check.
• This scan ensures the file structure matches the receiver's encryption keys before mapping the storage directory to your DVR menu.

3. Read/Write Mount Error Counts
The Hopper tracks background hardware performance metrics. If the internal system logs show that the external drive suffered from timed-out read/write commands or communication drops just prior to the reboot, the operating system overrides the default boot process. It forces the external hard drive check to determine if the drive is physically failing or suffering from partition degradation.

4. Scheduled Maintenance & Major Software Binds
Dish pushes system software updates over the satellite stream, usually during the 1:00 AM – 5:00 AM maintenance window. If a newly installed firmware version introduces changes to the receiver's DVR file structure or database index system, the update sequence purposefully injects a one-time diagnostic flag into the boot cycle. This ensures that old recordings on the external drive remain entirely compatible with the new software.


Operating systems run file system checks (such as fsck on Unix/Linux/FreeBSD or chkdsk on Windows) during startup to detect and repair data corruption, fix broken directory structures, and ensure the storage drive is safe before mounting it for normal use. [1]

Why File Systems Get Corrupted

• • Unclean Shutdowns: Power outages, hardware resets, or sudden crashes interrupt write operations before data and metadata are fully saved to the disk.
  • Inconsistent State: Metadata (such as file allocation tables, inodes, or journaling logs) can point to missing blocks or overlapping file paths.
  • Scheduled Maintenance: Older file systems trigger periodic, count- or time-based scans to catch slow degradation or orphaned sectors. [1]

How Operating Systems Handle the Checks

• • Unix / Linux / FreeBSD (fsck): Inspects the superblocks, inode tables, and directory trees. Modern journaling file systems (like ext4, XFS, or ZFS) use a transaction log to quickly replay or roll back unfinished operations instead of scanning every block, meaning a full check only runs if the system was marked "unclean" or after a set number of mounts. [1, 2, 3]
  • Windows (chkdsk / NTFS): Checks the Master File Table (MFT), security descriptors, and bitmap structures. NTFS uses a built-in transaction log ($LogFile) to automatically recover consistency almost instantly, rarely requiring a full disk surface scan unless a serious hardware or logical error occurred.

So not seeing it is usually a good thing as these people probably have failing storage devices or corrupted filesystems.