Hopper Failure?

[ekilgus]

I have a fairly straightforward setup: One HWS and two joeys (one is wireless). Everything worked fine for several years, but lately when I turn off the hopper and retire to the bedroom, I turn on the bedroom TV/Joey and the picture is pixilated/torn/stuttering with brief bits of sound, etc. I’ll go out to the hopper and do a “red button reset” which resolves this.

This is happening virtually every day, so my question is: Is this indicative of the HWS beginning to fail or is it some other component responsible? Ideas?

 

[Howard Simmons]

I have a fairly straightforward setup: One HWS and two joeys (one is wireless). Everything worked fine for several years, but lately when I turn off the hopper and retire to the bedroom, I turn on the bedroom TV/Joey and the picture is pixilated/torn/stuttering with brief bits of sound, etc. I’ll go out to the hopper and do a “red button reset” which resolves this.

This is happening virtually every day, so my question is: Is this indicative of the HWS beginning to fail or is it some other component responsible? Ideas?

Have you done a hard reset by pulling the plug and waiting 10-15 seconds?

 

[ekilgus]

Have you done a hard reset by pulling the plug and waiting 10-15 seconds?

No, Would that make a difference? I might have added that the HWS itself functions normally. Only the Joeys are affected as described.

 

[charlesrshell]

No, Would that make a difference? I might have added that the HWS itself functions normally. Only the Joeys are affected as described.

Yes, pull the HWS chord.

 

[ekilgus]

Yes, pull the HWS chord.

OK, I pulled the cord and that evening the Joey's functioned normally. If I don't have this problem for a few more days I'd say pulling the power cord resolved this problem, although I don't know why. Thanks for the good advice.

 

[Howard Simmons]

OK, I pulled the cord and that evening the Joey's functioned normally. If I don't have this problem for a few more days I'd say pulling the power cord resolved this problem, although I don't know why. Thanks for the good advice.

If the problem persists then you might have a Hopper going bad but I learned from these guys and ladies on this website that any major problem I have with the Hopper I pull the plug.

 

[ekilgus]

I wanted to wait for a few days to see if the issue persisted even after a pulled plug reboot, but all seems well. Obviously there's a significant difference between pulling the plug and a red button reboot. My thanks to Howard and Charles.

 

[charlesrshell]

I wanted to wait for a few days to see if the issue persisted even after a pulled plug reboot, but all seems well. Obviously there's a significant difference between pulling the plug and a red button reboot. My thanks to Howard and Charles.

Welcome. Hope she keeps working. Pulling the plug clears out a few more things most of the time.

 

[ekilgus]

I have an update to this issue, and I don't know why I didn't try this before. When this pixilation/freezing occurs on the Joey, I've noticed that if I change the channel to an OTA channel (this gets me off of the hopper's tuners), it clears the problem up and I can go back to what I was watching on one of the satellite channels. Now, I no longer believe I have a failing HWS and the best I can recall is this began when one of the earlier updates pushed itself down, but I could be wrong.

 

[Tommyy2]

You have 2 joeys, do they both do the same thing?
Did you try pulling the plug on the Joey?

 

[ekilgus]

You have 2 joeys, do they both do the same thing?
Did you try pulling the plug on the Joey?

Yep, both Joeys exhibited the same issue and pulling the plug on them did nothing, which in my thinking places the issue in the Hopper's software.