Well I think the first responder fit my situation. Now it just boots to where it would look for signal but that box doesn't come up and then it reboots, etc. Stuck in a boot loop. Guessing hard drive failure. Scheduled a service call to replace the Hopper.
The past few days (have had my Hopper since Nov 9) all of a sudden, after a few hours of usage, any DVR recordings I start to play or if I pause any live tv and then start to reply or resume, the resulting play is full of skips, jerky, loss of sound, recorded content--really unwatchable. So all I can do is watch live TV.
Also, when I do a reset, after the normal Startup, it reports that it recognized the "network", it ends with a gray box with Attention 015--acquiring satellite signal--click on "details" and then I see Sat --yesterday it was 129, today it shows 119 and transponder 21 5 out of 5 and it just sticks here indefinitely. I can get rid of the box by clicking on Guide or DVR. I can then view DVR or paused live tv replays, but only for a short while and then it goes back to skipping, stuttering, etc and so no DVR.
Called CSR and they said to have a DISH technician--scheduled that and he called and we agreed he couldn't see much else he could do except replace the Hopper--HORRIBLE--I am then forced to buy a $99 EHD to try to preserve my recordings to transfer to the next Hopper. We have 2 Hoppers and this is not happening to the 2nd Hopper, so eliminates the DISH. Also switched the Node inputs (Host) for both Hoppers. Made no difference.
If one recording corrupt from past few days, could just deleting those fix it? But then they are stuck in that hellacious Delete Folder for 8 days.
So moving recordings to EHD did not help?