Hopper randomly loses power

[tpanc13]

I am now on my 4th Hopper since October 2022. Why> Because no technician wants to really do diagnostics for the issue and the simple result of each call is to reset the Hopper. The last tech was a local one who like the others defaulted to replacing the Hopper with a NON remanufactured one like all the others were. Here's the problem:

Randomly, now 15 times since 12/23/2022, during active use of the Dish while watching a live program OR watching a DVR recording, the Hopper turns off and a Screen Saver displays. If left alone at that point the TV Guide will begin to download! My POWER settings are 8 hours for inactivity and don't do anything until 3am. The resolution is simply pressing the SAT buttone on the remote turn the Hopper back on. Result is back to Live mode, or in the case where a DVR was being watched jump to the end.

I'vebeen strung along through a minimum of 15 different technicians who only follow their script to look up symptoms they hear and then possible solutions to return to normalcy. Not one had a way to actuallt diagnose WHY the power kept shutting off.

Since this problem happens across all Hoppers installed, software, all Hoppers, or house power is of question. I have replaced surge protectors to remove that from the equation. Not a surge protector. I have presently gotten through day 2 of plugging the surge protector into the secon wall socket in the receptacle. We'll see if that help. Next I supppse I have to check wall voltage and fluctuations.

But first, is anybody exle experiencing this problem? The last of 3 supervisiors, after 15 technician and 2 other supervisors, tells me it is a know software prblem. What am I to believe since none of the others did except for me mentioning a possibility on the 12/23/2022 calls. After getting blown out by all the others with just try Reset or Partial Reset, I knew day 1 this corrected the OFF situation. But, inreality the answer should have been a simple hit the SAT button which did the same thing.

I'm looking for others who experienced this problem to come forward.

I'm also look for guidance on how I can diagnose the actual cause. I read about voltage fluctuations and low voltage and checking receptacles and can work on these. One question I have is that ONLY the Hopper on the same surge protectory, even when plugged into different sockets has the issue. The TV (Samsung) and other electronic equipment (far from too much) remains constantly up.

Since October 2022 I reported 12 DIFFERENT DVR issues or OTA Adapter issues. I have already learned NOT to use Prime Video Application on the Hopper because it conflicts with the OTA and DVR. After stopping this problems were reduced about 80%. Probably memory corruption between the different components. The OTA itself seems suspect at time because the "Guide ot Trobleshoot" message came up periodically and double DVR recordings on OTA channel occurred with first one less that a minute (the start early minute) followed by the recording of the show. This I assume happened becaue when recording started IT got the "Guide or Troubleshoot" message and simply ended the recording, but did avtivate the channel connection in time for the second recording to continue. Many issues like this suggest hardware conflicts and software mismanagement.

I'd be interested in discussing any or all the issues I am seeing since NONE of them have been diagnosed to a root cause. Dish simply isn't interested in that! Thank you.

btw. I read some devices are too sensitive to voltage fluctuations. Could it be all Hoppers are? And, that is why a Hopper will shut off and other things dont? Where do I find technical specs to address this question?

 

[HipKat]

I am now on my 4th Hopper since October 2022. Why> Because no technician wants to really do diagnostics for the issue and the simple result of each call is to reset the Hopper. The last tech was a local one who like the others defaulted to replacing the Hopper with a NON remanufactured one like all the others were. Here's the problem:

Randomly, now 15 times since 12/23/2022, during active use of the Dish while watching a live program OR watching a DVR recording, the Hopper turns off and a Screen Saver displays. If left alone at that point the TV Guide will begin to download! My POWER settings are 8 hours for inactivity and don't do anything until 3am. The resolution is simply pressing the SAT buttone on the remote turn the Hopper back on. Result is back to Live mode, or in the case where a DVR was being watched jump to the end.

I'vebeen strung along through a minimum of 15 different technicians who only follow their script to look up symptoms they hear and then possible solutions to return to normalcy. Not one had a way to actuallt diagnose WHY the power kept shutting off.

Since this problem happens across all Hoppers installed, software, all Hoppers, or house power is of question. I have replaced surge protectors to remove that from the equation. Not a surge protector. I have presently gotten through day 2 of plugging the surge protector into the secon wall socket in the receptacle. We'll see if that help. Next I supppse I have to check wall voltage and fluctuations.

But first, is anybody exle experiencing this problem? The last of 3 supervisiors, after 15 technician and 2 other supervisors, tells me it is a know software prblem. What am I to believe since none of the others did except for me mentioning a possibility on the 12/23/2022 calls. After getting blown out by all the others with just try Reset or Partial Reset, I knew day 1 this corrected the OFF situation. But, inreality the answer should have been a simple hit the SAT button which did the same thing.

I'm looking for others who experienced this problem to come forward.

I'm also look for guidance on how I can diagnose the actual cause. I read about voltage fluctuations and low voltage and checking receptacles and can work on these. One question I have is that ONLY the Hopper on the same surge protectory, even when plugged into different sockets has the issue. The TV (Samsung) and other electronic equipment (far from too much) remains constantly up.

Since October 2022 I reported 12 DIFFERENT DVR issues or OTA Adapter issues. I have already learned NOT to use Prime Video Application on the Hopper because it conflicts with the OTA and DVR. After stopping this problems were reduced about 80%. Probably memory corruption between the different components. The OTA itself seems suspect at time because the "Guide ot Trobleshoot" message came up periodically and double DVR recordings on OTA channel occurred with first one less that a minute (the start early minute) followed by the recording of the show. This I assume happened becaue when recording started IT got the "Guide or Troubleshoot" message and simply ended the recording, but did avtivate the channel connection in time for the second recording to continue. Many issues like this suggest hardware conflicts and software mismanagement.

I'd be interested in discussing any or all the issues I am seeing since NONE of them have been diagnosed to a root cause. Dish simply isn't interested in that! Thank you.

btw. I read some devices are too sensitive to voltage fluctuations. Could it be all Hoppers are? And, that is why a Hopper will shut off and other things dont? Where do I find technical specs to address this question?

Do you have a Hopper +?? Because the settings for the Screen Saver are a pain. They have their own settings in the Android TV Settings under Background, there's an option for Screen Off. A tech reported that he toggled that on and it cured the screen-saver issue.

Dish is working with Android to address the issue.

If not, and you see this on multiple Hoppers, then it's not the Hoppers. It has to be an outside cause.

 

[tpanc13]

NO, it is a Hopper 3. All replacements were only the same type as before. I am pursuing an outside cause possibility. So far, it isn't the surge protector -- I am on the thirs and new APC one. However, I have not had an incident since switching the surge protector to a different socket in the same recepacle thsi is third day). Knocking on wood. If I recall, I might have switched wall sockets in the same receptacle when the 2nd Hopper was installed. Since then I have had the problems. Thanks for reply.

 

[Altitudinous]

My POWER settings are 8 hours for inactivity and don't do anything until 3am.

Did you ever try turning the Hopper 3 Inactivity Timeout to OFF rather than a number of hours?

 

[tpanc13]

Yes....and after more failures I was told this should never be done by a different tech. Let me test the switching of the house wall socket. Still successful so far.

 

[Altitudinous]

Some TVs have settable inactivity timeout themselves. Wondering if the TV going into timeout could trigger the Hopper to go into timeout.

Regarding "never should be done"...huh? Inactivity timeout turned off would not preclude the Hopper from getting updates at the appointed time.

 

[HipKat]

Some TVs have settable inactivity timeout themselves. Wondering if the TV going into timeout could trigger the Hopper to go into timeout.

Regarding "never should be done"...huh? Inactivity timeout turned off would not preclude the Hopper from getting updates at the appointed time.

It won’t preclude program guide updates, but it could preclude software updates since the hopper has to be in standby mode for one of those

 

[n0qcu]

It won’t preclude program guide updates, but it could preclude software updates since the hopper has to be in standby mode for one of those

It could but not likely since the Hopper will reboot and go into standby every “night “ unless you’re recording continuously.

 

[tpanc13]

It won’t preclude program guide updates, but it could preclude software updates since the hopper has to be in standby mode for one of those

 

[tpanc13]

SO much for knocking on wood. The new Hopper 3 installed 1/5/23 failed last night 1/11/23 the same way after 3 other DVR failures and a poor satellite transmission to a live satellite channel. First, further testing I have done:

Outlet circuit: On the same circuit is ONE other receptacle and a light switch in a closet. Neither of these two are ever used. Thus we are essentially working with just the one outlet to which my surge protector is on. Unloaded (everyhitng off) records 122.2volts, exacly the same as all other circuits in the entire house. A voltage of 121.6 records when the Hopper3 and Samsung TV are ON. I also checked the gounding on the outlet and its working fine. The above tests were done on both sockets in the outlet AND in the surge protector (brand new as of 1/7/23). My conclusion is that Nothing in the house is causing the problem of the Hopper losing power! Uness one of you can tell what I missed.

Problems last night started with trying to delete a recording that I recorded erlier. It was started while actively watching the show (on a satellite channel). I went to DVR and it still showed RECORDING (Red dot) and no delete option was avaiable. I selected it and proceeded to do STOP RECORDING which evidentally was ignored. It still showed recording. Ten times I tried this and same results. This is NOT a new problem, but is the first time on this NEW HOPPER3 The only way to clear it from DVR recorded list is to reboot. Instead of rebooting, we decided to watch a live TV show again on a satellite channel different from the previous recording. This presented Problem 2: It woud be fine for about 4-6 minutes, then get a scrambled transmission for 2-4 seconds. This got repeated envery 4-5 minutes util watching the show was impossible. So, it was time to cleaar things and I hit the RED buttom on the Hopper 3 to reboot. It did but Problem Three now occurred - NO SOUND, only picture. So, I pulled the plug on the Hopper 3 and replugged after 30 seconds. Reboot again happended and sound was back.

Back to watching live show. But in about 8 minutes Probem 4 the one reported in this initial post occurred, i.e., Hopper 3 green light went off and screen saver on TV. I did not reply by hitting the SAT button on remote which clears this (presenting other issues, like jumping to end of a DVR recording...not the case anyway for this incident). Problem Five: TV Guide began download about 30% before switching back to screen save for a few minutes and then back to downloading and then back to screen saver, etc. I finally hit the SAT button and cleared all this AFTER all downloading was done.

I don't know if the other problems last night had anything to do with the Hopper 3 turning off (or in standby mode) with the screen saver displayed, only that it did again as before.

Of course I called the, let's not say technical Dish people, but the script-following cuesomer service people who transferred me to the so-called tech people. Once again, they were useless and ONLY typed in keywords to their database, extracted some possible cause and had me check it.This time it was back to the Inactivity setting now set to 4 hrs. This guy was as clueless as the others. Inactivity was NOT the problem. How active can I be than switching to a chennel, and watching it for about 10 minutes before the problems occurred ? At no time did I get more than 15-20 minutes of TV time in before the problems occurred and the Hopper switched off. So, he couldn't leave it there and proceeded to point to the Inactivity setting for the Samsung TV which he had no knowledge about. Not do I only that Inactivity was NOT the problem. It of course closed with him indicating that Dish software engineers were working on the KNOWN (Yeah, I put it on their plate!) issue. Another, goodbye, we're tired of talking to you.

DISH has NOT technician available ever to actually DIAGNOSE the issue. Thsi clown, like the others, hopped on my system and proceed to show their expertise moving around the settings. I proceeded to give them lessons!

Bottom line. The problem continues, in addition to the other 8-10 problems being reported to them since October 2022. Since my voltage on the circuit and grounding seem fine, I don't know what getting an electrician out here will do. I have considered running the power to the receiver through a different circuit, which would require an extention cord and probably even make it worse. Any suggestions? I'll take some recommendations on Internet TV Streaming services too at thsi time despite not seeing anything as nice as DISH usage functions. Thanks to all for the help.

 

[HipKat]

SO much for knocking on wood. The new Hopper 3 installed 1/5/23 failed last night 1/11/23 the same way after 3 other DVR failures and a poor satellite transmission to a live satellite channel. First, further testing I have done:

Outlet circuit: On the same circuit is ONE other receptacle and a light switch in a closet. Neither of these two are ever used. Thus we are essentially working with just the one outlet to which my surge protector is on. Unloaded (everyhitng off) records 122.2volts, exacly the same as all other circuits in the entire house. A voltage of 121.6 records when the Hopper3 and Samsung TV are ON. I also checked the gounding on the outlet and its working fine. The above tests were done on both sockets in the outlet AND in the surge protector (brand new as of 1/7/23). My conclusion is that Nothing in the house is causing the problem of the Hopper losing power! Uness one of you can tell what I missed.

Problems last night started with trying to delete a recording that I recorded erlier. It was started while actively watching the show (on a satellite channel). I went to DVR and it still showed RECORDING (Red dot) and no delete option was avaiable. I selected it and proceeded to do STOP RECORDING which evidentally was ignored. It still showed recording. Ten times I tried this and same results. This is NOT a new problem, but is the first time on this NEW HOPPER3 The only way to clear it from DVR recorded list is to reboot. Instead of rebooting, we decided to watch a live TV show again on a satellite channel different from the previous recording. This presented Problem 2: It woud be fine for about 4-6 minutes, then get a scrambled transmission for 2-4 seconds. This got repeated envery 4-5 minutes util watching the show was impossible. So, it was time to cleaar things and I hit the RED buttom on the Hopper 3 to reboot. It did but Problem Three now occurred - NO SOUND, only picture. So, I pulled the plug on the Hopper 3 and replugged after 30 seconds. Reboot again happended and sound was back.

Back to watching live show. But in about 8 minutes Probem 4 the one reported in this initial post occurred, i.e., Hopper 3 green light went off and screen saver on TV. I did not reply by hitting the SAT button on remote which clears this (presenting other issues, like jumping to end of a DVR recording...not the case anyway for this incident). Problem Five: TV Guide began download about 30% before switching back to screen save for a few minutes and then back to downloading and then back to screen saver, etc. I finally hit the SAT button and cleared all this AFTER all downloading was done.

I don't know if the other problems last night had anything to do with the Hopper 3 turning off (or in standby mode) with the screen saver displayed, only that it did again as before.

Of course I called the, let's not say technical Dish people, but the script-following cuesomer service people who transferred me to the so-called tech people. Once again, they were useless and ONLY typed in keywords to their database, extracted some possible cause and had me check it.This time it was back to the Inactivity setting now set to 4 hrs. This guy was as clueless as the others. Inactivity was NOT the problem. How active can I be than switching to a chennel, and watching it for about 10 minutes before the problems occurred ? At no time did I get more than 15-20 minutes of TV time in before the problems occurred and the Hopper switched off. So, he couldn't leave it there and proceeded to point to the Inactivity setting for the Samsung TV which he had no knowledge about. Not do I only that Inactivity was NOT the problem. It of course closed with him indicating that Dish software engineers were working on the KNOWN (Yeah, I put it on their plate!) issue. Another, goodbye, we're tired of talking to you.

DISH has NOT technician available ever to actually DIAGNOSE the issue. Thsi clown, like the others, hopped on my system and proceed to show their expertise moving around the settings. I proceeded to give them lessons!

Bottom line. The problem continues, in addition to the other 8-10 problems being reported to them since October 2022. Since my voltage on the circuit and grounding seem fine, I don't know what getting an electrician out here will do. I have considered running the power to the receiver through a different circuit, which would require an extention cord and probably even make it worse. Any suggestions? I'll take some recommendations on Internet TV Streaming services too at thsi time despite not seeing anything as nice as DISH usage functions. Thanks to all for the help.

I would say NOT an electrical problem, then.
Thinking outside the box, is there anything that could be causing interference like nearby radio towers, a CB base station, etc?

On the technicians portal on Dishes website, there is a recent discussion about Hoppers going into Standbye unexpectedly and it's been determined the problem is with a router renewing it's lease at a very short time.

One thing the software engineers have seen with these issues that occur at a consistent interval is that the DHCP lease in the router is set to a short time frame. When the lease expires, the connection will break and a reset of the Hopper will start a new lease.

Your DVR issues are sadly, not solely yours, sadly

 

[tpanc13]

I would say NOT an electrical problem, then.
Thinking outside the box, is there anything that could be causing interference like nearby radio towers, a CB base station, etc?

On the technicians portal on Dishes website, there is a recent discussion about Hoppers going into Standbye unexpectedly and it's been determined the problem is with a router renewing it's lease at a very short time.

One thing the software engineers have seen with these issues that occur at a consistent interval is that the DHCP lease in the router is set to a short time frame. When the lease expires, the connection will break and a reset of the Hopper will start a new lease.

Your DVR issues are sadly, not solely yours, sadly

Don't understand why a Router would be involved with Satellite transmission. However, a better idea is what I just did. In Amarillo, the winds often blowing reguarly arond 35mph. Last evening the gusts made it above 60mph. Last post I mentioned the power off came after other problems, one of which was constant scrambling of the transmission. That got me thinking about the security of the dish itself. Well, the mechanical dish is secure. But, the cable that leads to the LNBs was no longer secure. The plastic ties the Dish techs used to secure the coax to the dish frame were complete deteriorated.--broken into small pieces leaving the cord to swing in the wind. Today I retied them securely with a rubber tie. I was led out there because the wind possibility and the correct answer I had asked Dish about any power running to the LNB that could be failing. I was told just yesterday that NO power ran to the dish, even after quoting a previous tech who said a current does run back to the LNB from the receiver. That latter answer seems correct. From my research I found an article that explains the need for low DC current running from receiver in the same coax back to the LNB to supply that power (approx 30 mV) and that a fluctuation there could cause the receiver to drop power. We'll see now. However, before this fix (hopefully) I mentioned connecting my receiver and its surge protector to a different house circuit. Done. I hooked the surge protector to an extension cord plugged into a different circuit. I don't think this would have had any difference. The voltage as reported previously was attained at 123.3 to the surge protector with no load to it. Thus, same as before essentially. I am betting on the wind and securing the coax from blowing. If it continues, I'll have to get up into the dish itself to locate the actual attachment to the LNB and ensure coax is secure there too. Wish me luck.

 

[tpanc13]

Don't understand why a Router would be involved with Satellite transmission. However, a better idea is what I just did. In Amarillo, the winds often blowing reguarly arond 35mph. Last evening the gusts made it above 60mph. Last post I mentioned the power off came after other problems, one of which was constant scrambling of the transmission. That got me thinking about the security of the dish itself. Well, the mechanical dish is secure. But, the cable that leads to the LNBs was no longer secure. The plastic ties the Dish techs used to secure the coax to the dish frame were complete deteriorated.--broken into small pieces leaving the cord to swing in the wind. Today I retied them securely with a rubber tie. I was led out there because the wind possibility and the correct answer I had asked Dish about any power running to the LNB that could be failing. I was told just yesterday that NO power ran to the dish, even after quoting a previous tech who said a current does run back to the LNB from the receiver. That latter answer seems correct. From my research I found an article that explains the need for low DC current running from receiver in the same coax back to the LNB to supply that power (approx 30 mV) and that a fluctuation there could cause the receiver to drop power. We'll see now. However, before this fix (hopefully) I mentioned connecting my receiver and its surge protector to a different house circuit. Done. I hooked the surge protector to an extension cord plugged into a different circuit. I don't think this would have had any difference. The voltage as reported previously was attained at 123.3 to the surge protector with no load to it. Thus, same as before essentially. I am betting on the wind and securing the coax from blowing. If it continues, I'll have to get up into the dish itself to locate the actual attachment to the LNB and ensure coax is secure there too. Wish me luck.

Back in the day a technician would have checked everyhitng. Now they just want to swap out boards and Hoppers without prper diagnostics and thought. Hence, 4-5 Hopper 3 installs since October 2022 or phone "techs" who can't see anything not on the display in front of them. Sorry, just had to rant about today's work ethics. I'm an old f*rt.

 

[HipKat]

Don't understand why a Router would be involved with Satellite transmission. However, a better idea is what I just did. In Amarillo, the winds often blowing reguarly arond 35mph. Last evening the gusts made it above 60mph. Last post I mentioned the power off came after other problems, one of which was constant scrambling of the transmission. That got me thinking about the security of the dish itself. Well, the mechanical dish is secure. But, the cable that leads to the LNBs was no longer secure. The plastic ties the Dish techs used to secure the coax to the dish frame were complete deteriorated.--broken into small pieces leaving the cord to swing in the wind. Today I retied them securely with a rubber tie. I was led out there because the wind possibility and the correct answer I had asked Dish about any power running to the LNB that could be failing. I was told just yesterday that NO power ran to the dish, even after quoting a previous tech who said a current does run back to the LNB from the receiver. That latter answer seems correct. From my research I found an article that explains the need for low DC current running from receiver in the same coax back to the LNB to supply that power (approx 30 mV) and that a fluctuation there could cause the receiver to drop power. We'll see now. However, before this fix (hopefully) I mentioned connecting my receiver and its surge protector to a different house circuit. Done. I hooked the surge protector to an extension cord plugged into a different circuit. I don't think this would have had any difference. The voltage as reported previously was attained at 123.3 to the surge protector with no load to it. Thus, same as before essentially. I am betting on the wind and securing the coax from blowing. If it continues, I'll have to get up into the dish itself to locate the actual attachment to the LNB and ensure coax is secure there too. Wish me luck.

Power absolutely ruins back to the Dish. The receiver powers the LNB so it can receive signal.... jeez

 

[HipKat]

Back in the day a technician would have checked everyhitng. Now they just want to swap out boards and Hoppers without prper diagnostics and thought. Hence, 4-5 Hopper 3 installs since October 2022 or phone "techs" who can't see anything not on the display in front of them. Sorry, just had to rant about today's work ethics. I'm an old f*rt.

Don't worry, I'm a little old, too and of the check everything variety

 

[tpanc13]

NOT the wind! NOT the house circuit! NOT overall power fluctuation! NOT surge protector. OTA Adapter?
I thought I nailed it when the historical wind measurements closely matched the occurrences. As I mentioned I secured the coax that was swinging in the wind. However, I have now had the third occurrence wince then. These happened at almost windless days/evenings and off different house circuits. The Hopper is the only device in the house that hiccups when this occurs. My conclusion is back to the oriignal now that I rued out poser fluctuations AND to answer one of the ther posts no interferences that are know to me., i.e,, radio signals, etc. The occurrences had begun in October/November 2022 on a Hopper I had for many years without a problem. So, it just started to happen, ha, to annoy me I guess. I also stated that several other problems occur 1-3 days before I get these, like DVR recordings being duplicated (error code 04 on the less than 1-minute first one before it ends and the second started), minor pixel scrambling live and DVR recording, recoring a live program only to not getting the recording, losing up to 10 seconds of just the sound on a recording. I even tried to simo=ulate the wind by shaking the coax and physical dish arm with LNB attached far more than any wind here wold do and it didn't fail. It just randomly does it on its own, which means SOFTWARE. But, I have one other variable that has caused problems since installed and that I need to consider based on the post re outside interferences. Mainly the OTA Adapter for local channels. This definitely has caused problems that appear to be memory corruptions with other dish functions, like DVR, Prime Video Application running off Dish. I didn't adequately explain these. I would like to disconnect the OTA Adapter, but the wife would kill me becasue she records programs off the local channels. I could tell Dish I want the local channels which I had at one time, but I believe this was a second Dish to collect these which has been removed. So, I'll live with the use of SAT button to recover from the Hopper power off! Unfortunately, I have to lve with the other problems too. If I peeked you interest re OTA Adapter, read on.
---------------------------
OTA Adapter corruption: If the Dish Prime Video App is started all seems fine. Prime Vieo is connected and works fine UNTIL I start to get all kinds of random errors on live broadcasts, DVR issues, Prime Video issues when I need to reboot. I stopped using Prime Video via DISH by using switch to FIre TV directly instead and over 90% of all issues were eliminated completely. What I believe is happening is an issue that happened on early processor operating systems when common memory is shared. The menory gets fragmented first of all due to constant operations getting and releasing. However, sometimes little fragments were not eliminated completly and a "garbage collection routing" had to run to ensure even those stubs were deleted. Without that, one applications memory would overlay all or parts of another memory use. Very old problem from the late 70s. However, it seems to playing out with the combination of the OTA Adapter and the Hopper. And eliminating Prime Video from the equation may not have been the cause, but a result and acceleration of memory problems. The OTA Adapter is the single element now that sticks out like a sore thumb since some of the problems I am having with DVR are identical to those back then with Prime Video running. I'd be interested in knowing if similar problems are occuring on other Hoppers that have an OTA Adapter installed. NEVER had a problem with old V722 Receiver which had OTA Antenna directly connected to the box. Just having problems with this OTA Adapter.