# Fix for Hopper 3



## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

My Hopper 3 does not show up on my telly. So when I unplug the Hopper and plug back in when the Hopper is rebooting then that is shown on the telly screen. Then while rebooting there us some test the hopper does.

After that Hooper works fine. 

Well…today I was looking at a programme the Hoppe decided to reboot.

Happens first time I want to access programming on DISH.

Would anyone know why this happens and is there a fix for this?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Sounds like your Hopper 3 is dying. Do you have an OTA TV tuner connected?

I'd get started on backing any of the programs you want to keep to an external hard drive and then get the Hopper 3 replaced.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

OneMarcilV said:


> Hopper 3





OneMarcilV said:


> the Hopper





OneMarcilV said:


> Hooper





OneMarcilV said:


> Hoppe


I found it's hilarious !
Why I'm thinking the device feel the hate and making the customer's life miserable in return ?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

P Smith said:


> I found it's hilarious !


Pot meet kettle. Grammar isn't exactly your forte.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

harsh said:


> Sounds like your Hopper 3 is dying. Do you have an OTA TV tuner connected?
> 
> I'd get started on backing any of the programs you want to keep to an external hard drive and then get the Hopper 3 replaced.


I have a dongle for looking at and recording some local channels.

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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

You are too serious :shrug


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

P Smith said:


> You are too serious :shrug


Bout what?

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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Maybe this could be the HDMI cable.

What is the best HDMI cable to use for hopper?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

OneMarcilV said:


> I have a dongle for looking at and recording some local channels.


Try temporarily unplugging it and see if the problem doesn't go away. A twitchy OTA tuner may cause the Hopper to crash.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Will do that later tonight during slumber time. Then will see if this made a difference in the morning.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

OneMarcilV said:


> Bout what?


sorry, we posted same time and it was a response to harsh


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

OneMarcilV said:


> What is the best HDMI cable to use for hopper?


18 Gbps, UHD/4K supporting


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Very good. Will look into that.

Any particular brand?


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

By the way does it hurt anything to unplug and plug in the hopper so I can see the hopper on my telly screen. 

Like maybe 2 or 3 times a day?

That is if the dongle idea doesn’t work.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

OneMarcilV said:


> By the way does it hurt anything to unplug and plug in the hopper so I can see the hopper on my telly screen.


I have HDMI switch and splitter with remote control. So, no need to get behind your telly each time, when you need jack the cable 
And yes, each time you have new negotiation between devices. Fresh start :thumbsup:


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

P Smith said:


> I have HDMI switch and splitter with remote control. So, no need to get behind your telly each time, when you need jack the cable
> And yes, each time you have new negotiation between devices. Fresh start :thumbsup:


I have used two of these. Both after a while either the signal does not work on 1 or 2 HDMI out connections or the remote control quits working.

The last one is a RCA brand.

So these HDMI Switch/Splitters are not very reliable.

Today I applied a partial reset. That might work.

When I play a recording back from the outside aerial since I live far enough from the station the signal is not that great. So when the signal on the recording is all weird that is when the Hopper decides to reboot itself.

Like earlier wrote hopefully the partial reset will fix this.

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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

P Smith said:


> I have HDMI switch and splitter with remote control. So, no need to get behind your telly each time, when you need jack the cable
> And yes, each time you have new negotiation between devices.


I got the impression that the question was related to power cycling the Hopper 3 rather than undoing the HDMI connection. Maybe I misunderstood.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

OneMarcilV said:


> Like earlier wrote hopefully the partial reset will fix this.


Did you try unplugging the OTA adapter?


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Right. The receiver is doing ok staying connected for some reason without changing anything 

But still likes to reboot itself.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

harsh said:


> Did you try unplugging the OTA adapter?


How long does the OTA adapter need to be unplugged for?

I can do that.

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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Ok I did the partial reset. Had to scan for over the air channels. But these did not save to the guide.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Well I did the rescan again. The new channels I did not add those. So by doing this the other ones saved to the guide. 

Also there was a software update that I installed.
So now the Hopper is hopping like new.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

OneMarcilV said:


> How long does the OTA adapter need to be unplugged for?


If you were still having the problem, you would unplug the OTA adapter for as long as it took to figure out whether or not the crashes stopped. This would not be a "power cycle" or "reset" kind of thing.

I suppose that failure to do channel scans as TV stations in your area changed their configurations could also cause this problem since TV stations have been shuffling frequencies to implement repacks and NextGen TV over the last couple years.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

The hopper is working like new again.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

The OTA dongles are not as good as the tuners in most TVs - QED - you need to ensure you are receiving as good a signal as possible.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

I have a good aerial. But I noticed when I have a station with a weak signal during playback of that channel the recording freezes and then the receiver will then start itself up.

Not if the station comes in with a good signal the recordings play back without any problems.

I live too far away from these stations. So even with a good aerial the station sometimes has a great signal other times a signal that causes the station to have a weak signal.

The weaker signal generally is during the day. At night round 11pm the signal is great.

So would this help?










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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

OneMarcilV said:


> So would this help?


You'll better invest in good outdoor antenna on tall must with RF amplifier. Any cable, say RG-6 is best, would work if you will get that better setup.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

That one flakey channel may be what is rebooting the Hopper. NEVER leave the OTA tuner on a weak channel, it will frequently cause reboots and lock ups.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

OneMarcilV said:


> I live too far away from these stations.


This is the key issue. DISH receivers have long been cranky about poor reception as Jim5506 notes. Even a failing tuner can cause reboots.

As an experiment, you should remove the weak stations from the lineup and see if your reboot situation doesn't improve.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Well here is what I did. Adjusted the aerial
for a better signal. Now since the recordings are way better now the Hopper is much happier and does not reboot anymore.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

P Smith said:


> You'll better invest in good outdoor antenna on tall must with RF amplifier. Any cable, say RG-6 is best, would work if you will get that better setup.


That is what I have had with a rotor for adjustment. I have the aerial on a pole attached to my roofline.

So the aerial is like very high up.

Reply









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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Seems to me your OTA antenna does not set high enough - a lot of foliage is surrounding it.
I would use ground based ALUMINUM TRUSS MAST like above with a height make max as possible.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

OneMarcilV said:


> That is what I have had with a rotor for adjustment. I have the aerial on a pole attached to my roofline.
> 
> So the aerial is like very high up.
> 
> ...


OOOH, NOOO, a piece of cheap Chinese junk for an antenna. I hope it lasts, they have a history of short lifetimes.
That long pole, if it is un-guyed, pray for no high winds.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Purchased 1.5 years ago. Withstood three hurricanes. Gets a good signal if pointed in the right direction. Like 98-100.

True it is a cheap Chinese brand but is working.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

P Smith said:


> Seems to me your OTA antenna does not set high enough - a lot of foliage is surrounding it.
> I would use ground based ALUMINUM TRUSS MAST like above with a height make max as possible.


How would I set that up? The aerial that I am using now wasn't waxy to put up. Kept wanting to fall to the ground when fitting the aerial that is attached to the long pole.

All I was standing was the deck rail. So balancing was not easy.

Plus that aluminium pole looks expensive.

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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would find a spot on a property, dig and make a cement slab with anchors bolts, then stack a few sections of such mast, putting your antenna on a top of it.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

That would seem expensive. 


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Personally, for minimalizing its cost, I would take three galvanized angle bars say 18' long and make an A-shape must with triangle bottom to bolt it to the slab. But it's me, I could do welding by myself.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

Even a 4 section telescoping pole these days is $150 plus guy wire and accessories.
It could easily be over $250, just to get you an extra 40ft of elevation.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Will stay with what I am using now. Would take quite awhile to save that much monies.

Appreciate all the help though.

I would have to hire the peeps to do all of this. That would be an added expense.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Having your antenna "in the trees" is NOT helping the situation any. It's ok if there are trees between the antenna and the transmitters - just make sure your antenna is in "free space".

And trying to use a single pole and guywires is difficult by yourself (I have experiance on this one).

Those triangle antenna masts are usually used with ham radio antennas. They aren't cheap.


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## OneMarcilV (Jul 24, 2020)

Seems expensive though but a great idea. The signal is most cases is great without any problems.

I was going to put the aerial in a different location when installed originally. But there was not any real good way to install to there was no chance of the aerial falling.

But, you learned me something that trees block the signal there for that is way sometimes the recordings and sometimes not even without the aerial being turned.

Very good.

I could somehow attach the aerial to my deck but would be much lower but, no trees would block its path.

I will give that some thought.


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