Is my HDHR Prime dying?

[SpencerC]

Hello,

I think my HDHR Prime is dying. Live TV and recordings often have stuttering or artifacting and often times eventually a loss of signal. Let me outline the troubleshooting steps I've taken.

1. I suspected that the drive on my computer that is used for the DVR and Live TV buffer was possibly going bad. I ran a S.M.A.R.T. test on it and it came back with a few bad sectors, so I swapped the drive with another in my inventory with no bad sectors or any issues from a S.M.A.R.T test. This didn't help.
2. I've been having some other issues with this computer, so I then decided lets swap computers.
3. I migrated my DVR from my old computer over to my new computer. The new computer is a laptop and I am using an external USB drive for the DVR. The laptop is hardwired and removed from Wifi using a gigabit ethernet port on a USB-C dock. I'm having the same issues.
4. Then I started monitoring the network traffic throughput while watching live TV and I was getting around 7-7.5Mb/s and video and audio is fine. There were some occasional drops down to around 4.5 Mb/s but it would go back up quickly and I never noticed any video or audio issues. This only lasted for a few minutes and the stuttering and artifacting started and the network throughput dropped down to practically nothing, so I wasn't receiving anything from the HDHR Prime. At this point I was aware I was transferring some large video files across my network between another computer and my NAS. This could be interrupting things possibly. I'm currently in the process of ripping DVDs to transfer to my NAS and am frequently transferring large files. So with this awareness I paid closer attention to when I was transferring large files across the network while watching LiveTV. A couple of things I've noticed. First, it doesn't matter if I am transferring files or not, the network feed from the HDHR Prime to my computer just cuts in and out. Second, when I am transferring files, those files transfer just fine without disruptions. So I doubt it is the network itself, otherwise I'd see similar behavior across devices.
5. I used VLC media player to view live TV as an alternate to using the app to see if it was the app itself. VLC media player had the same issues.
6. At this point I think the HDHR is dying. I've enabled diagnostics. I've running version 20260309 (1.1.460.0). Device ID: 1323BE9B. Firmware: 20260313. Please let me know if you need anything further from me.
7. On another note. I bought a backup HDHR Prime still in the box that I can use and move to if needed. I am really PRAYING I won't have to call Xfinity to pair the cable card to the new device. Any suggestions on how best to talk to Comcast if I have to go down that route?

If someone has been paying attention to my posts, you will see I was asking questions about migrating to a new PC and VLC media player, those posts were generated from this post. LOL!
As always, thank you for any assistance you can offer.

[KeithAbbott]

If you haven't tried this already, I would swap the old power adapter with the brand new one that is still in the box. Sometimes power adapters go bad and cause wonky things to happen.

[SpencerC]

If you haven't tried this already, I would swap the old power adapter with the brand new one that is still in the box. Sometimes power adapters go bad and cause wonky things to happen.

good idea, I will give it a shot. Thanks!

[phelme]

Twice now recently I've had my old Prime drop its signal input to zero. It still is working and accessible from the Windows application, just no signal is detected. It's almost like the Prime has gone into a protective state. The fix has been to unplug it from power AND its RF connection to the cable amplifier needed to boost the signal, for about a minute. Power cycling the Prime alone doesn't seem to rectify the problem. What I'm not sure is if it's the Prime's power brick slowly starting to fail or the signal amplifier itself that's at the root of this. Sadly I forgot to check the log on the Prime before I power cycled. Out of practice. :/

The cable modem that is connected to the same amplifier (though it's on the unamplified bypass output) continues to function when this happens. I'm going to replace the Prime's brick first. In the past when I've had to replace the brick, the Prime has actually wigged out in a different way.

Like suggested here, find a replacement power brick. You have one handy which is good, but I've found D-Link's have some that are the same spec if you can't find an original.

[KeithAbbott]

I think I remember nickk or somebody posting awhile back that they still had a small supply of new power adapters for the Prime available for purchase.