My story and my problems!

[anarethos]

Hi everyone!

First, I must thanks all the programmers of this wonderfull software! Good job!

Since this will be a long post, here are the question (read the full post for more details)

1)- When the computer come back from standby (s1 or s3) or from hibernate, the remote stop working (Mce 2005 remote, Windows XP Sp2 Mce 2005). Sometime the remote still work, but not the IrBlaster (needed, I use a setup-box)

2)- Gb-Pvr seems to freeze sometime, I have to restart it

3)- The Web interface (latest version) have some problem when I try to same settings (give me an error page). Also, doing a "Stream" on the server crash VLC. It was no happening with the build-it version of the WebServer (But I want to do Live Tv through the web....)


Here is the long story

My hardware
Asus A7V333
Amd Athlon Xp 2400+
512 mb Ram
80g Hdd
Windows XP Mce 2005 Sp2 + Update 2
Hauppauge PVR150 Mce Kit (Remote control, IrBlaster and Ir Receiver)
Ati Redeon 7200 Pci 32 mb

Since the video card does not work with the built-in function of MediaCenter, I had to find a similar program. After some research, I found GbPvr, wich seems to be the best.

Configuration 1
- Mce Remote: Defaul Xp drivers
- All eh***.* services disabled (apply for all configuration)
- Gb-Pvr : Remote = MceIr

Seems to work great, but the IrBlaster was sometime too fast, so it was not always able to change the channels. So I tried Configuration 2

Configuration 2
- Mce Remote : Drivers from the Wiki
- Hip
- Gb-Pvr : Remote = HipSend

Seems to work great, but when I switch to live Tv, remote stops working. So I tried Configuration 3 (actual way)

Configuration 3
- Mce Remote : Default Xp Drivers
- Hip (catch only Power button, My* Button, Start button)
- Gb-Pvr : Remote = HipSend

When Gb-Pvr freeze, I press the power button on the remote to kill it. The start button restart it. Since only these buttons are used by Hip, the others functionnality of the remote works directly in GbPvr. And the LiveTv works perfectly.

Works great now, except for the problems said at the beginning.

[fuzzweed]

1) when gbpvr wakes it calls 'wake.cmd' you can create a batch file with this name in the gbpvr folder to restart ir.
2) reproduce the problem and post some logs, maybe someone will be able to see what is going wrong.
3) don't know, sorry - the webadmin and vlc are normally quite stable. Did you follow the wiki on how to install the webadmin? I think you need to delete most of the files, but keep some of them...

If all else fails, back up your config.xml file and export any recordings you have and reinstall GBPVR - we've all done it plenty of times....

[anarethos]

1) when gbpvr wakes it calls 'wake.cmd' you can create a batch file with this name in the gbpvr folder to restart ir.

==>I would like to, but how to force Windows to reinitialize the Mce Ir/Blaster? Anyway to force redetection of Usb?

2) reproduce the problem and post some logs, maybe someone will be able to see what is going wrong.

==>Well, since I change to Hip+Gb-Pvr, compare to Gb-Pvr only, it seem to works.


3) don't know, sorry - the webadmin and vlc are normally quite stable. Did you follow the wiki on how to install the webadmin? I think you need to delete most of the files, but keep some of them...

==> I did.

If all else fails, back up your config.xml file and export any recordings you have and reinstall GBPVR - we've all done it plenty of times....

==>Will try, when my girlfriend will ahve finished with the television

[gEd]

1) when gbpvr wakes it calls 'wake.cmd' you can create a batch file with this name in the gbpvr folder to restart ir.

It is gbpvrwake.exe that calls wake.cmd. It can be downloaded from the forum or wiki. place it in your startup folder.

I have not got a MCE remote (yet) so I am not sure whether you need to reinitialise you usb device or restart some application that handles the remote control.

the Microsoft devcon utility can be used to inspect the status & restart usb devices.

extract from my wake.cmd
REM Check to see if Nova-T USB status is OK
devcon.exe status "USB\VID_2040*"
IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO EVOK

Echo Restarting Nova-T device >> %logfile%
devcon.exe restart "USB\VID_2040*"

IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO SYNTAX
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO FAILURE
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO REBOOT
IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO SUCCES

[ricklous]

this sounds similar to my experience of the MCE with those third party drivers.

i also had problems with it seizing up after resuming the PC, and tried the devcon route, but that never seemed to be a reliable method either. devcon would stop and restart the remote but it still wouldnt respond to key presses until id pulled the usb dongle out of the pc and inserted it again. then, it would come to life.

the only two patterns i could see to this were,
1) it would only start happening after id installed the third party drivers...but sometimes maybe work fine for a week first...
2) it would seize up a lot more often if i had HIP set up to send an IR command to turn my TV on when the PC resumed.

the problem lessened but didnt go away after switching back to the default drivers. they didnt get back to 100% reliability until i flattened the pvr (for a different reason) and reinstalled XP. since rebuilding, ive never installed the third party drivers and not had the IR blasters doing anything when the PC resumes, and the remote has been 100% since....

[anarethos]

Thanks for the info. I plan to reinstall Windows when I will switch the computer from a Tower to a desktop casing.