Using IR to turn your PC on/off

[h00ch]

I've seen quite a few posts on here with various discussions about how to turn your PVR PC on or off without having to run down to the basement and press the spacebar, click the mouse or press the power button on the PC.

Here's an idea... it may not work, but it seems fairly simple to me...

The power switch on the PC is a toggle switch which is connected to 2 pins on the motherboard. What if an IR toggle switch was connected to these pins instead? Is this possible?

I've seen lots of kits available on the net (Google "IR toggle switch") but haven't seen them used in this way. Also, from what I've seen, the IR switches operate by receiving ANY IR signal. It would be nice if they only recognized a particular signal, or else this application would be useless. (Your PC would turn off/on with every press of a remote button!)

Would anyone like to expand on this or laugh at me?

[TheCanuck]

Well one thing you could do is get a wireless infrared keyboard, set the HTPC to start on a keypress and then learn one of the keyboards keys to the remote. Haven't tried this yet though, but it should

The MCE remote can also be taught infrared commands for select buttons (TV, and volume). http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/post/66247.aspx

Or you can just get a good learning IR remote. Logitech has a couple.

[h00ch]

I thought about using a wireless mouse to wake the PC, but it doesn't seem to work. A PS/2 mouse wakes the computer, but I can't get a USB mouse to wake it.