Installing MCE remote with XP Home

[schlabic]

Hello,

I'm receiving an MCE remote 2005 (version 2) in the mail tonight. After searching various threads and the wiki, I'd like to confirm my understanding of the setup to use it with XP Home and GBPVR v0.98.13 (natively, without HIP, at least initially), since I don't seem to have been able to find the information all in one place. I don't need to use the IR Blasters.

As I understand it, first I need to get the drivers from XP Pro SP1 or SP2 (or XP MCE, probably?), per the following which I found linked to in the GBPVR forum, and which is at http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=36993, to quote:



"1. Obtain a copy of the irbus.sys, irbus.inf, and irbus.pnf files from a Windows XP Pro SP1/SP2 install.

2. Copy irbus.sys to c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers and c:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386

3. Copy irbus.inf and irbus.pnf to c:\WINDOWS\inf

4. Reboot

5. Plug in your remote IR receiver sensor (do not plug it in before this)."



Then I'm assuming new hardware would be found, the drivers would install and thus my MCE receiver would be recognized by Windows and ready to provide information to GBPVR.

Then I can simply enable the MCE remote in GBPVR Configuration under the DVD tab and the remote should work.

But if I want to use more keys and/or get the remote to control my TV volume with the IR Blasters then I would need to install HIP per the HIP guide in the wiki (including using alternate drivers), or some other similar software.

If someone could confirm that this seems to be correct or incorrect, I would appreciate it. Then when I get it working I'll post the results, and hopefully it will serve to help others who search the forum trying to figure out how to do the same thing.

Thanks,

-Rod

keywords: Media Center Edition Professional

[sub]

I've never used XP Home myself, but from what I've read the above sounds correct.

[schlabic]

I also just found this as an alternate way to get the drivers, to quote from http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17785, for what it's worth:

"You need two files for the Windows XP native MCE Remote driver, irbus.inf and irbus.sys.

You can get them with the following procedure.
1) Download the Windows Update "Update Rollup 2 for eHome Infrared Receiver for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (KB912024)" from microsoft. It is available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en.
2) run the downloaded executable. When the Hotfix install wizard appears on the screen... STOP!! do not continue with the installation wizard.
3) run notepad, and open the file named kb912024.log that is located in your windows system directory (usually c:\windows\).
4) on the fourth line of this file you will find the path to the update executable (ie: c:\0d5602f37f532d2198a162164df6\update\update.exe).
5) Open Windows and navigate to the root of this path (ie: c:\0d5602f37f532d2198a162164df6). There you will find SP2QFE. Navigate to this directory.
6) In the SP2QPE directory you will find the irbus.sys file. In the "ip" directory will contain the irbus.inf file.
7) Copy these two files to a temporary directory of your choice.
8) Go back to the Hotfix install wizard and select CANCEL. The wizard will ask if you are sure... answer yes. The wizard will clean up after itself.

You now have the native Microsoft eHome receiver drivers needed to install your MCE compatible remote."


-Rod

[schlabic]

Well, that was easy. I did exactly what I mentioned in the first message, getting the drivers from an XP Pro box, and when I plugged in the receiver, *bingo*, it recognized the device. Then made sure the MCE remote was selected in the DVD tab in GBPVR Configure, and the remote worked.

Incidentally, not sure if I should I should mention it, but for currently http://www.directron.com has the OEM-packaged version of MCE Remote 2005 (version 2) for $32.99, which includes free UPS shipping in the U.S. That's what I just got. I was a bit concerned that they wouldn't ship this version because the text of their description reads somewhat contradictory and mentions version 1 (but the picture shows v.2), but it was the right one. Includes receiver, two blasters, batteries and Getting Started manual, which shows how to teach the volume and TV power buttons on the remote to control the TV directly. It was the best deal I could find three days ago.

I think for the time being, I'll do fine without HIP.

-Rod

[drewkaree]

In searching around trying to get the recently-purchased MCE remote to work (the reason for me re-installing everything in the first place ), I stumbled across this post.

I've got XP Pro, both SP1 and SP2, MCE 2005, and XP Home. I went through EVERY disc looking for the irbus.pnf file.

For those of you pulling your hair out looking for THAT file, I found this little tidbit of info:

I could not find the irbus.pnf file, it turns out this is sometimes made by windows automatically from the .inf anyways. The only files needed are the irbus.sys and irbus.inf and copy them as doddio says above.

:mad: There's a half-hour of my life I'll never get back!

For anyone else having these problems and NOT having access to the .sys and .inf files, they're attached. Follow the instructions in the first post as to where to put them.

Remember, as with most things USB requiring drivers to be installed, DO NOT plug the receiver in until AFTER you've put the driver files in the proper place.