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How to fix Media Center remote control if it breaks when installing IR update rollup

MSDN Blogs > Aaron Stebner's WebLog > How to fix Media Center remote control if it breaks when installing IR update rollup

How to fix Media Center remote control if it breaks when installing IR update rollup

1 Sep 2005 2:30 AM
  • Comments 15

We recently released Update Rollup 1 for eHome Infrared Receivers for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.  There are some fixes in this package that may cause your Media Center remote control to stop working.  Specifically, we previously allowed channels 1-8 to broadcast IR signals on, and with this package installed the remote is limited to channels 1-4.  If your remote is broadcasting on channels 5-8, here is what you can do to change to a channel in the 1-4 range to allow it to start working again:

  • Hold down the “DVD Menu” button and the “1” key at the same time for 5 seconds (or the "2", "3" or "4" key if you want to have the remote broadcast on one of the other supported channels instead
  • After 5 seconds, the LED on the IR receiver should blink twice, and your remote should work correctly again.

 

Comments
  • Anonymous
    1 Sep 2005 11:53 PM
    Just curious -- there's got to be a good story behind a breaking change like that? Can you tell?
  • stillopentolearn
    23 Oct 2005 6:17 AM
    Thanks for the reply and I tried it and it didnt work,because that is not why it broke.
    I want to clear something up before MS sends a reply with the wrong info.
    I went to device manager where it has yellow ! and after right clicking it I get this:
    microsoft eHome infrared Transceiver Device status (Code10)
    cannot start
    Driver Date 7/1/2001
    version 5.1.2535.0

    I have had so much trouble with MS and reinstalling the hard drive OS almost 11 times is just too much in a 3 month period. THis was an expensive HP Pavillion zd 8000 with dual TV tuner DVR operation.
    THere is always something, after reinstalling, either cant get the right BT drivers I have to uninstall them and reboot and then put Widcom instead of the BRoadcom that is installed and the BT logo in the task bar is always red until I change the driver.
    Then the quicklaunch error when I am rebooting, eabstataller.exe needs to end, end now so hp tech had me uninstall quicklaunch and then the keyboard in device manager had a yellow ! until I uninstalled it and reinstalled it.
    THat was the keyboard on the notebook, I use hp expansion base with wireless keyboard and mouse.
    THen the 1394 Firewire port on the notebook wasnt recognizing my external drive off and on, I had to buy an expensive cable from RS with gold ends and that didnt help, so I went back to usb 2cable for it.
    Im frustrated and since it is an OEM MS wont talk unless I pay, and HP is useless with Indian tech support 99% of the time, and Mr. Chang the executive Case manager refusing to take back the unit, and the letters of complain t I wrote to CEO go directly to Mr CHang.
    WHat to do with this horror I am disabled and cant get a week without some problem.
    any ideas would be appreciated.
  • 24 Oct 2005 10:23 PM
    Hi stillopentolearn - I am very sorry to hear that you're having these problems with your Media Center machine and also having issues with customer support. I have posted a couple of additional suggestins for fixing IR receiver issues that may help here - you can find them at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/10/24/484423.aspx.

    If this doesn't work, please contact me using http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/contact.aspx and I will try to suggest some additional steps and hopefully we can get this figured out.

  • Evan Winslow
    16 Dec 2005 3:40 AM
    I too hav ethe HP Pavilion zd8000 that cost me a little over $4000 when I purchased it, and I too have a similar problem. My remote control will not function but my TV tuner appears to be installed correctly. I love this notebook for its power, however it has had a lot of problems as stillopentolearn mentioned. That is the main reason why I now use VPC for most of my needs and use the base system a little as possible and it seems to work on a much better scale. However, there are some things you cannot do in the VPC so that kinda sucks. I will say that HP has great support most of the time, but the thing with this TV Tuner issue kind of sucks. I have the same problem with trying to talk to the non-English native tech support and Mr. Chang has not been very helpful with this matter. I was surprised because they have been helpful in other issues.
  • Brad Collins
    12 Apr 2006 2:06 AM
    Hi, I just wanted to say thankyou for supplying the information required to get my remote control working - that is , remove the batteries, short the contacts to reset the dammed thing!
    Once again, thank you
  • Roger Pari
    21 Apr 2006 1:44 AM
    I recently bought wireless Microsoft Media Center keyboard/Mouse/USB transmitter. When I plugged that in my MCE2005 PC, all the media center related keys work just fine. I can't use the pointer nor use any of the regualr keys to surf the Net.

    Remote is working fine. I've downloaded rollup 2 package as well.

    Any thoughts?
  • Henrik Paaske
    23 Apr 2006 11:17 AM
    Are it posible to have two Media Center remote receivers conectet to one PC (different rooms) When I connet two only one works.
    henrik@paaske.as
  • 24 Apr 2006 9:42 PM
    Hi Henrik - It is not possible to have 2 different remote receivers and have them both receive the input commands.  The IR driver will only deliver the commands to the last receiver connected to the system bus.  If you need to use remotes in separate rooms, you may want to look into IR blasters or other technologies to amplify the signal to the receiver that you have plugged into your Media Center computer.  I'm sorry for the inconvenience.
  • 9 Jan 2008 12:36 AM

    I recently got a AverMedia VolarHD USB tuner card.  I added it and it worked great as a second tuner. However, when ever I would resume from a suspend, it would give me a video card error. So I tried upgrading the nvidia drivers. For some reason, it kept booting into VGA mode, so I system restored back and removed the usb tuner. After the system restore, the remote no longer works after resuming from suspend. The strange thing is, the power button of the remote is able to wake and suspend the computer, but no other buttons work. Unplugging and replugging the ehome Infrared receiver restores it, but that's not a viable solution. Any ideas why the remote keys except for the power button works? Also, any ideas about the video card error after the tuner install? Been pounding my head for a few days now. Thanks

  • 9 Jan 2008 12:13 PM

    Hi Quang777 - I'm sorry, but I don't have much experience with troubleshooting sleep/resume issues such as this.  The workarounds I know of for remote control issues are listed in the Remote Control and IR Receiver Issues section of the article at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/articles/487537.aspx.  However, none of those issues specifically address problems that only occur after waking from sleep.

    I'd suggest posting a question at one of the following locations to see if anyone there can help suggest any additional workarounds:

    http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups/reader.mspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter

    http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/83/ShowForum.aspx

    For the video card issue, do you see this error from the OS itself or only within Media Center?  I typically suggest trying to update the drivers on the system, but it sounds like you already tried that and got pretty bad results.  It might help to search for any FAQs on the nVidia site to see if you can narrow down that issue that way.

  • 19 Jan 2008 4:46 PM

    Thanks Aaron for the advice. I think I figured out one of my problem with the video card. I completely uninstalled the older version and reinstalled almost the latest version of the nvidia drivers. It helped with the video error. However, I'm still perplexed with the remote issue. After some experimenting, I was able to determine that the system does still see the remote receiver (ie, it's in the device manager) and also provides power (ie, the red LED does come on when I send remote commands). So I don't think it's a USB suspend power issue. However, the only button that seems to work after a resume from a suspend, is the power button. None of the other buttons on any of my remotes, including the original Windows MCE remote work unless I do a reboot or a device manager rescan. Would a complete "clean reinstall" of the remote help? If so, how does one do that? Thanks

  • 20 Jan 2008 5:26 PM

    Hi Quang777 - This sounds like a more general suspend/resume issue with the OS than an issue with your remote control.  It wouldn't hurt to try to re-install your remote - to do that you'd want to remove it from Device Manager and then unplug it, re-plug it in and let Windows detect the device and re-install the driver for you.  You can also try to re-install the most recent Media Center IR driver package from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b39d53f1-0ac9-433b-b488-4cab82f31dc8 (if you're running Windows XP Media Center Edition only - this driver will not work on Windows Vista).

    I'd also suggest posting a question at one of the forums that I posted previously to see if anyone else in the community can provide any other workarounds that might help you in this scenario.

  • 20 Jan 2008 8:57 PM

    I got it to work. I did both steps 2 & 3 together on your recommended fixes. Thanks for the help. Now if I can only get the multi ATSC tuners to work cleanly. Sometimes the MCE seems to hang for some reason. Not sure if it's b/c it's confused which tuner to use or if it's comskip that's doing it. Thanks again.

  • Antony Gomersall
    27 Jul 2010 1:09 PM

    Thanks for posting this. It worked perfectly.

  • Lane Wooder
    9 Mar 2011 1:54 PM

    Kept on trying things listed here until one worked. Ended up being the IR channel needed to be changed. Funny though, the update that supposedly causes the problem was installed years ago. I went to bed last night with it working, and this morning it would not work. Thank goodness for this site and for the range of tips on how to fix this remote!

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