[philzgr8]

Originally Posted by merovingian

Regarding the power management, I use WoL (well, magic packet), with my Xbox 360 extender. It works, but there are two issues:

1) If the HTPC is asleep when I turn the Xbox 360 on, the first attempt at connection often fails. This is an acknowledged Vista bug, so I presume you will see it with the DMA 2100. Second connection attempt always works, however manual intervention is required (on the Xbox 360 at least) to trigger the second connection attempt.

2) AFAIK, you are at the mercy of the idle timer to turn the HTPC off again after you've turned your extender off. In my experience, pain and misery is to be had in Vista for any use of the idle timer. ie. HTPC frequently goes to sleep at the end of watching a show etc. I have mine set to 60 minutes so I don't normally get an issue watching a 45-minute show, but this of course means it takes an hour for the HTPC to turn off after the extender has turned off.

So it works, but it's not exactly sublime.

Personally I wouldn't bother with Away mode, as the power savings are minimal-to-nil. You either go WoL, warts and all, or run the MCE 24/7.

Thanks for that. Isn't "magic packet" the same thing as WOL?
By the way, have you tried using MST?