"The Hibernator" Support and Feedback

[mjj1998]

Hi arkay,

Thanks for the reply, I've tinkered with the program today and this is what's going on:

It seems that the idle usage is higher for Live TV that has been stopped (but buffering in the background) than when playing MP3s. So, as far as using this program to hibernate after watching TV; well, it's not going to work for me in under this system setup (similar to what woohoo was talking about as well)... If I set hibernator to a threshold that will put my PC to sleep after watching live TV, it will also do this when I'm listening to music For MP3 playback I'm averaging around 3%, for live TV (stopped) it's about 13% and when viewing live TV it's 15-22%.

I also noticed some behaviour that I'm not sure whether is intended or not: moving the mouse or pressing the keyboard doesn't seem to kill the running CPU averaging process once it is initiated. It appears to continuously poll in the background, despite me using the PC again. I'm not sure how these processes are controlled by Hibenator, but it doesn't appear to be registering the "kill screensaver" handle when mouse/keyboard input is detected?

Anyway, I can see the great benefit in this program already & thank you for your work so far. Hope you enjoy your holidays & will most likely be chatting to you once you get back

EDIT: Oops, I forgot to add that I've only just built my MCE machine, so I'm not all that keen in rebuilding again. I've kept it fairly lean, only running/installing things that are directly MCE related....I'll also have a look at perfmon, but the system seems to be running fine otherwise, so I'm not really keen to fiddle with things too much LOL

Cheers,
~MJ.

[maltic]

Hi,

I get the following messages in the log file running on a German OS:

Sun Nov 6 19:12:13 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:12:13 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:12:13 2005 : ( COMPLETED) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Completed.
Sun Nov 6 19:12:15 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:12:15 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:01 2005 : (SAVE CONFIG) Writing Config file C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:02 2005 : ( COMPLETED) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Completed.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:02 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:02 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:02 2005 : ( COMPLETED) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Completed.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:05 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:05 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:05 2005 : (SCREENSAVER) Starting Screensaver C:\WINDOWS\system32\.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:16 2005 : ( PERFMON) Failed connecting to FORD to collect Processor,% Processor Time information
Sun Nov 6 19:17:17 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:17 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:17 2005 : (SCREENSAVER) Starting Screensaver C:\WINDOWS\system32\.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:27 2005 : ( PERFMON) Failed connecting to FORD to collect Processor,% Processor Time information
Sun Nov 6 19:17:28 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:28 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:28 2005 : (SCREENSAVER) Starting Screensaver C:\WINDOWS\system32\.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:38 2005 : ( PERFMON) Failed connecting to FORD to collect Processor,% Processor Time information
Sun Nov 6 19:17:39 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:39 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:39 2005 : (SCREENSAVER) Starting Screensaver C:\WINDOWS\system32\.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:49 2005 : ( PERFMON) Failed connecting to FORD to collect Processor,% Processor Time information

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Malte

[MicF]

Originally Posted by woohoo

... except when it gets to my problem with the still-buffering-after-stopping-tv-problem.

Hey, I thought this is a general MCE Prpblem, since I've got the same Problem.

> no Standby after stopping TV

Mic

[arkay]

Originally Posted by mjj1998

Hi arkay,

I also noticed some behaviour that I'm not sure whether is intended or not: moving the mouse or pressing the keyboard doesn't seem to kill the running CPU averaging process once it is initiated. It appears to continuously poll in the background, despite me using the PC again. I'm not sure how these processes are controlled by Hibenator, but it doesn't appear to be registering the "kill screensaver" handle when mouse/keyboard input is detected?

~MJ.

MJ,

Good pickup. It was actually a typo in my code!! Arrrggghhh. It's fixed in v2. (which is currently about v1.5).

I'm hoping with the addition of disk and network monitoring that we can get around the problems with CPU only monitoring. i.e. Reading and mp3, watching live tv/or recording etc generates a fair bit of disk activity. If you're not doing any of those things disk activity is generally pretty low. In your case you may need to close the MCE GUI when you're finished with it for the night so it doesn't buffer. But... It should allow for more accurate monitoring on these "odd" systems. Network is also important as you may leave your machine downloading overnight and obviously don't want it hibernating.

Still researching other possible additions but I want to keep it as simple as possible whilst being effective at what it does.

Cheers,
Arkay.

[arkay]

Originally Posted by maltic

Hi,

I get the following messages in the log file running on a German OS:

Sun Nov 6 19:12:13 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:12:13 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:12:13 2005 : ( COMPLETED) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Completed.
Sun Nov 6 19:12:15 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:12:15 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:01 2005 : (SAVE CONFIG) Writing Config file C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:02 2005 : ( COMPLETED) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Completed.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:02 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:02 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:13:02 2005 : ( COMPLETED) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Completed.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:05 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:05 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:05 2005 : (SCREENSAVER) Starting Screensaver C:\WINDOWS\system32\.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:16 2005 : ( PERFMON) Failed connecting to FORD to collect Processor,% Processor Time information
Sun Nov 6 19:17:17 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:17 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:17 2005 : (SCREENSAVER) Starting Screensaver C:\WINDOWS\system32\.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:27 2005 : ( PERFMON) Failed connecting to FORD to collect Processor,% Processor Time information
Sun Nov 6 19:17:28 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:28 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:28 2005 : (SCREENSAVER) Starting Screensaver C:\WINDOWS\system32\.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:38 2005 : ( PERFMON) Failed connecting to FORD to collect Processor,% Processor Time information
Sun Nov 6 19:17:39 2005 : ( STARTUP) C:\WINDOWS\ARKSOF~1.SCR Started.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:39 2005 : ( READ INI) Read C:\WINDOWS\Arksofts Hibernator.ini.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:39 2005 : (SCREENSAVER) Starting Screensaver C:\WINDOWS\system32\.
Sun Nov 6 19:17:49 2005 : ( PERFMON) Failed connecting to FORD to collect Processor,% Processor Time information

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Malte

Malte,

That's wierd but I'm glad you found it. If it's what I think it is then MS need another firm kick.

It's sounding like the names of the performance monitors might be locale specific. In the code I tell it to connect to the perfmon stuff and grab %Processor _Total figures. If the monitors in the German locale don't have those names then it's not going to work and I might have to re-write some of the code to let the user pick the correct system monitor to use for certain metrics.

If you could can you please go start->run->perfmon and check what the name of the CPU monitor is in the text box in the bottom right of the interface. I need to know the "Counter", "Instance" and "Object" names for the CPU monitor to see if they are in fact different under non-english locales.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Arkay.

[mjj1998]

Originally Posted by arkay

MJ,

Good pickup. It was actually a typo in my code!! Arrrggghhh. It's fixed in v2. (which is currently about v1.5).

I'm hoping with the addition of disk and network monitoring that we can get around the problems with CPU only monitoring. i.e. Reading and mp3, watching live tv/or recording etc generates a fair bit of disk activity. If you're not doing any of those things disk activity is generally pretty low. In your case you may need to close the MCE GUI when you're finished with it for the night so it doesn't buffer. But... It should allow for more accurate monitoring on these "odd" systems. Network is also important as you may leave your machine downloading overnight and obviously don't want it hibernating.

Still researching other possible additions but I want to keep it as simple as possible whilst being effective at what it does.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Hi Arkay,

Hope you had a good holiday Thanks for the update on your progress; I'll certainly be mucking around with the new version to see how it runs on my "odd" system! LOL

Thanks for your effort in making this proggy!
~MJ.

[CordlezToaster]

How about each one of you that is finding Arkay's Crunchie (not to mention the new Hibernator) to be one kick ass prog, reach into those very shallow pockets of yours and cough up a Mc Happy meal worth of $$$ to this dedicated MCE champ.

C'mon, you all know the F#### deserves it !

Be nice, SPEND and help build the ArkSoft Empire !

Why dont YOU donate some money to Xpmediacentre.com.au

[mrees]

Originally Posted by CordlezToaster

Why dont YOU donate some money to Xpmediacentre.com.au

Well thats my call, isnt it? Just like its your call to donate to Arksoft or not, or to xpmediacentre or not.

I think everyone deserves a turn to have their work appreciated.
Im very grateful to Mike for creating such a community. To be honest, if he didnt I would have definately attempted to. To what success is another story though.
Ive been running MCE since the MCE'04 release in the US and Ive had a lot of experience what its like not having somewhere to go in Australia for help or ideas. It was hell and the MCE experience was no where as enjoyable as it is today. I even remember posting on such sites as TGB and finding nothing short of 3 aussies in TOTAL that I could find that ran MCE and shared their experiences online.

There is nothing to say Im not going to contribute at a further point in time. The fact of the matter is though I have a quota which I put towards donations of any kind and that is currently all alotted for other things which are personally important to me.

Im not trying to run around drumming up money for people. I just think Arkay has helped in a great way and I think he deserves a pat on the back. He's certainly made my life easier. So thats why I barricked for him this month. Next month it may be someone, or something different.

Everyone that puts serious time aside for this community and product deserves some kind of thanks. It just so happened that this month it was Arkays turn, and well due in my opinion.

[impact]

Version 2 of the hibernator looks great....

I wanted to use it for the sleeping of my file server that delivers dvd iso's, avi's and mp's to my MCE boxes...

Testing so far is giving good results....

I certainly had to set the CPU threshold to be 100% so it could ignore it and just monitor disk activity and network activity... Without setting it at 100% it never went to sleep and I did notice a couple of times in playing back a DVD some stuttering, as the machine went berserk in disk activity - I assume as the hibernator was loading and unloading ?

Since setting CPU to 100% it has correctly slept when playing and finishing DVD's.

As a thought for others that may want to play - DVD serving consumes more resources than serving AVI files, and AVI files consume mre resources than serving MP3's. So my thoughts are at the moment that you may want to use the profiling option when playing MP3's across the network to set it up correctly - otherwise if you profile while playing DVD's you may find as I did, that your machine may not sleep correctly for AVI / Mp3 playing...

Still experimenting - but initial test show its good!

[arkay]

Impact,

Mate Think you might have your wires crossed. Did you read the doco?

You should profile it when the machine is doing NOTHING at all.

You won't need to set CPU to 100%, just in your case it won't hurt if you do as your only wanting to monitor disk and network. You could take the defaults and it will work fine also.

If you profile it while playing mp3's across the network you are in essence teaching it to go to sleep when it's playing mp3's!! Not what you want.

All you really want is that if any network traffic or disk activity is over the values you get when profilng an idle system it stays awake... That simple..

Makre sure NOTHING is running when profiling. I'd even do it 3 mins after a reboot to make sure nothing else is running and disk activity has settled.

Cheers,
Arkay.