VMC Sleep & Away modes with harmony remote

[scales82]

Hi guys,
Bit of background 1st

I have a perfectly working media center at the moment, it also works fine going to S3 and resuming from S3
I am using a Logitech Harmony 785 and my case has an iMon IR reciever in it. I have configured it so that it goes to sleep when the power command is sent from remote.
I have MST installed, not sure if settings are optimal

Now to the problem

Whenever i am recording a program (whilst using media center) and turn off the machine, it goes into away mode (which is totally fine)

Now, Say i try to power up with the "use media center" activity on my remote, it sometimes resumes from away mode fine, other times it does not. If the pc is in full S3, it resumes fine.

Also, say it powers on automatically to record a scheduled recording, and i sit down to use the media center. the power command on the remote puts the media center into away mode (as its powered on already for the scheduled recording)


My question is, what is the ideal settings for my remote/htpc so that the wife can just press "use media center" and no matter what state the pc is in, it will appear onto the Start screen ready for use.

[Forcefed4]

Originally Posted by scales82

Hi guys,
Bit of background 1st

I have a perfectly working media center at the moment, it also works fine going to S3 and resuming from S3
I am using a Logitech Harmony 785 and my case has an iMon IR reciever in it. I have configured it so that it goes to sleep when the power command is sent from remote.
I have MST installed, not sure if settings are optimal

Now to the problem

Whenever i am recording a program (whilst using media center) and turn off the machine, it goes into away mode (which is totally fine)

Now, Say i try to power up with the "use media center" activity on my remote, it sometimes resumes from away mode fine, other times it does not. If the pc is in full S3, it resumes fine.

Also, say it powers on automatically to record a scheduled recording, and i sit down to use the media center. the power command on the remote puts the media center into away mode (as its powered on already for the scheduled recording)


My question is, what is the ideal settings for my remote/htpc so that the wife can just press "use media center" and no matter what state the pc is in, it will appear onto the Start screen ready for use.

To be honest the best mode for it to be in is on 24/7. Troubleshooting sleep modes is a frustrating and time consuming process.

[TheRob]

The Power toggle doesn't do anything when the PC is in away mode (not reliably, anyway). To bring it out of away mode you need to send an activity signal, such as a navigation key or the like. With mine, I have set the Harmony to switch to the Recorded TV folder when the HTPC is powered on. This way, if the PC is in Away mode it not only gets a Power toggle, but also a menu action. This will bring it out of Away mode.

[pawelg]

Originally Posted by scales82

...
I am using a Logitech Harmony 785 and my case has an iMon IR reciever in it.

With iMon you can technically configure “discrete” codes for Power ON and Power OFF (sleep).
Meaning you don’t have to use Power toggle and have separate button for both functions.

On my VMC I have “App Exit” button (iMon remote button) assigned in iMon to Sleep and “Power toggle” button assigned to Power.

For that to work all you have to do is to change in Control Panel -> Power Options ->.... -> Advanced settings -> Power button and lid -> Power button action set to: Do nothing.

• This way, while system is UP, OS will prevent Power button from doing anything to your PC and only dedicated Sleep button will put your VMC to sleep.

• When the system is DOWN, Power button will wake it up as that’s what iMon is configured to do and because OS is not loaded it won’t prevent it from working.

Hope it makes sense and helps you with your issue.
I use it with my Harmony ONE and it does the trick for me

Cheers,
Pawel

[philzgr8]

Because I have an extender I started out with Vista using away mode which pretty much meant it was powered up 24/7. In the end, I gave up on away mode and just allow it to enter S3 sleep when idle for 2hrs. For the most part that works for me since 90% of the time I only use the extender which is in the bedroom just before going to bed. The thing is that I have it so that I can power it up or down with a single button press which is quite separate from the activity button. In that way the only time I use the power button is when I have selected an activity from the off state and the MCE box is actually in S3 sleep. It's not perfect but it works for me and at least gives me some power savings.

[philzgr8]

Originally Posted by pawelg

With iMon you can technically configure “discrete” codes for Power ON and Power OFF (sleep).
Meaning you don’t have to use Power toggle and have separate button for both functions.

On my VMC I have “App Exit” button (iMon remote button) assigned in iMon to Sleep and “Power toggle” button assigned to Power.

For that to work all you have to do is to change in Control Panel -> Power Options ->.... -> Advanced settings -> Power button and lid -> Power button action set to: Do nothing.

• This way, while system is UP, OS will prevent Power button from doing anything to your PC and only dedicated Sleep button will put your VMC to sleep.

• When the system is DOWN, Power button will wake it up as that’s what iMon is configured to do and because OS is not loaded it won’t prevent it from working.

Hope it makes sense and helps you with your issue.
I use it with my Harmony ONE and it does the trick for me

Cheers,
Pawel

Interesting. I hadn't considered that. That sounds like an ideal setup and I think I just might give it a try. Thanks for the info.

P.S. Excellent! All I did was to change the power setting in Windows for the power and sleep buttons to do nothing and adjust the harmony setup for my Media Centre to send a powertoggle command when the activity starts. (The Media Centre device is set to stay on when not in use.) Now when I select power off it just turns off the TV and receiver but leaves the Media Centre to idle to sleep. When it is powered down and I start an activity it sends a powertoggle command and if it's in S3 it will immediately power up the media centre. That's what I've been wanting for ages. GREAT TIP!

[FG1972]

Originally Posted by philzgr8

Interesting. I hadn't considered that. That sounds like an ideal setup and I think I just might give it a try. Thanks for the info.

P.S. Excellent! All I did was to change the power setting in Windows for the power and sleep buttons to do nothing and adjust the harmony setup for my Media Centre to send a powertoggle command when the activity starts. (The Media Centre device is set to stay on when not in use.) Now when I select power off it just turns off the TV and receiver but leaves the Media Centre to idle to sleep. When it is powered down and I start an activity it sends a powertoggle command and if it's in S3 it will immediately power up the media centre. That's what I've been wanting for ages. GREAT TIP!

So does the media centre turn off by itself after a time out period?
My issue is, sometimes the media centre wakes up for updates, if I want to watch tv while the pc is on, by using the watch tv command in the Harmony, it will turn on the tv & receiver but toggle the power to the pc which is already on sending it to sleep. If I was to disable the power button option within windows, how do you then turn off the pc along with the tv & receiver?

[TheRob]

Originally Posted by FG1972

So does the media centre turn off by itself after a time out period?
My issue is, sometimes the media centre wakes up for updates, if I want to watch tv while the pc is on, by using the watch tv command in the Harmony, it will turn on the tv & receiver but toggle the power to the pc which is already on sending it to sleep. If I was to disable the power button option within windows, how do you then turn off the pc along with the tv & receiver?

This doesn't happen with my setup. When the PC wakes for a scheduled task, it goes into AWAY mode rather than a full wake up. So if I press the Watch TV activity the power toggle does nothing. I have and additional 'Menu' button press in my power on for the activity that brings the PC out of away mode in this situation.

Make sure that you have Vista set up to enable AWAY mode. I think it's in the Power settings, probably under Advanced.

[philzgr8]

Originally Posted by FG1972

So does the media centre turn off by itself after a time out period?
My issue is, sometimes the media centre wakes up for updates, if I want to watch tv while the pc is on, by using the watch tv command in the Harmony, it will turn on the tv & receiver but toggle the power to the pc which is already on sending it to sleep. If I was to disable the power button option within windows, how do you then turn off the pc along with the tv & receiver?

Yep. It all works beautifully now. The machine idles to sleep after the time I set and wakes for recordings etc. Setting the power button to do nothing means that if it is already on it will do nothing. Strangely, if it is off, it will turn it on. I also had to set the sleep button to do nothing to get it to work.

I don't turn off the pc except using either the shutdown option in media centre itself or using a keyboard and mouse. It's a bit more fuss but it's better than what I had.

[FG1972]

I have set the sleep button to do nothing which will now not put the pc into sleep if it is already on. My problem however is how do I actually put the pc to sleep when I want it to sleep?

[01-0077]

Originally Posted by FG1972

I have set the sleep button to do nothing which will now not put the pc into sleep if it is already on. My problem however is how do I actually put the pc to sleep when I want it to sleep?

FG,

Make sure you have s3 enabled (and also the appropriate wake devices are set to enabled eg, usb, keyboard) in the bios.

Then, in device manager right click on the device you want to use to wake the system and select properties, see if it has a power management tab. If so, make sure you tick "Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby". Network adapters can cause wake/sleep issues so many disable these from waking or suspending. Your remote will be listed under something like usb hid device.

Then by pressing the power button on your remote or sleep button on your keyboard you should be able to put your pc to sleep.

The idle timeout is set under power management in control panel. Go to advanced settings of your chosen power plan and look for "turn hdd off after xx minutes" and "put system to sleep after xx minutes" (or words to that effect). I read somewhere it helps to turn the hdd off 1 minute earlier than system sleep, don't know how true this is.

I have my hdd turning off after 14 mins and system sleep/suspend set to 15 mins. This way the system will wake to do a recording and then go back to sleep 15 mins after the recording finishes.

Also, make sure you allow the system to sleep when sharing media, from memory this is the last setting in the advanced setting for power management.

Good luck, s3 is great when it works, not so great when it doesn't. If you have problems you can always try MST.

John.

Sorry FG, just reread the thread, which power/sleep button have you set to do nothing?

[FG1972]

I have set the sleep button to do nothing but doing this doen't allow me to put the put the pc to sleep when I have finished watching it.