MCE Standby Tool not working on MCE idle

chemoul · **11th March 2007, 09:55 AM**

I've installed the latest version of the MCE Standby Tool on my XP MCE.
Configuration and options are very interesting, but for some reason I can't get the system to go into standby after a specified amount of MCE idle time (30 minutes).
Almost every night I watch some live TV and/or record a show while MCE is running. I can manually put it into standby by using the remote, but obviously not while MCE is still recording, which is why I would like it to go into standby after 30 minutes of being idle.

Problem is that every morning when I get up, the PC is still running and not idle. I have also tested it during the day where I wait for 30 minutes (no live TV running) and it still won't go into idle.

Any ideas?

ybop · **11th March 2007, 11:45 AM**

I think if MCE is running it is buffering TV and therefore not idle and therefore will never shutdown. Try closing MCE and see if it goes into standby within 30 minutes. If not then something else is keeping it awake. Ive heard some VFDs can do this so try disabling that. Next step is to check the startup programs and disable as many as possible. If it works, then reenable one by one till you find the culprit.

chemoul · **11th March 2007, 11:59 AM**

thanks ybop, but MCE Standby Tool needs media center to run for it's idle counter.
UPDATE: it seems that something happens at 2 minutes and 55 seconds of being idle in media center.
The MCE Standby Tool works if I set the idle time to 2 minutes, ie it puts the computer into standby, however, if I set it to 3 minutes the idle counter resets itself at 2:55. I have tried multiple times and it always happens around this time.

DDH · **11th March 2007, 12:04 PM**

If you have been watching live TV then MCE is almost certainly still buffering. When you've stopped recording are you still seeing HDD activity? If so then you are probably still buffering.

There is a small, simple tool on the site for stopping TV buffering when you've finished watching. Have a read of this post.

chemoul · **11th March 2007, 04:18 PM**

thanks but I think if it was still buffering it wouldn't display as being idle for almost 3 minutes in the MCE Standby Tool...? I'll give the stop tool a try anyway and report back.

Hmm, nope that's not it unfortunately. I tried it and it still resets the Standby Tool's idle counter at 2:55. I've also closed Media Center and started it again, without watching any Live TV, just to be sure and still the same problem.

hveijk · **14th March 2007, 06:25 AM**

chemoul

I am working on this right now, I might have found a really neat solution. To do this properly I need you to make a log file containing idle data as described in this thread:

http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/comm...detection.html

Please mail it to me so I can finish this solution. At the moment I still have too little data.

Cheers,

Herman

Btw. MST is able te detect the stopped live TV and considers MCE to be idle at that time, even when live TV is still buffering in the background.

hveijk · **18th March 2007, 01:28 AM**

chemoul,

Thanks for your log.

Try this test build.

Please share your results,

cheers,

Herman

chemoul · **18th March 2007, 11:34 AM**

initial test indicate that this is working, well done!

Can I ask what actually caused this problem?

hveijk · **26th March 2007, 09:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chemoul

initial test indicate that this is working, well done!

Can I ask what actually caused this problem?

To be able to detect user activity (moving the cursor around etc.) in eHome I had to use very tide idle detection thresholds. This version uses a different method to detect the user activity so I was able to loosen the thresholds.

I have made a new public release which contains this update. You can find it on the MST homepage.

Cheers,

Herman

fezster · **29th March 2007, 09:31 PM**

Hi Herman,

First of all wanted to say MST is a fantastic tool, Ive been using it for a while and (on the whole) it works great.

I installed your newest version 0.9.65 yesterday, after I started having problems with my machine not going into standby from user scheduled tasks (i.e. crunchie running at night). The new version seems to work with this fine.

However, I am having problems with scheduled recordings. Im not at home at the moment, but can send you my logs later. What happens is that the system wakes as expected, the log says "Waking for automated task" and then says "1 scheduled recording". The recording finishes and the log says "0 scheduled recordings". But the system does not go back into standby immediately. I then have to wait the 10 mins I have set in the Power Options for it to return to standby.

Is my understanding correct that after the recording has finished, the system should return to standby immediately ?

Cheers. Please let me know if you need more info / log files from me.

hveijk · **20th April 2007, 09:47 PM**

It should enter standby after 6 minutes.
I would like to see your log.

Cheers,

Herman

matth · **18th May 2007, 10:25 AM**

like others I'm having issues with this tool not going to standby while live TV is buffering. The MCE idle timer never starts. Return to the menu level and stop live TV and the MCE idle timer starts and system goes to standby after the timeout period. I'm using the latest version 9.65. Ive attached my most recent log