IR Hardware Not Detected (it used to!)

Hi Folks!

I'm having a really tough time getting MCE 2005 to work with a Motorola DCT
700 STB.

The original problem was that after going through the wizard MCE would not
changed the channel on the STB. This is using the stock Microsoft remote
with an IR Blaster attached directly over the eye on the STB.

Now, for some reason, when running the wizard I'm getting this error
message,

"IR Hardware Not Detected"

Media Center cannot detect the hardware necessary to control your set-top
box. Make sure the IR control cable and the remote sensor are connected and
then select Try Again.

When I choose try again I can see the blaster light up briefly so it is
there and it is finding it !

So, I seem to have two problems;

1) Media Center 'thinks' the IR Hardware is not detected (even though it
worked earlier and the light on the blaster does light up..

2) If I can get past that part again the blaster does not seem to be able to
change channels on the DCT 700

I can manually program the STB remote and Media Center picks up on all the
buttons so it should work.

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks!

If you haven't tried already, try unplugging the IR receiver and use a
different USB port (or maybe remove, restart without it, then plug in) and
if your receiver has two blaster port, try using a different one.
--
James
Orlando (Goofy says "Hey"), Florida

"Dave Onex" <dave@onex.com> wrote in message
news:#nXEpgIDKHA.3732@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Hi Folks!
>
> I'm having a really tough time getting MCE 2005 to work with a Motorola
> DCT 700 STB.
>
> The original problem was that after going through the wizard MCE would not
> changed the channel on the STB. This is using the stock Microsoft remote
> with an IR Blaster attached directly over the eye on the STB.
>
> Now, for some reason, when running the wizard I'm getting this error
> message,
>
> "IR Hardware Not Detected"
>
> Media Center cannot detect the hardware necessary to control your set-top
> box. Make sure the IR control cable and the remote sensor are connected
> and then select Try Again.
>
> When I choose try again I can see the blaster light up briefly so it is
> there and it is finding it !
>
> So, I seem to have two problems;
>
> 1) Media Center 'thinks' the IR Hardware is not detected (even though it
> worked earlier and the light on the blaster does light up..
>
> 2) If I can get past that part again the blaster does not seem to be able
> to change channels on the DCT 700
>
> I can manually program the STB remote and Media Center picks up on all the
> buttons so it should work.
>
> Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?
>
> Thanks!
>
>

Hi James;

Thanks for the reply!
I gave up on it because I realized that the addition of a set top box means
that it won't use both tuners unless I had two STB's :-(

Weird thing though, I got past the IR Hardware not detected issue by using
the automatic detection wizard in MCE. If I did it manually then MCE would
give the error - so that got me past that issue.I did try powering off and
unplugging the USB cable but I did not try a different port. I also drained
the power from the system by using the power supply switch.

What I found out after that is that sometimes the IR blasters would work.
They would not light up when changing channels by manual channel entry (i.e.
144) but they would light up for the channel up/down button on the remote!!

So the IR blaster would send the proper signal to the STB if you used the
up/down button but not if you manually entered the channel number (the
blaster lights would not flash). To make it even weirder, I did run the
manual detection process where you would choose each number twice and also
the enter button and the channel up/down buttons.

MCE picked up on all if it perfectly - it just refused to send the signal to
the IR blasters when you manually entered the channel number. Go figure!

Anyway, thanks for the reply - it was sage advice but not having an STB for
each tuner, along with the weird blaster issue caused me to scrap the
digital cable aspect of the DVR :-0

Thanks!
Dave

"Jaime" <jaimelobo@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:esuHhrJDKHA.3740@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> If you haven't tried already, try unplugging the IR receiver and use a
> different USB port (or maybe remove, restart without it, then plug in) and
> if your receiver has two blaster port, try using a different one.
> --
> James
> Orlando (Goofy says "Hey"), Florida
>
> "Dave Onex" <dave@onex.com> wrote in message
> news:#nXEpgIDKHA.3732@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi Folks!
>>
>> I'm having a really tough time getting MCE 2005 to work with a Motorola
>> DCT 700 STB.
>>
>> The original problem was that after going through the wizard MCE would
>> not changed the channel on the STB. This is using the stock Microsoft
>> remote with an IR Blaster attached directly over the eye on the STB.
>>
>> Now, for some reason, when running the wizard I'm getting this error
>> message,
>>
>> "IR Hardware Not Detected"
>>
>> Media Center cannot detect the hardware necessary to control your set-top
>> box. Make sure the IR control cable and the remote sensor are connected
>> and then select Try Again.
>>
>> When I choose try again I can see the blaster light up briefly so it is
>> there and it is finding it !
>>
>> So, I seem to have two problems;
>>
>> 1) Media Center 'thinks' the IR Hardware is not detected (even though it
>> worked earlier and the light on the blaster does light up..
>>
>> 2) If I can get past that part again the blaster does not seem to be able
>> to change channels on the DCT 700
>>
>> I can manually program the STB remote and Media Center picks up on all
>> the buttons so it should work.
>>
>> Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>

Have you tried 'Vista MCE IR blaster.zip' ?this works OK in MCE 2005.

http://www.myhava.com/forum/viewtopi...st=0&sk=t&sd=a

regards,
S.Sengupta[MS-MVP]

"Dave Onex" <dave@onex.com> wrote in message
news:%23nXEpgIDKHA.3732@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Hi Folks!
>
> I'm having a really tough time getting MCE 2005 to work with a Motorola
> DCT 700 STB.
>
> The original problem was that after going through the wizard MCE would not
> changed the channel on the STB. This is using the stock Microsoft remote
> with an IR Blaster attached directly over the eye on the STB.
>
> Now, for some reason, when running the wizard I'm getting this error
> message,
>
> "IR Hardware Not Detected"
>
> Media Center cannot detect the hardware necessary to control your set-top
> box. Make sure the IR control cable and the remote sensor are connected
> and then select Try Again.
>
> When I choose try again I can see the blaster light up briefly so it is
> there and it is finding it !
>
> So, I seem to have two problems;
>
> 1) Media Center 'thinks' the IR Hardware is not detected (even though it
> worked earlier and the light on the blaster does light up..
>
> 2) If I can get past that part again the blaster does not seem to be able
> to change channels on the DCT 700
>
> I can manually program the STB remote and Media Center picks up on all the
> buttons so it should work.
>
> Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
> __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus
> signature database 4271 (20090723) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>
>
>


__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4275 (20090724) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com