IR Hardware not detected

[Jdawgzx11d]

I have a compaq EVO Pro
Haupaggue 150 MCE Edition
Twin 500gb Hard Drives and 250 gb EiDE Drives
Microsoft Branded MCE Remote w/Twin IR Blasters
2 Giggs DDR Memory(maxed, for now..)
2.8 Pentium 4 32Bit Processor
Motorola Set Top Box (Comcast HD Box)
Toshiba HDTV with HDMI/DVI
3 Microsoft XBOX 360's
By the way, I am a UNIX Platform Engineer for a MAJOR MAJOR Phone company. I design patches designed to imporve call flow as well as build script files for GMLC, OMC-R(SUN Systems) as well as most C based programming. You are all right, it was a rant. Everyone I talked to told me to steer FAR FAR away from Vista. I did not listen. It is just depressing that I followed the rules. I swear, it was so clear, it was like Bill Gates told me what he wanted me to build. The biggest thing for me is the extenders. I have one in each one of my rooms. I want to be able to have one remote for each TV, not 9000 remotes, and one just to change a channel. It would be great if I could do JUST this. At any given time, we only really watch TV TV on one tv. Every where else is streaming movies, music, whatever. Yes, there is always going to be a time when some one else will watch Cable. The reason I really NEED to go this route, as nice as just having the cable split, or straight into the Video card, the picture is FUZZY!.
I had my service provider come here. I matched My frequency anylizer to the SP's anylizer. they matched up identically. The problem is partially the card. When I go through the MCE setup, the picture is CRISP, because of the fact it is going through the S-Video, that is the cleanest option. When I plug my IR-Emitter into the Microsoft Receiver/Blaster, nothing really happens. When I plug my IR-Emitter into the video card, it lights up like a christmas light. Not sure if it is supposed to light up. I had a similiar system, YEARS AND YEARS ago, that the IR-Emitter was lit up.

focusing on the statement below, look at device manager, USB ports
and devices. do you see the Microsoft eHome Receiver? do other
peripheral work in the same USB port?

with the USB receiver plugged in, pressing a key on the remote
SHOULD cause it to flash.

the other piece is getting the blaster stuck onto the correct place
on the Comcast HD box.

Please omit the ranting from your future replies, I don't have time
to sort through it.


>When I plug my IR-Emitter into the Microsoft Receiver/Blaster,
>nothing really happens. When I plug my IR-Emitter into the video card,
>it lights up like a christmas light. Not sure if it is supposed to light
>up. I had a similiar system, YEARS AND YEARS ago, that the IR-Emitter
>was lit up.

On Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:13:33 +0530, Jdawgzx11d
<Jdawgzx11d.3h38jd@DoNotSpam.com> wrote:

>
>I have a compaq EVO Pro
>Haupaggue 150 MCE Edition
>Twin 500gb Hard Drives and 250 gb EiDE Drives
>Microsoft Branded MCE Remote w/Twin IR Blasters
>2 Giggs DDR Memory(maxed, for now..)
>2.8 Pentium 4 32Bit Processor
>Motorola Set Top Box (Comcast HD Box)
>Toshiba HDTV with HDMI/DVI
>3 Microsoft XBOX 360's

><snip>rant removed </snip>

>The reason I really NEED to go
>this route, as nice as just having the cable split, or straight into the
>Video card, the picture is FUZZY!.
>I had my service provider come here. I matched My frequency anylizer to
>the SP's anylizer. they matched up identically. The problem is partially
>the card. When I go through the MCE setup, the picture is CRISP, because
>of the fact it is going through the S-Video, that is the cleanest
>option. When I plug my IR-Emitter into the Microsoft Receiver/Blaster,
>nothing really happens. When I plug my IR-Emitter into the video card,
>it lights up like a christmas light. Not sure if it is supposed to light
>up. I had a similiar system, YEARS AND YEARS ago, that the IR-Emitter
>was lit up.
--

Barb Bowman
MS-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/
http://digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com

That helps some, but to my question about isolating the fault to the emitter
or receiver - when the receiver is plugged in, does the remote control the
MCE interface?

BTW, I assume you meant you are plugging the emitters into the Hauppauge
tuner card (not your video card). Plugging the emitters into the tuner card
would never work, MCE has no way to talk to the tuner only the receiver that
comes with the MCE remote kit.

Please just answer the technical questions, I (and others are here to help
with specific MC problems, not listen to your personal opinion about MS or
Bill Gates; who BTW, is not involved in the day-to-day operation of MS and
probably had very little to do with the current version of MC.
--
James
Orlando (Goofy says "Hey!"), FL

"Jdawgzx11d" <Jdawgzx11d.3h38jd@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:Jdawgzx11d.3h38jd@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> I have a compaq EVO Pro
> Haupaggue 150 MCE Edition
> Twin 500gb Hard Drives and 250 gb EiDE Drives
> Microsoft Branded MCE Remote w/Twin IR Blasters
> 2 Giggs DDR Memory(maxed, for now..)
> 2.8 Pentium 4 32Bit Processor
> Motorola Set Top Box (Comcast HD Box)
> Toshiba HDTV with HDMI/DVI
> 3 Microsoft XBOX 360's
> By the way, I am a UNIX Platform Engineer for a MAJOR MAJOR Phone
> company. I design patches designed to imporve call flow as well as build
> script files for GMLC, OMC-R(SUN Systems) as well as most C based
> programming. You are all right, it was a rant. Everyone I talked to told
> me to steer FAR FAR away from Vista. I did not listen. It is just
> depressing that I followed the rules. I swear, it was so clear, it was
> like Bill Gates told me what he wanted me to build. The biggest thing
> for me is the extenders. I have one in each one of my rooms. I want to
> be able to have one remote for each TV, not 9000 remotes, and one just
> to change a channel. It would be great if I could do JUST this. At any
> given time, we only really watch TV TV on one tv. Every where else is
> streaming movies, music, whatever. Yes, there is always going to be a
> time when some one else will watch Cable. The reason I really NEED to go
> this route, as nice as just having the cable split, or straight into the
> Video card, the picture is FUZZY!.
> I had my service provider come here. I matched My frequency anylizer to
> the SP's anylizer. they matched up identically. The problem is partially
> the card. When I go through the MCE setup, the picture is CRISP, because
> of the fact it is going through the S-Video, that is the cleanest
> option. When I plug my IR-Emitter into the Microsoft Receiver/Blaster,
> nothing really happens. When I plug my IR-Emitter into the video card,
> it lights up like a christmas light. Not sure if it is supposed to light
> up. I had a similiar system, YEARS AND YEARS ago, that the IR-Emitter
> was lit up.
>
>
> --
> Jdawgzx11d
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jdawgzx11d's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/jdawgzx11d.htm
> View this thread: IR Hardware not detected
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

[Jdawgzx11d]

Just to be clear.
I technically have two IR Blaster ports
I have one on my Haupagge 150 MCU
and I have one on my MCE Remote kit.
I will check my control panel for the eHome IR under my USB portion. I also purchased(on the way) a seperate USB board. To isolate my IR from printers and card readers... I am going to give it a shot. I do appreciate your help everyone...

[Jdawgzx11d]

From Barb's staement
focusing on the statement below, look at device manager, USB ports
and devices. do you see the Microsoft eHome Receiver? do other
peripheral work in the same USB port?

with the USB receiver plugged in, pressing a key on the remote
SHOULD cause it to flash.

the other piece is getting the blaster stuck onto the correct place
on the Comcast HD box.

I pulled off my screen cover on my set top box, it is tinted red and was almost impossible to find the emitter. With the cover removed, I tried both the MCE remote and the haupagge ir. Neither worked.

The Hauppauge remote and or blaster are used only if you are have chosen to
run the Win TV 2000 software exclusively. To run Windows Media Center 2005
or Vista you use a Microsoft ir receiver connect a blaster to it and
strategically place the emitter to control your STB. I've never encountered
a need for a separate usb card for the receiver and you should have no
problem using one from the motherboard.


"Jdawgzx11d" <Jdawgzx11d.3h68vb@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:Jdawgzx11d.3h68vb@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> Just to be clear.
> I technically have two IR Blaster ports
> I have one on my Haupagge 150 MCU
> and I have one on my MCE Remote kit.
> I will check my control panel for the eHome IR under my USB portion. I
> also purchased(on the way) a seperate USB board. To isolate my IR from
> printers and card readers... I am going to give it a shot. I do
> appreciate your help everyone...
>
>
> --
> Jdawgzx11d
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jdawgzx11d's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/jdawgzx11d.htm
> View this thread: IR Hardware not detected
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

[Jdawgzx11d]

Alrighty! I verified my control panel. I do have the Microsoft eHome Receiver in the control panel. I tried to surf for updates, un-installed the hardware and re-installed the driver after a re-boot. Still nothing.. Still not sure. Is there a way I can test the hardware outside of media center?

You still haven't answered the question if the remote otherwise controls
MCE. If you can't even go through the menus, navigate, etc., then the
problem is with the MCE receiver. If you can do everything except setup
control for an external set top box, then the problem is probably the
emitters (or the connection).

So does the remote otherwise control the MC interface?
--
James
Orlando (Goofy says "Hey!"), FL

"Jdawgzx11d" <Jdawgzx11d.3h6xvc@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:Jdawgzx11d.3h6xvc@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> Alrighty! I verified my control panel. I do have the Microsoft eHome
> Receiver in the control panel. I tried to surf for updates, un-installed
> the hardware and re-installed the driver after a re-boot. Still
> nothing.. Still not sure. Is there a way I can test the hardware outside
> of media center?
>
>
> --
> Jdawgzx11d
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jdawgzx11d's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/jdawgzx11d.htm
> View this thread: IR Hardware not detected
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

does pressing the green button start the Media Center interface? Can
you navigate at all with the remote or not?



On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:02:13 +0530, Jdawgzx11d
<Jdawgzx11d.3h6xvc@DoNotSpam.com> wrote:

>
>Alrighty! I verified my control panel. I do have the Microsoft eHome
>Receiver in the control panel. I tried to surf for updates, un-installed
>the hardware and re-installed the driver after a re-boot. Still
>nothing.. Still not sure. Is there a way I can test the hardware outside
>of media center?
--

Barb Bowman
MS-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/
http://digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com

[Jdawgzx11d]

The remote itself does work in MCE, I push the green button and it does work, I was suprised that my XBOX 360 remote worked as well. The problem is getting the set-top box to work. I guess I should ask this question, what version driver should I have for the microsoft remote? I did purchase mine brand new in the box. I am going to try and hunt down a couple of emitters. I did try to uninstall the blaster and roll it back to an older driver from MCE2005, but it wants to use the most current driver....

vista does not need an external driver. the issue is most likely the
positioning of the sticky side of the blaster receiver over the
right place on the STB. Use a flashlight and find the "eye".

On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:09:09 +0530, Jdawgzx11d
<Jdawgzx11d.3h7v7d@DoNotSpam.com> wrote:

>
>The remote itself does work in MCE, I push the green button and it does
>work, I was suprised that my XBOX 360 remote worked as well. The problem
>is getting the set-top box to work. I guess I should ask this question,
>what version driver should I have for the microsoft remote? I did
>purchase mine brand new in the box. I am going to try and hunt down a
>couple of emitters. I did try to uninstall the blaster and roll it back
>to an older driver from MCE2005, but it wants to use the most current
>driver....
--

Barb Bowman
MS-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/
http://digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com

[Jdawgzx11d]

I actually removed the lens cover off of my set top box. I have it right where it needs to be. But, I still get the error message of IR Hardware not detected. I am begining to think that I need to start 'over' with vista. I slowly added hardware to get to this point. I almost wonder if its not a bad idea?

The "Not Detected" message probably means it's not related to emitter
placement. MC has no way of knowing that, it would still attempt to change
channels (it might not be successful if the STB wasn't getting a signal, but
MC would still try).

Since the receiver is working and being recognized, it seems like the
problem is with the blasters. I don't remember it you have cable or sat, if
cable, can you plug the coax directly into the card, run through the signal
setup, and tell MC that you have a direct analog connection? MC will not
require the IR emitter in that case, since the tuner card itself will
control the signal. If that works, then you probably have a hardware issue.

I don't know enough about the IR Blasters to know if plugging the MC blaster
into the Hauppauge card could have damaged it.
--
James
Orlando (Goofy says "Hey"), Florida

"Jdawgzx11d" <Jdawgzx11d.3h8vbd@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:Jdawgzx11d.3h8vbd@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> I actually removed the lens cover off of my set top box. I have it right
> where it needs to be. But, I still get the error message of IR Hardware
> not detected. I am begining to think that I need to start 'over' with
> vista. I slowly added hardware to get to this point. I almost wonder if
> its not a bad idea?
>
>
> --
> Jdawgzx11d
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jdawgzx11d's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/jdawgzx11d.htm
> View this thread: IR Hardware not detected
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

[Jdawgzx11d]

Yes, as an anologue tuner, it works, but VERY fuzzy. I do not think that the card can tune on the higher frequency channells either. Optimally, for my use with the extenders(three of them) the anologue tuner is really the way to go. but as I said, the picture is very fuzzy. I am begining to think it is a hardware issue, with the IR blaster. Can anyone give me a recommendation on what I should buy. I should also tell everyone I am running Vista Home. So I will need something that will work with vista. I also happened to notice that the XBox 360 MCE remote is compatible with Vista MCE, is that true?

http://www.smarthome.com/8170/Mini-S...lasters/p.aspx
http://www.provantage.com/microsoft-...9~7MCSX0AW.htm

and yes, the 360 remote is compatible.



On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:57:07 +0530, Jdawgzx11d
<Jdawgzx11d.3han7b@DoNotSpam.com> wrote:

>
>Yes, as an anologue tuner, it works, but VERY fuzzy. I do not think that
>the card can tune on the higher frequency channells either. Optimally,
>for my use with the extenders(three of them) the anologue tuner is
>really the way to go. but as I said, the picture is very fuzzy. I am
>begining to think it is a hardware issue, with the IR blaster. Can
>anyone give me a recommendation on what I should buy. I should also tell
>everyone I am running Vista Home. So I will need something that will
>work with vista. I also happened to notice that the XBox 360 MCE remote
>is compatible with Vista MCE, is that true?
--

Barb Bowman
MS-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/
http://digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com