ir receiver

My HTPC recently stopped responding to IR signals. At first I suspected a HW problem, but the problem remains with two different IR sources (one an original MCE remote with fresh batteries) and with two different IR receivers (one the onboard CIR decoder on my motherboard, the other the USB IR...

I have two Dell 990s, one is my MP player machine, the other the MP video recorder/server. Purchased Inteset USB IR receiver (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J5NRWFO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and plugged it in. For the remote I want to use to control my MP player...