Two Questions: Standby & Monitor Off when idle (1 Viewer)

[cheetah05]

Turns out it is the MST program that is causing the trouble in the first place. (TV not automatically switching on after resume from S3).

Is there any other program that has the ability to reload MP on Resume from S3? - because when I don't use the program and resume from standby all I get is a black screen. MP is open because i can hear the sounds when scrolling on the remote.



EDIT:

Again trying to fix with a custom solution. Will report back tomorrow. I think i have something that works perfectly, but will test and get back to ya.

 

[NickName]

I use MST but with the options to Close and Restart MP disabled.
I use the MCE Replacement driver to immediately load the TV.

This gives me:
1) Press Power PC button on MCE Remote and PC resumes.
2) MP resumes and goes straight to the TV screen.

Note 1: I use PowerScheduler to suspend my PC from the Home Screen.
Note 2: I'd recommend using the IR Server instead of the MCE Replacement driver as it is way more powerful but on my system(s) it doesn't allow suspend properly :-(

Good luck,

Nick Name

 

[cheetah05]

Hmm strange. When I disable the features and come back from standby - all i get is a blank screen (but mp is open)

Probably a graphics overlay issue?

 

[NickName]

Maybe. Have you configured your monitor/TV to switch off after x period of time? Perhaps the monitor is in off mode? It does sound like a hardware issue of some sort. Might be worth trying a different monitor or graphics card?
If it's possible, it's very handy to have a 2nd 'test' PC so you can debug issues like this easier.
As I have to keep a high WAF, I usually install a newer MP on my 'personal' PC and try it before rolling it out to the family HTPC.

 

[cheetah05]

Sorry I think I am confusing you at the moment - and me too!

Ok forget anything I have said above. I have other issues, but I want to tackle them one at a time now to avoid confusion.

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I use MST and have the advanced features disabled and therefore it doesn't stop Media Portal when going to Standby and open it again when coming out of standby.

The problem is, that when it comes out of standby, all I get is a blank (black) screen. The monitor is 100% definitely on and definitely receiving a signal from the VGA output (I have tested this). Media Portal is definitely open as when I press the down button on my remote, I have hear it scrolling.

This must be an issue with either the graphics card or the software itself (from my powers of deduction - I could be wrong).

I use an ATI graphics card (ATI Xpress 200) - so I am wondering if it is a problem with a setting on this graphics card that won't display the Media Portal screen. Maybe it could be something to do with overlay settings - I don't know much about graphics cards so I don't really know what I am talking about, but I am pretty sure it might be an issue to do with my graphics card, or the settings of.

What do you think? What graphics card do you have?

Thanks for all your help by the way

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By the way, I understand your login of testing on a different PC, the problem is that I have different hardware in my main PC so it would be pointless, because what could work on this PC and PC Montior, may not work on my HTPC and my TV.

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EDIT:

My HTPC is really starting to irritate me now, it's so temperamental. Sometimes it does something, I try to replicate it with exactly the same actions and I can't. It seems that it will come out of Standby fine now. Ill report back again later after a bit of playing.

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EDIT:

OK I have just managed to replicate again. I think it only happens after the computer has been in standby for a while.

 

[NickName]

It sounds a lot like the screen is going to off mode to me. By this I mean it (the monitor/TV) is powered on but the actual display is off.
When you suspend, try turning the screen off and when you resume, turn it back on manually. I do this with my widescreen LCD 'programmatically' as if I leave it to go to low power mode by itself, it won't resume properly, just like the issue you have. Also could you try hooking a regular (or different monitor) to it to see if that wakes properly. That will at least rule out screen issues.

As a far graphics cards goes, as long as it supports DirectX 9 and you have tried different drivers then it shouldn't be that. By different drivers, I mean the ones that came with the card and the latest from the manufacturer's web-site.
(Just sometimes) the latest drivers aren't always the best for your hardware combo.

Note: By programmatically, I mean a script or macro that when the shutdown button is pressed, it sends MP to the Homescreen and 'blasts' the off signal to the monitor as well. When I press the remote's power 'on' button, it turns on the PC and after a minute (to allow MP to be properly awake), 'blasts' the TV on.

Re: different PCs for testing... I have 5 PCs running MP and all are different hardware-wise. The main HTPC has a 5.1 surround sound amp/speakers and a 106cm widescreen LCD screen hooked up to it. The bedroom PC is just a laptop and my 'personal' PC is a 3.4GHZ 64 bit AMD. The kids PCs are in-between in specs. Although it has limitations testing-wise, it does allow me to prove to myself if I have a hardware issue or software issue, i.e. if something won't work on all of them, I know it's not likely to be a hardware issue, etc.

 

[cheetah05]

It sounds a lot like the screen is going to off mode to me. By this I mean it (the monitor/TV) is powered on but the actual display is off.
When you suspend, try turning the screen off and when you resume, turn it back on manually. I do this with my widescreen LCD 'programmatically' as if I leave it to go to low power mode by itself, it won't resume properly, just like the issue you have. Also could you try hooking a regular (or different monitor) to it to see if that wakes properly. That will at least rule out screen issues.

Well I know the monitor is not at fault on this issue as I have tried with a different monitor (PC Monitor) and I get the same result.

Also, how I knew it wasn't the Monitors fault in the first place, is that when I resume from standby and the monitor is blank, I can scroll to the MP Close button 'blind' (Left - Right - Right - Right from the main menu) - and then it would show the desktop.

Also to be totally sure, the status light on the TV monitor is green which means its on. (Orange for standby, Red for 'off' [not technically])

As a far graphics cards goes, as long as it supports DirectX 9 and you have tried different drivers then it shouldn't be that. By different drivers, I mean the ones that came with the card and the latest from the manufacturer's web-site.
(Just sometimes) the latest drivers aren't always the best for your hardware combo.

At the moment I am on the latest drivers.

What I was hinting at is that NVidia and ATI cards usually act in different ways - which could be why its working for you and not me.

Note: By programmatically, I mean a script or macro that when the shutdown button is pressed, it sends MP to the Homescreen and 'blasts' the off signal to the monitor as well. When I press the remote's power 'on' button, it turns on the PC and after a minute (to allow MP to be properly awake), 'blasts' the TV on.

Just to be totally sure here. I have not yet tried to implement the IR Blasters (with the extra wires) - I want to see if I can do it without any nasty wires before I give in to that.

I have already tried programmatically sending the 'off' signal to the TV via VGA signal and then turning it on when coming out of standby - to no avail.

 

[rsbrux]

I have (somewhat) similar problems, with totally different HW. I am using Hibernate (S4) instead of Standby (S3). This usually works fine, but 20-30% of the time, the resume doesn't complete. The system hangs at a point where video out put is present (black screen), but in the default boot-up resolution (1024x768) instead of the resolution (1280x768) which I have set up in Windows. The problem doesn't appear to be related to MePo: it can happen regardless of whether MePo was running when Hibernate started. I have tried most of the settings available from MST to no avail. The only thing I haven't tried yet is the full (resident) MST installation.

 

[NickName]

rsbrux,
AFAIK Hibernate uses the same amount of power as suspend so you would be better off using suspend as it is quicker to use. I used to use Hibernate but found it problematic and stopped using it.

 

[cheetah05]

I thought hibernation uses no power what so ever?

My understanding of hibernation is that is copyings what is in the RAM onto the hardisk when going into hibernation and then copys it back to RAM when coming out of hibernation.