Setting up discrete ON and discrete OFF IR Codes for an
MCE2005 Home Theater PC (HTPC).

For those struggling as I have been to control a Microsoft
Media Center Home Theater PC using macros built into a
programmable remote (I used a Pronto TSU7000 for this
solution), below you will find instructions on how I made
it work:

** Starting with one fully functioning MCE2005 HTPC set
up to go into S3 standby (Which is normally how MCE2005
installs itself. See [Link: thegreenbutton.com]
for more details on standby modes)

1. Fit a Microsoft IR receiver

Although there are many IR receivers on the market, the
Microsoft (MS) Remote Control Receiver sold with the MS
MCE v2 (and later) Remote has a very useful feature not
present in some alternatives: when connected to an MCE2005
HTPC in S3 Standby mode, the receiver wakes the PC via
a special signal sent along its USB connection rather
than by just forwarding the received IR command.

The Standby command is the only command the receiver does
this for – and only works when the PC is in S3 Standby.

This means that, whether the PC recognizes the Standby
command or not, the receiver will and will bring the PC
out of Standby -- a useful feature as we will see.

** You now have an MCE2005 HTPC with a MS IR receiver
attached

2. Set up Power Management to ignore Standby commands

On the PC, in control panel> power options> advanced,
change the option “When I push the sleep button on my
computer” to “Do nothing”. Click Apply, then OK to exit.

The PC is now deaf to Standby commands.

** You now have an MCE2005 HTPC that you can wake up from
S3 standby (by using the remote) but you can’t send into
standby

3. Create a batch file to send your MCE2005 HTPC into
Standby

With thanks to Jason1971 at [Link: pcguide.com]
for these instructions and Smileyw at [Link: remotecentral.com]
for the inspiration:

3.1. Right click on an empty area on your desktop.

3.2. Select New>Shortcut.

3.3. In the first box of the Create Shortcut Wizard, type
"Windows\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState"
(without quotes).

3.5 Click on the “Shortcut key” text box: hold down the
Ctrl key, hold down the Alt key, then press the S key.
The Shortcut key text box should now read: “Ctrl+Alt+S”.
(The S does not seem to be case sensitive; however you
type it, it appears upper case).

Click Next.

3.4. Call the shortcut "Standby" (without quotes) and
click Finish

** You now have a batch file and a keyboard short cut
that will send your MCE2005 HTPC into standby. Try it:
on a keyboard connected to the MCE2005 HTPC hold down
Ctrl, and Alt and push the S key. Hopefully your PC will
go into standby. Use the MS IR remote to wake it up by
pushing the "PC Power" key

4. Set up your programmable remote to transmit discrete
ON and discrete OFF IR codes

4.1 Set up your programmable remote to transmit an ON
code to the MCE2005 HTPC when the ON button is pushed
(the IR code is the same as the old PC Power toggle code).

Below is the Hex code from a Pronto TSU7000 you may care
to use:

PC Power (toggle)

616A 0000 0000 0001 0004 000C

4.2 Set up your programmable remote to transmit an OFF
code to the MCE2005 HTPC when the OFF button is pushed.

Below I give a couple of learned codes. Learning these
so they worked reliably proved challenging. I give you
two options from a Pronto TSU7000. Both work for me, I
hope at least one works for you.

Ctl+Alt+S Learned code first working version

0000 006C 0023 001F 006B 000C 000C 000C 0017 0017 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
0017 000C 000C 0017 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 0017 0017 000C 000C 000C 019A 006B 000C 000C
000C 0017 0017 000C 000C 000C 000D 000C 000C 000C 000C
0017 0017 0017 000C 000C 0017 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 0017 0017 0017 000C 000C
0017 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
0017 0017 0017 0B74

Ctl+Alt+S Learned code second working version

0000 006B 0020 001F 006C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 0018 0018 000C 000C 0018 000C
000C 0018 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
0018 0018 0018 000C 000C 0018 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 019E 006C 000B 000C 000C 0018 0018 000C 000C 000D
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 0018 0018 0018 000C 000C 0018
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
0018 0018 0018 000C 000C 0018 000C 000C 000C 000C 000C
000C 000C 000C 000C 000C 0018 0018 0018 0B3C

** You now have a remote that transmits discrete ON and
OFF codes to your MCE2005 HTPC.

5. Test it

Try bringing your MCE2005 HTPC out of Standby by pushing
the ON button on the programmable remote you set up in
step 4. Push the ON button again – once the PC is awake,
nothing else should happen. (If it goes back into Standby
you’ve forgotten to adjust the power settings – see 2
above)

Try putting your MCE2005 HTPC back into Standby by pushing
the OFF button on your programmable remote. If this does
not work, try entering Ctl+Alt+S from a keyboard attached
to your MCE2005 HTPC. If this doesn’t work, check step
3 above.

If Ctl+Alt+S does work from a keyboard, but does not work
from your remote, then sorry you have an IR code problem.
The PC is not recognizing the Ctl+Alt+S code you are sending
it via IR. This means the codes in section 4.2 don’t work
with your remote.

Your only fix is to find a way of learning the IR Ctl+Alt+S
from somewhere that is compatible with your programmable
remote control. Or you could try redefining the shortcut
in 3 above to something that you can transmit – but you
are on your own here!

Good luck!

Andy