I've finally made it towards the end of the 20+ devices I'm controlling with the MSC-400s and an MX-6000. I saved the Zalman 160XT Plus media center for last since I had a feeling it wasn't going to be "easy". The O/S is XP MCE (2005, I believe).

I have the internet interface working to the MX6000. It seems to be working well and I am able to see the album art.

What I would like to be able to do is to turn on / turn off the Zalman system. I know the MCE remote that came with the Zalman will turn off the system.

The problems:

1) I have tried Aux code 501 and I have a USB cable running between master MSC-400's USB2 port and a USB port on the back of the Zalman. I open up Wordpad (for a test) and try to type on the MX-6000 (on the USB device) and get nothing. Not a thing I have tried will get the USB port to apparently interface. However, the MSC-400's USB2 light is on and if I disconnect the USB cable from the back of the Zalman and then reconnect, it shows a Human Interface Device as having been added.

2) Every Aux --> Microsoft MCE IR device I've tried to add for IR has produced nothing. I've scanned the registry for Debounce items and couldn't find any. I tried all of the codes. I've even tried upping the gain on the IR with nothing. I can see the IR flasher flash, so I know the command is going out to the Zalman's IR window.

So, bottom line is I'm hoping someone can give me some hints on getting either (or both) the USB and IR to work with XP MCE. Thank you for any hints!

In case someone else hits this I'll respond to myself...

For many of the Zalman cases to fix this problem you must go into the IMON controls applet. Once in there, select "MCE Remote" instead of the "IMON Pad" remote. Apparently the IMON pad is significantly different than a standard MCE remote to cause any universal remotes not to work.

It is also helpful if you select IMON symbol only on IR. This way you'll know if the command is recognized on the main screen even while Media Player is running.

That's good to know. I have a couple functional MCE systems (all 2005) but I've always dealt with standard Microsoft IR receivers. Although I do have a very specific problem with the MX-900 and a particular AOpen IR receiver that URC was never able to fix.

So far this the IMON fix is working very consistently over IR. The MX-980s and MX-6000 all work with the Zalman. The nice thing is that the Zalman can be powered up from any MX-980 room (and shutdown) and any album/song can be selected. Not quite as nice as the MX-6000 presentation, but it works!