Hello,

I was curious if anyone has developed a way to get discrete on/off commands to a HTPC running Win7 using the MSC-400. I figured that since the 400 can emulate a USB keyboard that there must be a slick trick to get a discrete on/off setup going.

I can't believe that MS has not implemented hex code for this as of yet ...

If you have something working, please let me know.

Thanks,
T.Wells

Have you tried Windows Key,Right Arrow,Enter for off?

I have not tried but you may be able to have your computer wake up on a usb event in the BIOS?

I have yet to successfully use the USB keyboard port on the MSC-400. I finally gave up and now use a IR receiver and a blaster instead.

I would use a usb IR receiver and the Power IR command(CCP DB,Aux.252.power) to put the computer to sleep. As for waking up the computer, it will be hit or miss. Most bios's have the option to wake on USB. Send anything to the IR reciever to trigger a USB command.

I have been using the USB keyboard port on the MSC-400. I have not had any issues with it so far. What problems are you having?

If you're using a standard MCE IR receiver, then the MCE power command should put the computer to sleep AND wake it. The wake event is handled by the receiver which will trigger a USB wake while it's operating in low power mode. I should think that any BIOS in the past 5 years supports this.

Hello,

Yes, I am using a standard MCE IR receiver and I am able to put the computer to sleep and also wake it as needed. However, the code is the same (i.e. toggle only) and that does not work for my setup.

I access the HTPC from multiple TVs in my house and therefore was looking for a discrete command for sleep and wake (wake is easy as any USB event will work).

For now, I am just letting the computer auto sleep and only issue a USB command to wake the CPU if needed.

I was thinking of using a bios setting to alow a double keyboard click to power on the computer via USB as well.

Thanks,
T.Wells

you can do a forced shutdown with Eventghost.  you can use any incoming IR command and map that to a forced shutdown.  I have also done this with incoming serial commands.

http://www.eventghost.org/

 turning on the PC usually requires some form of hardware modification if you want to boot from a full shutdown.  on the PCs that I use, we have a Thermaltake status display that receives an IR command that will start up the PC.

[Link: newegg.com]