MCE Standby Tool 0.9.094 on Windows 7

[Selcal]

Ok, I will add all my posts into one as it makes things more readable. I use Windows 7 RC1 (Build 7100).

- MST 0.9.095 installs fine on Windows 7
- The tool does not start eHome, it doesn't on system boot, nor does it after a resume. It does stop it on going into standby.
- There seems to be a small error in the interface which caused some confusion for me:

I use MST standby tool as in the background there is a program which will always prevent Windows from entering Idle.
So in MST 0.9.095 I selected "Ignore applications that prevent suspend" as I wanted MST to ignore this thing in the background. However, I need to have this DEselected and all works fine. Perhaps it should be worded "Do NOT ignore apps that prevent suspend"?

- The tool detects a recording is running, but it sometimes doesn't detect when it is finished and so does not go back into standby. The Idle tab always shows "1 recording" even after changing channels a bit. When I try starting and stopping a new recording, it shows "2 recordings" while busy.
- When set to reboot once per day, for me it reboots on every auto-resume.
- When TotalMediaTheatre is running (using it's MediaCenter integration), MST will also standby the HTPC. Though this may be understandable since it's not actually MediaCenter that's busy, this didn't seem to happen under Vista.

For those that, like me, need the start of Media Center to be delayed a little bit, I am using a workaround to do this, since you can't delay it through MST  because of point 2 above. I have written a batchfile "start.bat" and put the following in:

Code:

choice /c:yn /t 10 /d y
%windir%\ehome\ehshell.exe

Put the start.bat in your C:\WINDOWS folder (or where your main Windows folder is).

Using the method described here: http://www.degroeneknop.nl/forum/index.php/topic,3717.0.html add start.bat to run on a resume. The names are slightly different in 0.9.095, put them in the RunOnAutoResume and RunOnUserResume. This will delay the MediaCenter start by 10 seconds. If you want more or less, change the /t 10 in the code abote to /t xx where xx is the seconds you want to delay for.

[grahamr]

I haven't tried 095 on my Windows 7 RC yet but I did want to bring up a point made of the start of this thread.

I found this software and it saved me plenty of time in configuring my media centre pc. The software worked as expected and once I was happy it worked I donated. This is specifically because I always try to support software development, especially with software that lets you decide how much something is worth.

I find that no-one supports this philosophy better than donationcoder.com, but I'm glad you want to continue supporting Win7 and that I could help with that.

Graham R

[Selcal]

Update on previous: The auto-reboot problem seems to have solved itself.... Recordings now work about half the time.

[hveijk]

First thanks for the donations, it’s good to see you appreciate MST this much (it’s a pity it’s still needed for a lot of you, even on W7).

Also thanks for all the feedback; this is very important for the further development. Although I do not respond to each and every posting I read them all and store anything of value in my bug tracking database. It’s just a matter of not having that much spare time.

I guess 0.9.095 was a bit too much of a quickie; I introduced a few serious bugs.
The devices list got broken, Windows Vista was detected as XP, the new “Ignore applications…” worked the opposite way…. Sorry for that.

Other parts of MST that no longer work under Windows 7, like (re)starting ehome and setting the ‘Maximum idleness allowed’ are caused by bugs (or at least changes) in this new OS. Any true bugs I run into will be reported to Microsoft, hopefully things get fixed before RTM.

Since last week I am running Windows 7 on my main HTPC (and I really like it!). This of course speeds up the development of the Windows 7 support.

I think I have the major issues covered to get MST running on Windows 7 by now. If nothing comes up during testing I will release 0.9.096 soon.

@Selcal
Since you seem to test and report very thoroughly would you like to pre-test the version before I drop it here?

Herman

[grahamr]

First thanks for the donations, it’s good to see you appreciate MST this much (it’s a pity it’s still needed for a lot of you, even on W7).

I don't record on my media centre so I actually use your software to force a hybrid S3 state and never use away mode. So Win7 is probably doing what it is supposed to, just not what I want.

G

[motocrossmann]

Just made a donation for the efforts on Win7.   I've always loved the tool!!!

gcl5080-XXXXXX at yahoo!

[wuwa]

Applying for pre beta testing too, I can and will give you usefull feedback.

Have a full dedicated media center pc, running windows 7. With original Microsoft MCE Remote.

Keep up the good work Herman!

[hveijk]

The new beta performed well this weekend, so here it is:

mst09096.exe (Check further this thread since a new version is released)

Have fun with it and please report your findings.

Herman

[mgroenouwe]

I'm running version 0.096 now, but my TV doesn't wake up at resume.
The option in the tab "Debug" is checked, but it's seems not to work.

[scottharris]

been testing .096 today on w7.

if watching livetv and press power button (to sleep), it works.
if watching livetv and recording also, press power button,  enters away mode (ie turns off audio and screen),  but when recording finishes it does not enter sleep.

maximum idleness setting still stuck at 0%

[remulus]

Helaas is het zo dat na het uit stand-by komen van windows 7 mijn afstandsbediening niet meer werkt. ik moet hem dan eerst opnieuw uit- en inpluggen. is dit op te lossen?

modedit: Was het je niet opgevallen dat er wel heel veel posts in het Engels waren in dit (English) topic?

Even een bijpassend NL topic vinden of een nieuwe openen ajb............

When resuming from stand-by my remote doesn't work anymore. I have to unplug it and plug it in again to get it working.

[Sparky]

Hi Herman,

thanks for keeping updating the software... and glad to hear you like Windows 7.

Can you test something for me - when the pc has resumed from sleep (S3), and is currently recording programs, when you then try using the remote to bring back the display, I have a problem with MST Blanker, in that it never closes down - i have to kill it via task manager, then the desktop will return.

Are there any settings that I should set to resolve this?

Thanks
Sparky

[makryger]

Hi Herman,

thanks for keeping updating the software... and glad to hear you like Windows 7.

Can you test something for me - when the pc has resumed from sleep (S3), and is currently recording programs, when you then try using the remote to bring back the display, I have a problem with MST Blanker, in that it never closes down - i have to kill it via task manager, then the desktop will return.

Are there any settings that I should set to resolve this?

Thanks
Sparky

I am experiencing the same program as Sparky. It seems that the power broadcast message that is supposed to appear when a user does something does not. To be more specific, if the computer resumes for an automatic task, and then you try moving the mouse to bring it completely back from standby, the MST Blanker will not exit, it does not receive a power broadcast.

Sparky, I have temporarily reduced the impact of the problem by going into the registry and disabling the MST Blanker. that way, I don't have to reset the computer- I only have to press the green button to get back into Media Center.

(I'm using W7 RC, with version 0.95... I'll change to 0.96 today and see if theres any difference)

[Sparky]

Hi makryger,

can you tell me whereabouts I can do the same, I don't seem to be able to find anything related to mst blanker.exe in my registry 

thanks
Sparky

[makryger]

Hi makryger,

can you tell me whereabouts I can do the same, I don't seem to be able to find anything related to mst blanker.exe in my registry 

thanks
Sparky

HKLM/SOFTWARE/Herman Van Eijk/MceStandbyTool

Change key BlankScreen to 0