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Vista sleep mode problem and what causes it!

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Alex Posted: 05-24-2007 6:18 AM

After spending many hours playing with Vista every time the same problem comes up.

After a fresh install the pc goes into sleep mode and after installing several software and plug-ins it still does but after opening MCE for the first time and going through all the settings the pc doesn't go into sleep mode anymore and after testing why I found out the problem is the Media Center Receiver Service (ehrecvr). As long as this service is in the windows task list the pc stays awake. When deleting the ehrecvr from the task list it returns after a while so this won't help. Service will be started manually (standard vista setting) so why does it start automatically when deleting it from the task list. The only way to stop this service is by disabling it.

My power options are set in high performance and I want my PC in sleep mode after 10 minutes inactivity.

So I wonder if this is a Vista bug or am I doing something wrong. If this is a bug I hope this will be solved soon.

 

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Nobody else got this problem?

I figured out this problem only appears when recording to WHS. When recording to local disk sleep mode works.

Strange problem and doesn't excist in MCE2005 when recording to WHS.

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Hi Alex,  I never put my MCE to sleep and I am using MCE 2005 to record to WHS, thats why never I had this problem.
There should be a way to make Media Center Receiver Service (ehrecvr) run when recording to WHS, as you know I am running MCE 2005 for now, so it's a problem for me to test it.

Richard Miller MCE MVP

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I Told Aaron Stebner about this problem and he said it might be a bug.I had to place it the on the Windows XP newsgroups to make it an official report.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups/reader.mspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter

 

Hope this will be solved soon.

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Problem update.

I just found the reason why sleep mode won’t work. It has to do with the TempRec folder wich will be automaticly placed in the recorded tv folder. I tried to change the the location in the registry but after restarting the “bad” service (ehrecvr) the TempRec folder is right where it was.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Video\Tuners\DVR\IO\Writer]
"DVRDirectory"="\\Home-server\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\
"FirstTemporaryBackingFileName"=""
"DeleteRingBufferFiles"=dword:00000001
"RingBufferFileName"=""

The problem will be solved when this TempRec folder can be replaced to another location like F:\TempRec

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Video\Tuners\DVR\IO\Writer]
"DVRDirectory"="
F:\TempRec \
"FirstTemporaryBackingFileName"=""
"DeleteRingBufferFiles"=dword:00000001
"RingBufferFileName"=""

 

In MCE2005 I could easly change the location of this tempRec folder so I don’t understand why this isn’t possible in Vista anymore?

Taking a look in the computer management of the Home-Server (open files) this is what the log says while Vista is recording.

G:\TV-Opnamen\MSDVRMM_4039540896_3342336_64            ALEX      Windows            0             Write+Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\MSDVRMM_4039540896_3342336_64.tmp  ALEX      Windows            0             Write+Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\MSDVRMM_4039540896_3342336_64.tmp                  Windows            0             Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\Shownieuws_SBS 6_25_05_2007_23_10_33.dvr-ms ALEX      Windows            0             Write

G:\TV-Opnamen\Shownieuws_SBS 6_25_05_2007_23_10_33.dvr-ms ALEX      Windows            0             Write

G:\TV-Opnamen\Shownieuws_SBS 6_25_05_2007_23_10_33.dvr-ms ALEX      Windows            0             Write

G:\TV-Opnamen\Shownieuws_SBS 6_25_05_2007_23_10_33.dvr-ms                 Windows            0             Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\Shownieuws_SBS 6_25_05_2007_23_10_33.dvr-ms                 Windows            0             Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\{6DD14C37-8EB8-406A-8F96-0A056E23BF22}.TmpSBE      ALEX      Windows            0            Write+Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\TempSBE\MSDVRMM_4039540896_1900544_57 ALEX      Windows            0             Write+Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\TempSBE\SBE93F7.tmp  ALEX      Windows            0             Write

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\TempSBE\SBE93F7.tmp  ALEX      Windows            0             Write

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\TempSBE\SBE93F7.tmp      ALEX      Windows            0             Write

When stopping the recording and refreshing the open files list the log says:

Open File        Accessed By      Type      # Locks Open Mode

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\{FD75A1C9-0297-4B8C-A7A3-0C9B52F0CF28}.TmpSBE     ALEX      Windows            0            Write+Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\TempSBE\MSDVRMM_4039540896_6553600_54 ALEX      Windows            0             Write+Read

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\TempSBE\SBE9224.tmp  ALEX      Windows            0             Write

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\TempSBE\SBE9224.tmp  ALEX      Windows            0             Write

G:\TV-Opnamen\TempRec\TempSBE\SBE9224.tmp      ALEX      Windows            0             Write

This means that Vista still writes data to the TempRec folder even when there is no recording or MCE window open.

Find me a way to change the location and the problem is solved I guess.

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Correction about changing the tempRec location in MCE2005. It is not changeable but de folder won't move when you change the recordpath to an UNC path. The folder is always kept in C:\windows\TEMP\TempRec\

This isn't the case in Vista so that is what causes the problem.

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Hi Alex i've had the exact same problem. I've had windows vista on my PC since october 2007, and sleep mode has worked fine and I find it really really useful, rather than sutting the whole thing down etc... However i recently pruchased an xbox 360 and set up and windows media centre extender to the xbox console. Ever since then I have not been able to go into sleep mode and its very inconvenient. When i start task manager and delete "ehrecvr" from the list it still wont sleep, and even when its not in the task list it still wont sleep. It has to be something to do with media centre. I have even tried disabling the link between the xbox (although i didn't actually delete the link, i just disabled it) in the tasks section of media centre. I would really appreciate it if you could give me some advice as to how to get round the problem in the short term, in order to find a way to put it into sleep mode. Or will it just keep coming back on as "ehrecvr" and the other array of media centre tasks keep reloading??

 Thanks

David

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I again never hit this as I prefer my Media Center machine to not go to sleep at all, simply as its in use far more than it would sleep and I have it do drive optimization and archiving between 2am and 8am each day.

I'll try and find out if this is a known issue or not.

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I had a similar issue recently with my Vista MC not going to sleep. It turned out it happened after sharing some folders.  Vista has an advanced power setting I wasn't aware of called "Multimedia Settings".  Under this is an option called "When Sharing Media".  When you share media folders this gets set to "Allow the computer to enter Away Mode".  This mode basically turns off the video display but prevent sleep so that shared folders will always be accessible.  I changed this to "Allow the computer to sleep" and everything was back to normal.
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Now that’s interesting, good tip sxlalan.

Richard Miller MCE MVP

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Yep great tip sxl, I'd actually came across this before but completely forgot about it. It's designed that way to stop file transfers initiated from another machine from being cut if the machine with the files goes into sleep.
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SteveLindsay:
Yep great tip sxl, I'd actually came across this before but completely forgot about it. It's designed that way to stop file transfers initiated from another machine from being cut if the machine with the files goes into sleep.

Hi Steve

Do you foresee any problems with file transfers and WHS with this tuned on?  

 

Richard Miller MCE MVP

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I don't think so, I think this is specifically to do with media sharing so that files being accessed over the share are not closed when the PC sleeps. With WHS I think it's capable of waking your PC from sleep before it does what it needs to, then the backup etc is running FROM that PC which should keep it from sleeping again.

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