Updated about 16 yrs, 8 mths ago (February 26, 2008). Know a better answer? Let me know!

Enable S3 Suspend for Media Center

How to enable S3 Suspend for Media Center, to allow a remote control to place the media center computer into an S3 (STR, suspend-to-RAM) state, and unsuspend from that state.

There’s two common problems putting Media Center into a suspend or sleep state when used with a USB remote control.

The first is that Windows XP or Vista will either immediately resume when suspended, or will suspend to an S1 (POS) suspend state rather than an S3 (STR) state, and the second is that once suspended, the power button on the remote control will not resume the Media Center.

Sleep States

• S1 (POS, Power On Standby): CPU stops executing, but most other things stay on. The power supply fan will continue spinning. The problem with this power state is that the computer will keep making fan noises and appear to be mostly still on, which is not what you want from a Media Center.
• S2: Not commonly used.
• S3 (STR, Suspend to RAM): RAM remains powered, but nearly everything else turns off. The power supply fan should stop spinning. The PC will appear to be turned off. Sometimes the power indicator will flash or change colour.
• S3+S4 (Hybrid Sleep): A Vista feature, this suspends the computer to an S3 state, but saves data to the disk similar to an S4 suspend. It is as slow as an S4 suspend when suspending, but resumes as quickly as an S3 suspend. It is used to ensure that data is not lost in the event of a power failure (or flat battery in the case of a laptop) when the system is in an S3 suspend state. Probably not necessary for a Media Center, but if you don’t mind the slightly longer suspend time, and you’re worried about losing data during a power failure while your Media Center is suspended, and you’re running Vista, use this option.
• S4 (Hibernate, Suspend to Disk): Data is saved to disk, and the computer is powered down. The problem with this state is that it takes some time to write the data to hard disk when suspending (hibernating), and again takes time to resume. You probably want your Media Center to turn on and off as immediately as possible.

Solution

First, download the MCE Standby Tool. Check the webpage for screenshots and instructions on using this tool. The idea is that you select the desired sleep state, and allow only your remote control to resume the system from that sleep state. However, before you will be able to resume using your remote control, you need to ensure that your remote control remains powered when your system is suspended. This depends on your particular motherboard, but there’s typically two ways to ensure that your USB remote control will remain awake while the computer is asleep:

First, check for any options in your motherboard’s BIOS that will allow the computer to wake from a USB device, and enable them. Secondly, check in your motherboard’s manual whether there are any jumpers on the motherboard itself that need to be changed to allow power to the USB port that your remote control is connected to. These may be called +5VUSB or similar. The USB ports on the rear of a computer are more likely to remain powered when the computer is suspended than those on the front, if fitted.

Troubleshooting

• If your computer immediately resumes from suspend, try unticking all the devices in the Devices tab of the MCE Standby Tool. Sometimes some experimentation is necessary—try enabling or disabling different USB options in the USB tab of the MCE Standby Tool, and/or in your BIOS, try removing devices such as keyboards and mice.

More Information

For more information on:

• Suspend (Power Saving) States, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface
• MCE Standby Tool, see www.xs4all.nl/~hveijk/mst/indexe.htm
• Media Center, see thegreenbutton.com and www.xpmediacentre.com.au

Updated about 16 yrs, 8 mths ago (February 26, 2008). Know a better answer? Let me know!

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