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More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: gpvillamil on January 18, 2004, 11:43:22 pm

Title: weird wireless kbd problem, weird solution
Post by: gpvillamil on January 18, 2004, 11:43:22 pm
I've been having an annoying problem with MC & an infrared wireless keyboard, and finally resolved it in a surprising way.

Basically I use an Acer Airkey III, it's an infrared wireless keyboard with built-in pointing device. It plugs into the PS/2 mouse & keyboard ports.

Under most applications, it is quite fast & responsive. However, with MC the mouse cursor would move very slowly, and mouse clicks & keystrokes would often not be recognized. CPU utilization was low, no other programs running. A particularly strange point is that responsiveness would *improve* when MC actually had another window open, such as as iPod sync or audio analysis windows.

After trying a bunch of things, I was on the verge of doing a reformat and reinstall (which I'd already done before). I took a screenshot of the problem situation. I was looking at the *screenshot* when I noticed that the mouse cursor was moving slowly and jerkily. Note that MC wasn't running at all - I was just looking at a *picture* of an MC9 screen!

Changing the skin on MC to PixOS or Z got rid of the responsiveness problem altogether.

So it seems that the actual display on the screen was interfering with the IR receiver! I'm using a large plasma screen, there is a lot of glass in my apt, so some reflections were getting back to it. I'm guessing that something in the Blue Steel skin is causing a signal that affects the IR receiver. I'm guessing the pattern in the scroll bars - lots of tightly spaced vertical lines.

Very weird - but at least everything is working.
Title: Re:weird wireless kbd problem, weird solution
Post by: scott_r on January 18, 2004, 11:52:13 pm
That is quite possibly one of the strangest things I've ever heard.

Scott.
Title: Re:weird wireless kbd problem, weird solution
Post by: JimH on January 21, 2004, 08:24:10 am
Great detective work.  Great story.

I wonder if the refresh rate could affect it.
Title: Re:weird wireless kbd problem, weird solution
Post by: Deivit on January 21, 2004, 09:43:48 am
That is quite possibly one of the strangest things I've ever heard.

Scott.

Once I heard about a police patrol chasing someone driving a Yugo at 150 mph uphill (not sure if it was in North or South Carolina). Other than that, this is actually the strangest thing I've heard lately.
 ;D