Need Set-up Wizard Often to Re-Sync Remote

[Softball Dad]

Frustrating! Am I missing something here? It seems like every other time I use the Firefly remote I have to go into the set-up wizard to "re-sync" the remote. It goes like this...

I'll be using the remote for about an hour or so then there is no response from any button I press. I go back to the media computer and use the mouse to go into the Firefly Set-up Wizard. Set-up starts, sees the receiver, asks me to press the Firefly button and it's working again (at least for an hour or two).

My set-up/situation:

I have my Media PC in the room behind my TV with the Firefly reciever mounted on the wall immediatley behind and above my TV.
When using the remote, I'm no more than 15-20 feet away from the receiver (with a wall dividing). But I did have this issue for 3 weeks when testing my PC in my office after I built it. At that time, the receiver was only 2 - 3 feet from the remote.
I use a KVM switch to control my two PCs with one keyboard and mouse. Again, the issue occured before I started using a KVM switch.
I briefly looked over this forum and didn't find anyone with this issue. Is there something I'm missing?

[aaronmielke]

hmm. This is definitely new. So here's some suggestions:

Try uninstalling and reinstalling Firefly.
When the problem happens, can you open your process list and see if x10nets.exe is running?
When the problem happens, is there anything in the Firefly log?
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Firefly\Log
Do you have any other USB devices or X10 devices installed?
Does rerunning the Setupwizard fix it every time?
What about restarting Firefly?

[Softball Dad]

Here is what I have done so far...

Try uninstalling and reinstalling Firefly.

Have done this three times so far

When the problem happens, can you open your process list and see if x10nets.exe is running?

I will see tonight, Firefly does work out of the gate each time I boot my PC. It ceases to work while I'm using it.

When the problem happens, is there anything in the Firefly log? C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Firefly\Log

I will check log tonight

Do you have any other USB devices or X10 devices installed?


Yes, a USB-IRT, what is X10?

Does rerunning the Setupwizard fix it every time?


Yes, It sees the USB connection, I click on the center button, then it works for a while.

What about restarting Firefly?


If I have to restart Firefly everytime this happens, it would be just as annoying as having to run Setup Wizard. I put a Setup Wizard shortcut on my desktop since I use it so frequently!

Thanks for your help.

[aaronmielke]

What about restarting Firefly?

If I have to restart Firefly everytime this happens, it would be just as annoying as having to run Setup Wizard. I put a Setup Wizard shortcut on my desktop since I use it so frequently!

I'm not suggesting this as a fix, I'm just trying to diagnose the problem. If you can fix the problem by restarting firefly then it provides me more information on your problem.

[Softball Dad]

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Here is what I will do the next time the remote stops working...

I will see if x10nets.exe is running in the process list.
Then I will check the Firefly log at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Firefly\Log
I will then restart Firefly.
Thank You

[Softball Dad]

I did the tasks you asked. Here are the answers...
I'm running Firefly Version 1.2.0.816

I did find out that anytime I boot up my PC, the Firefly remote does not work. The Firefly icon is in the system tray and I can exit Firefly from there. Also, Beyond Media Basic is running.
The Firefly Log is not in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Firefly\Log. In fact, There is no Firefly directory!
x10nets.exe is NOT running in the process list
When I exit Firefly then restart it the remote works
When I use Firefly Set-Up, the remote works.
Thanks

[Softball Dad]

I guess no one on the board has an answer. Thanks anyway. And a real BIG THANKS to Snapstream's support for being no help at all. I guess I read correctly that Firefly support is non-existent. I would be more angry if I didn't have a work around.

One last thing, in the event aaronmielke decides to try one more time. I added Firefly to my start-up folder in the hope that it would work immediately. The weird thing is it worked once then I had to go back to stopping the Firefly program and restarting it.

[jkoon]

Just as a reminder, this forum is not the appropriate place to receive official tech support.

[Softball Dad]

Sorry for not being clear. I thanked the forum. I have been waiting over two months for support to reply to my e-mail request after I gave them the information they requested.

Who is "aaronmielke, Firefly PM and Architect"? I guess I have mistaken him for a Firefly associate on the board for support.

Again, sorry. Very frustrated.

[jkoon]

Yea I think he is a developer, im just saying he might not come back to follow up on posts that he made here on the forum. They just kind of come and go when they get a free minute.

[Pantherian]

I just bought the Firefly Remote also.. just a couple of days ago... and it worked maybe the first time... no problem... but now ... I have to run the darn wizard in order to get it to work again. But since it starts with windows at boot up... I don't see why this has to be done every time. So I will be trying to see... if it runs as a start up program or as a service, and if I just about bet it goes as a startup in the services... and if I am able to disable the service part, and just add it to the Start up menu... it may work all the time and everytime that the pc gets a reboot, or just turned on. :)


Pantherian...

Just trying to enjoy a product that actually has a good heart.. but wishing it to work reaaly well a lot better than it is now. :) :(

[Pantherian]

This is a followup... To the previous posting... I did try more things out with it. But I even reloaded the operating system to windows 2000 pro... And guess what... It's working just great. Not a single bit of a problem at all. It found all the software that I had on there and configured itself. I even added software that went with my TV tuner card. Like the radio and it's working great. So there's one good thing about it... If you want to run it without any problems at all go to a dual boot mode and load Windows 2000 Professional and then load all the things on that system and it will work trouble free. I had it on the system now since the post I put on here. So that's good.. Hope that this really helps.. But it stills condones that it's got a major problem with XP OS in general... But I have my feelings about it,, because I think that it's a MS thing... Because they don't want you to have a "Media Center PC" custom built like that because they may not make any money on it... :(


Pantherian

[nanook105]

But it stills condones that it's got a major problem with XP OS in general
Good to hear that you got it working on windows 2000 pro, but I think that most of us are using Firefly with XP Pro (or home) without issues. I wish it was more obvious why some are having these issues.