WMC in "Restore Down" window every morning

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Joram

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WMC in "Restore Down" window every morning

#1

Post by Joram » Thu Sep 29, 2016 6:17 pm

My wife reports that, ever since we installed EPG123, when she turns the TV on in the morning WMC has been appearing in a small "Restore Down"-type window rather than a full screen.

The only thing that's different from, say, last week, is that we are now using EPG123 and Schedules Direct instead of Rovi.

I have the program guide set to update each night at 4AM. Could the updating process have something to do with the WMC window switching away from full-screen? This did not use to happen before we switched to SD.

Thanks!

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garyan2

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#2

Post by garyan2 » Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:33 am

I've never seen this happen, or heard of it happening to anyone else. I tend to close WMC prior to turning off the TV for the day (the HDMI handshake and AVR excitement when turning back on is just unpredictable).

I'm not saying epg123 doesn't have a role in this behavior, but there's not much different between what it does and what MS does normally. What window is WMC left in? Home, Guide, Recorded TV, ...?
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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IT Troll

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#3

Post by IT Troll » Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:01 am

Never happens to me. I always leave Media Center open and running full screen.
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#4

Post by glorp » Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:08 am

I wonder if this isn''t the result of that "WMC Optimization" option and not EPG123? Doesn't that shut down and restart WMC every night at some time either user-scheduled or like around 4am when enabled? So if it did that, it might come back up windowed. Maybe that optimization option got user re-enabled?

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IT Troll

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#5

Post by IT Troll » Sat Oct 01, 2016 7:52 am

No, I run with that omptimisation option enabled too. It doesn't close the GUI.

I'm wondering if it is a display / video driver issue. When you switch off your TV, Windows reverts the desktop resolution to a lower default. Then when you switch on your TV on, the handshake re-establishes the previous resolution. This normally takes a split second so you don't notice it. Have you updated your video driver recently?

You could test if it really is EPG123 by temporarily disabling the Schedule Task to see if it still occurs. Not running the task for 2 or 3 days won't hurt anything.
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#6

Post by Joram » Thu Oct 06, 2016 6:26 am

Sorry, we went away for a few days.

Glad to say that the issue hasn't come back. In a sense that's too bad because it will remain a mystery, but hey, I'm not complaining! :)

I'll report it again if it recurs. In the meantime, EPG123 is otherwise working just great. :thumbup:

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#7

Post by Scallica » Tue Nov 29, 2016 9:47 pm

Duplicate thread deleted.
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Joram

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#8

Post by Joram » Tue Nov 29, 2016 10:34 pm

Scallica wrote:Duplicate thread deleted.
Hey, I'm trying to report that the issue has recurred. Sorry I forgot about the original thread, but you could have at least left the new post visible in this thread.

Good thing I was able to hit the back arrow to retrieve what I wrote. Had I closed the browser, I doubt that would have been possible.

Here is what I wrote today:

For the past several days, every time we turn the TV on in the morning, Windows Media Center has shown up in a small window covering only part of the screen, as if someone had clicked on the "Restore Down" button, the middle button in the top right corner.

We of course watch TV with WMC in full-screen mode, and we leave it that way when we turn off the TV at night. The HTPC stays on 24/7; we don't put it to sleep.

The only recent change to our WMC system is that, two months ago, we switched from the Rovi program guide to Schedules Direct with EPG123. The "restore down" issue started sporadically soon after that but has lately become an almost daily occurrence. I'm wondering if it could have something to do with EPG123 updating the guide, which it's scheduled to do at 4 AM.

This is not A Big Deal, but the wife finds it annoying and so it affects WAF.

I'll be happy to provide more info if you need it to pinpoint the problem. Any ideas what might be going on, any troubleshooting steps we could take? The less drastic the measures, the better.

Thanks!

(Mods: feel free to move this thread to the EPG123 subforum if you think it will fit better over there.)

ADDITION: To address what IT Troll wrote upthread, no -- we have not updated the video driver in ages. Will try disabling the EPG123 update and see if it makes a difference. Anything else we might try?

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#9

Post by stuartm » Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:54 pm

I would agree with IT Troll, This sounds like the PC is detecting the TV going off and dropping the screen resolution thus causing Windows to resize WMC to fit the defaultr 1024x768 resolution. There are hardware solutions to this that prevent the PC from thinking the TV was turned off. e.g.

http://monitordetectkiller.com/

There is also a software solution you could try as well:

https://github.com/gurrhack/RestoreWindows

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#10

Post by Space » Wed Nov 30, 2016 10:37 am

I remember having this problem way back when I first set up my system. I fixed it somehow, but don't remember, but this may be it (it sounds somewhat familiar):

For the 1024x768 resize issue, I've since discovered a very easy fix that's been working flawlessly for quite a while.

When WMC resizes to 1024x768, go into the WMC setup and run through the TV setup wizard. In the wizard be sure to set the WMC resolution to the same as your desktop resolution (e.g. 1080p or 1920x1080, whatever your TV is) and accept the changes. Finish the wizard as normal.

I found this solution here:
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/26-home-t ... esume.html

There are also other possible solutions in that thread, but I don't know if any of them work.

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#11

Post by Joram » Thu Dec 01, 2016 6:53 am

OK, after disabling the guide update task last night, this morning (Wednesday morning) we turned the TV on and WMC was in full-screen mode.

One more data bit that's relevant: the issue only ever appears the first time we turn the TV on for the day. Whether the guide update task is enabled or disabled, we can turn the TV off and on any number of times during the day or night, and WMC will always be in full-screen mode -- except for that first time after the guide update.

I can't believe I didn't think to report this sooner, it's so obvious. :oops: But here it goes and I hope it helps in narrowing down the possible causes.

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#12

Post by kmp14 » Thu Dec 01, 2016 3:00 pm

I wonder if the command prompt box that pops up during the epg guide update is causing this? If you are using the scheduled task for epg123, I think you can specify somewhere in the task itself to run hidden.

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#13

Post by Joram » Thu Dec 01, 2016 5:52 pm

kmp14 wrote:I wonder if the command prompt box that pops up during the epg guide update is causing this? If you are using the scheduled task for epg123, I think you can specify somewhere in the task itself to run hidden.
Thanks for the idea, I'll take a look in the Task Scheduler and see how to do that.

Last night we turned the task back on and, as a test, also scheduled a movie to be recorded around the time that the guide updates. The recording was scheduled to run from 3:25 to 5:15 AM. It started to record at the desired time, but recording stopped at 4:33. The guide update task is set for 4:00 AM and of course it takes a while to download and process the data. So I'm guessing that whatever is causing the WMC window to Restore Down, is happening at or near the end of the guide update task.

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#14

Post by Joram » Wed Dec 14, 2016 10:55 pm

Unfortunately, running the task hidden didn't help. There was no difference.

I haven't had the chance to try anything else, but two days ago there was a new, critical issue that requires my attention. Please see the bug thread (http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 40#p113140) for details.

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#15

Post by Joram » Wed Dec 21, 2016 9:16 pm

Situation update: We replaced the powerline adapters with a new set two nights ago. Now in the morning when we first turn on the TV, WMC is running and in full-screen mode.

I can't formulate a theory as to how the powerline adapters could possibly have an effect on WMC's screen mode, but I'm not complaining. :-)

Will report back if we notice anything out of the ordinary.

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