Help needed with ubuntu/lirc/harmony 550. ehome rec.

[strangedaze39]

Ubuntu 8.10 XBMC PPA up to date.
i686...I think, but not sure bear with me :( it's the default 32bit download from Ubuntu site

I've followed a handful of guides step by step throughout the whole day for installing Ubuntu then XBMC. I was able to get pretty far, XBMC is running perfect and I've been able to install skins of my liking and add sources correctly, connect to the internet. But I keep getting hung on one thing.....my remote (probably sounds breaking glass to you guys, sure you hear about this often) I just can't get it working, I've uninstalled LIRC about 10 times re-installed ubuntu a couple times, located and replaced lircd.conf files. Gone through the set-up choosing different methods. This is one of the guides I used InstallLirc/Edgy (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallLirc/Edgy)

Here's what hardware I have:
Harmony 550: Programed to XBOX360 device
eHome Phillips MCE receiver: Rev.OVU4003/00
Motherboard: DFI DK Lanparty P35
CPU: Intel 5200 C2D
GFX: 8800GT Evga

Like I said everything works great except my remote, if anyone would be kind enough to share how I can get my remote working based on the method they used (so you'd probably need to have similar hardware?)

A couple other things that might help someone figure out what's going wrong:
"sudo dpkg-reconfigure lirc-modules-source" Isn't reporting back anything.
IRW command isn't reporting anything either.

[Gaarv]

Are you sure the remote is in cause ? Is the receiver operational ? What does "lsusb" reports ?

[ronie]

Check if the correct lirc module is loaded:
lsmod |grep lirc
should report lirc_mceusb2 in your case.

Next, stop the lircd daemon if it's running and issue this command:
mode2 --device=/dev/lirc0 --raw
and press some buttons on your remote.
This way you can test if you're receiver is receiving anything from your remote, so if all is well you should see some codes coming in.

irw on the other hand will only report something if it receives a code that's defined in your lircd.conf file.

[strangedaze39]

Hey, thank you so much for the reply.

@Gaarv: What do you mean by "Are you sure the remote is in cause? As for the receiver, yes it is completely functional and working great on windows and mac.

lusb reports:
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0471:0815 Philips eHome Infrared Receiver

@Ronie: Thanks that gave me some hope, I actually see me remote doing something on the screen (even though it's just spitting out code) when I run "mode2 --device=/dev/lirc0 --raw"

Also "lsmod |grep lirc" reports back just what you said
lirc_mceusb2 20100 0
lirc_dev 19892 1 lirc_mceusb2
usbcore 149360 7 lirc_mceusb2,usb_storage,libusual,usbhid,ehci_hc

What should I do next? Do you think it's something simple I missed or more complicated?

Thanks again for the replys!

BTW: Under devices I'm using the Xbox360 remote device for the harmony, and the lircd.conf file I'm using is this (http://lircconfig.commandir.com/lircd.conf/?viewremote=337).

[ronie]

You could check if the codes returned by mode2 match the codes listed in your lircd.conf.
Looking at the config file you're using, i'd say mode2 should return something like 0x37FF08BE9 when you press the Play button on your remote.

If it's not, you might be using a config file that's not suitable for your remote. In this case you could create your own one by using irrecord.

Or maybe the lircd daemon just doesn't start correctly? Check the syslog for any lircd related messages.

[Gaarv]

Sorry strangedaze39, just thought it would be best starting by checking the receiver.

Anyway, if you get some codes on raw thats a start. I would suggest like ronie to get yours from irrecord, I tried tons of config files until I get done mine which was the only way.

One important advice once you will get some remote codes done : if you notice that sometimes you have to press twice to get a command working, check your codes to see which ones are on a pattern, ie :

UpArrow 0x0BE1
LeftArrow 0x8BDF

Then, duplicate each entry like :


UpArrow 0x0BE1
UpArrow 0x8BE1
LeftArrow 0x0BDF
LeftArrow 0x8BDF


I tried tweaking the remote for a month or so before finding this, the harmony is alterning between 0x0 and 0x8 for repeats (like moving in a menu "down, down"), ending you having to press anything twice. This way, it respond perfectly on first press.

[BLKMGK]

In my case I found that programming the Harmony from an existing working MCE remote worked pretty well rather than using a database code...