MCE Standby tool sleeping PC during Netflix playback(FIXED!)

[soccerdad]

OK, here goes...

Detailed explanation of the arguments for watch_ehexthost32.exe:
arg1: the name of the program to watch. This will be either "ehexthost32.exe" (64) or "ehexthost.exe" (32?), depending on whether your are running 64 or 32 bit windows. You could also use my watcher program to watch just about any program name... and my program will detect outbound network connections from the program named in arg1.

Since I am running 32 bit, do I need a ehexthost.exe instead of ehexthost32.exe?

[barnabas1969]

OK, here goes...

Detailed explanation of the arguments for watch_ehexthost32.exe:
arg1: the name of the program to watch. This will be either "ehexthost32.exe" (64) or "ehexthost.exe" (32?), depending on whether your are running 64 or 32 bit windows. You could also use my watcher program to watch just about any program name... and my program will detect outbound network connections from the program named in arg1.

Since I am running 32 bit, do I need a ehexthost.exe instead of ehexthost32.exe?

Yes, probably. I can't test it on my machines... because they are both 64 bit. However, I assume that it will not have a "32" in the name on 32 bit machines. As I wrote in the instructions, you will need to start the Netflix plugin, and then go look in the Task Manager under the "processes" tab to see which program is running. The name "ehexthost" stands for "eHome Extensibility Host", so it will definitely run ehexthost.exe or ehexthost32.exe. Check in the Task Manager after you start the Netflix plugin.

Also, what does your Action tab look like?

[barnabas1969]

I confirmed on a 32-bit machine... it runs ehexthost.exe instead of ehexthost32.exe.

[Kick4U]

OK, here goes...

Then, the registry settings are created to make MST prevent standby anytime my program is running. It works really well.

1) Download the watch_ehexthost32.exe program by clicking here. Save the file in a directory where the user that normally runs when you are watching Netflix can access/execute the program (my user is named "HTPC". Yours will vary). I chose to create a directory named "C:\Program Files (x86)\BKR" and put my special little programs there. On a 32-bit machine, that would be "C:\Program Files\BKR".

Seems the link is down

[barnabas1969]

Seems the link is down

I just tested it. It works fine. When you click the link in my post (LEFT click, not right click), you should be taken to a page in Google Docs. The file name "watch_ehexthost32.exe" is listed in big letters in the top-left corner of the page. Under the filename is a menu with "File", "Edit", "View", "Help". Click "File" and choose "Download".

[zero610]

New to this forum but came here looking for a solution to the netflix problem.

I successfully got the fix working on one of my machines but can't seem to get it going on the other.

When I monitor the task scheduler, it gives me the code (0xC0000005) under "Last Run Result"

I followed the instructions precisely and made sure the program was in a folder accessible by the user watching netflix. No problems editing the registry either.

Any help will be greatly appreciated on how to get task scheduler to correctly run the program fix.

Thanks!

[barnabas1969]

The program needs administrative rights. Did you check the box "run with highest privileges"?

[zero610]

The task does have the checkbox checked "run with highest privileges." Any other ideas? Anything with the regedit maybe? Do I have to edit the registry with "run as administrator" or does it not matter? Either way, I believe I've tried both ways.

This is frustrating since it is working fine on another machine following the same instructions.

Thanks for the reply.

[barnabas1969]

Is the working machine logging on as an administrative user, and the non-working machine is logging on as a regular user?

I've never tested it on a non-admin user before. You should not need to modify the registry, except for the MST settings I outlined in the instructions.

In addition to my questions above, any other differences between the machines (one with UAC enabled and the other disabled, etc)?

Have you tried running the program from the command line (with the same arguments)? Any pop-up boxes with error messages, or errors in the command prompt?

[zero610]

Both machines only have 1 user that is setup as administrator. Additionally, both machines have the default UAC. I don't believe they are different except that the computer I am having problems with needed a netflix fix (outlined in the link below):

http://mike-thomson.com/blog/?p=210

I tried running the program from the command prompt (simply executing the .exe file) and/or double clicking it from the folder I put it in - both seem to run fine. I get no errors when doing either method.

Thanks again for all the help with this and your quick responses.

[barnabas1969]

Well, I don't have time tonight (it's late)... but maybe tomorrow I can make a copy of the program for debugging purposes.

By the way... when you ran it from the command prompt... did you enter AT LEAST the first parameter? For example:

Code: Select all

"c:\my_path\watch_ehexthost32.exe" ehexthost32.exe

Note that the program name and path needs to be in quotes if there are any spaces in the path. Also, the name of ehexthost32.exe may not have "32" in it, if you are running 32-bit Windows (counter-intuitive, I know).

[newfiend]

Whenever I edit the registry with UAC enabled I always run regedit as admin. Have you tried disabling UAC completely to see if that has had any effect?

Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

[zero610]

Yes I did try to remove all UAC - no effect.

I did try to run the program from the command prompt with the first parameter (which is the only one I use ever), as noted above - no errors. It simply brought me back to the directory I started from.

Since there are no errors, doesn't it seem like there is something up with my task scheduler? Any other ideas? Any Task Scheduler alternatives I could download to see if that is the problem?

Oh yes, I've also tried several times to setup the new task in Task Scheduler - same result every time. As such, I don't believe I set it up incorrectly or had a typo, etc.

Thanks again for the assistance.

[zero610]

Well, I think I'm just going to remove MCE standby tool. That will solve all these problems. I honestly can't remember why I installed it in the first place.

Thanks again for all the response related to the issue. Hopefully nobody else has this problem.

[barnabas1969]

When you ran it from the command prompt, did you try it while there was a Netflix video playing in Media Center?

[zero610]

Yup I sure did. I tried with netflix going and without. Both methods yielded no errors or messages.

[newfiend]

Only other thing I could think of is that maybe there are some problems with your Administrator account.
You could try adding a new Admin Account, Deleting the old Admin account and just use the new one and see if that fixes the issues... I know this has worked for some in past situations.
newfiend~

[barnabas1969]

Yup I sure did. I tried with netflix going and without. Both methods yielded no errors or messages.

When Netflix was playing a movie (the Netflix plugin in Media Center, that is), did my program run (and continue to run) until you stopped the movie that was playing in Netflix?

If my program did not stay running for as long as you had the movie playing in the Netflix plugin, you did something wrong.

[Kick4U]

Hello and thanks,

Your swift program has been working with Netflix for a few months with no issues recognizing "ehexthost32.exe" on my 64-bit machine.

However, I have been trying to get it to watch tixati.exe has the argument and find it does not work.

Any ideas?

-btw
I have tried:
1-making a copy of watch_ehexthost32.exe to watch_tixati.exe
2-using watch_ehexthost32.exe as a second task

[barnabas1969]

The program only detects programs that are making outbound network connections. It is possible that tixati.exe is not making outbound network connections, or it does so by running a different program as a child process.

You can confirm this by starting tixati.exe, and then open a command window to execute the following command:

Code: Select all

netstat -bn

If you don't see tixati.exe in the output from the netstat command, then tixati.exe is not initiating any outbound network connections. If you see some other program listed that is related to tixati.exe, then you could try using the name of that program as a parameter to my program.