Remote control commands not processed

[Jarno Suni]

Binary package hint: lirc

I am using "VLSystem Mplay Blast" remote control. irw displays no commands when I press buttons of the remote.

See also http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8148347

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Oct 23 15:05:55 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/sbin/lircd
Package: lirc 0.8.6-0ubuntu2
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: lirc
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

It worked in 9.04, so this is a regression in 9.10, probably due to new kernel.

[mvisa (mikko-puolikuu)]

I can confirm this. Imon VFD/IR receiver (ffdc) worked on jaunty just fine. Now after upgrade to karmic it does not work with the same config files (hardware.conf/lircd.conf). Theres no errors anywhere, just no reaction to any keys, tested with irw, mode2, vdr, ...

[mvisa (mikko-puolikuu)]

Booting into jaunty's latest kernel fixes this. Something wrong with lirc kernel drivers it seems.

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

How did you boot Jaunty's kernel in Karmic?

[mvisa (mikko-puolikuu)]

Simply selecting it in grub menu, it was not removed by the upgrade process.

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

Unless you did partial upgrade. Or clean install.

[gnarlie (mikael-soderholm)]

I can confirm this after upgrading to karmic. Everything looks ok but lirc receives nothing from the remote.

[mvisa (mikko-puolikuu)]

The command "mode2" gives some codes (lircd not running of course) but lircd running + irw nothing.

[mvisa (mikko-puolikuu)]

Loading lirc_dev and lirc_imon with debug enabled I get this in syslog while using irw to test:

Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.409001] intf0 decoded packet: 01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.409025] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): poll called
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.409027] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): poll result = POLLIN|POLLRDNORM
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.409039] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): read called
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.409042] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): read result = OK (0)
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.409050] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): poll called
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.409052] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): poll result = 0
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.480996] intf0 decoded packet: 01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.481014] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): poll called
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.481017] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): poll result = POLLIN|POLLRDNORM
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.481028] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): read called
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.481031] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): read result = OK (0)
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.481039] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): poll called
Nov 8 12:38:50 lotus kernel: [225336.481041] lirc_dev (lirc_imon[0]): poll result = 0

So something happens, but irw does not output any codes still.

[John Dilmore (launchpad-ubuntu-yahoo)]

Probably this workaround might solve the issue:

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60860

[mvisa (mikko-puolikuu)]

I don't really see how removing the lirc_imon module from loading when that module is the one that drives my IR receiver.

[gnarlie (mikael-soderholm)]

lirc 0.8.4 from jaunty doesn't work either. I'm suspecting kernel breakage.

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

"Yep, 2.6.31 introduced some major i2c changes."
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=4AED0EDD.8030809%40sfu.ca&forum_name=lirc-list

[gnarlie (mikael-soderholm)]

solved this by installing jaunty, my last dist-upgrade on ubuntu, ever.

[Håvard Berland (berland)]

I have tried this with both 32-bit and 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 (same computer), and the problem only exist for 32-bit. Lirc 0.8.6.0ubuntu2. Kernel 2.6.31-14-generic.

[Håvard Berland (berland)]

Also, this bug was not present in Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 4 on the same machine (32-bit).

[Håvard Berland (berland)]

Funny thing, when I reinstalled 64-bit to circumvent this bug, the LCD display refuses to work, though it worked in 9.10 32-bit (when IR remote did not work). I don't know if these are related.

My hardware is:
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 15c2:ffdc SoundGraph Inc. iMON PAD Remote Controller

[n3utrino (gabe-kaelin)]

Same problem here.

dmesg gives
....
[ 88.751807] intf0 decoded packet: 80 0f 04 22 00 00 9e ae
[ 89.096017] intf0 decoded packet: 80 0f 84 22 00 00 9e ae
[ 89.432221] intf0 decoded packet: 80 0f 04 22 00 00 9e ae
[ 89.536285] intf0 decoded packet: 80 0f 04 22 00 00 9e ae
[ 89.640352] intf0 decoded packet: 80 0f 04 22 00 00 9e ae
.....

And so on. But nothing appears in irw.

Mythbuntu 9.10 64-bit
15c2:ffdc SoundGraph Inc. iMON PAD Remote Controller

LCD is working.

[n3utrino (gabe-kaelin)]

I found a solution working for me.

1. sudo service stop lirc
2. sudo irrecord -d /dev/lirc0 irrecord.out
3. record some buttons
4. copy recorded irrecord.out to /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
5. sudo service start lirc
6. irw
7. push some buttons and it works.

My conclusion is that you need a valid lircd conf to get output from lircd
hope that helps someone

[MrIcka (icka-)]

n3utrino: That don't work for me...

xbmc@xbmc:~$ sudo service lirc stop
 * Stopping remote control daemon(s): LIRC [ OK ]
xbmc@xbmc:~$ sudo irrecord -d /dev/ttyUSB0 irrecord.out

irrecord - application for recording IR-codes for usage with lirc

Copyright (C) 1998,1999 Christoph Bartelmus(<email address hidden>)

irrecord: could not get hardware features
irrecord: this device driver does not support the LIRC ioctl interface
irrecord: major number of /dev/ttyUSB0 is 188
irrecord: LIRC major number is 61
irrecord: check if /dev/ttyUSB0 is a LIRC device
irrecord: could not init hardware (lircd running ? --> close it, check permissions)

[Inferno84 (inferno84)]

The problem seems to be kernel related. This remote works (again) perfectly on kernel version 2.6.32-24 (MythBuntu 10.04 and 10.10), and fails to work if 2.6.35 variants (10.10, current version) of kernel are used.

Here is my 'uname -a' on the newest working kernel:

<code>
rolf@pianoWhite:~$ uname -a
Linux pianoWhite 2.6.32-24-generic #43-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 16 14:17:33 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
</code>

The bug has to be kernel related. I can reproduce this problem every time just by choosing differently in the grub menu. If any additional info is still needed, just ask.

[MrIcka (icka-)]

Yes, same here... works on 2.6.32-24 but don't work on 2.6.32-25. I'm running XBMC Live (Ubuntu 10.10)

[Thomas Tvivlaren (thomastvivlaren)]

I use the same remote control, i.e. "VLSystem_MPlay_Blast", for XBMC on Ubuntu 10.10. It stopped working about half a year ago (I was on 10.04 then). I had almost given up on this one but tonight I thought I should give it another go.

Just now I tried irrecord and got the same message as Mricka above, i.e.:

"irrecord - application for recording IR-codes for usage with lirc

Copyright (C) 1998,1999 Christoph Bartelmus(<email address hidden>)

irrecord: could not get hardware features
irrecord: this device driver does not support the LIRC ioctl interface
irrecord: major number of /dev/ttyUSB0 is 188
irrecord: LIRC major number is 61
irrecord: check if /dev/ttyUSB0 is a LIRC device
irrecord: could not init hardware (lircd running ? --> close it, check permissions)"

What really surprised me though was that after that XBMC started working with the remote. Anyone with an idea about why that is? It's a bit late but I will try tomorrow again and see if I can repeat this.

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

This seems to be fixed in ubuntu 12.04. Keys have different names, though.