[PROBLEM] lirc, mceusb and generic HP USB IR receiver

[dharmabm]

ok, i am at wits end with this... i have tried everything i know (and i am not new to this) and cannot get my remote to work consistently. it works most of the time in rc1, but occasionally does not - either only a few buttons work or it doesn't work at all, usually a reboot or 2 will fix it. but in staging i cannot get it to work at all. i have been through everything in THIS THREAD, as well as dozens of xbmc, openelec and lirc forums and nothing gets a response from irw or mode2.

dmesg

Code:

[   22.543228] Registered IR keymap rc-rc6-mce
[   22.543740] input: Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote Transceiver (1934:5168) as /devices/platform/bcm2708_usb/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3.3/1-1.3.3:1.0/rc/rc0/input0
[   22.544050] rc0: Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote Transceiver (1934:5168) as /devices/platform/bcm2708_usb/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3.3/1-1.3.3:1.0/rc/rc0
[   22.809221] mceusb 1-1.3.3:1.0: Registered FINTEK eHome Infrared Transceiver with mce emulator interface version 2
[   22.809251] mceusb 1-1.3.3:1.0: 0 tx ports (0x0 cabled) and 2 rx sensors (0x1 active)
[   22.809454] usbcore: registered new interface driver mceusb
[   22.900708] IR NEC protocol handler initialized
[   22.934558] IR RC6 protocol handler initialized
[   22.937440] IR RC5(x) protocol handler initialized
[   23.009760] IR JVC protocol handler initialized
[   23.015364] IR Sony protocol handler initialized
[   23.018082] IR SANYO protocol handler initialized
[   23.040672] input: MCE IR Keyboard/Mouse (mceusb) as /devices/virtual/input/input1
[   23.051048] IR MCE Keyboard/mouse protocol handler initialized
[   23.062441] lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, major 247
[   24.196843] rc rc0: lirc_dev: driver ir-lirc-codec (mceusb) registered at minor = 0
[   24.196868] IR LIRC bridge handler initialized

cat /var/log/lircd

Code:

Apr  7 19:54:18 xbian-testing lircd: caught signal
Apr  7 19:55:25 xbian-testing lircd: lircd(devinput) ready, using /var/run/lirc/lircd
Apr  7 19:59:01 xbian-testing lircd: accepted new client on /var/run/lirc/lircd
Apr  7 19:59:01 xbian-testing lircd: initializing '/dev/lirc0'
Apr  7 19:59:01 xbian-testing lircd: WARNING: can't get exclusive access to events coming from `/dev/lirc0' interface
Apr  7 19:59:37 xbian-testing lircd: removed client
Apr  7 19:59:37 xbian-testing lircd: closing '/dev/lirc0'
Apr  7 20:01:45 xbian-testing lircd: caught signal
Apr  7 20:01:47 xbian-testing lircd: lircd(default) ready, using /var/run/lirc/lircd
Apr  7 20:01:54 xbian-testing lircd: accepted new client on /var/run/lirc/lircd
Apr  7 20:02:29 xbian-testing lircd: removed client

Code:

xbian@xbian-testing ~ $ cat /proc/bus/input/devices
I: Bus=0003 Vendor=1934 Product=5168 Version=0001
N: Name="Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote Transceiver (1934:5168)"
P: Phys=usb-bcm2708_usb-1.3.3
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/bcm2708_usb/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3.3/1-1.3.3:1.0/rc/rc0/input0
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event0
B: PROP=0
B: EV=100013
B: KEY=fff 0 0 200 108fc32e 2376051 0 0 0 7 158000 4192 4001 8e9680 0 0 10000000
B: MSC=10

I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
N: Name="MCE IR Keyboard/Mouse (mceusb)"
P: Phys=/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/virtual/input/input1
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=sysrq kbd mouse0 event1
B: PROP=0
B: EV=100017
B: KEY=30000 0 7 ff87207a c14057ff febeffdf ffefffff ffffffff fffffffe
B: REL=3
B: MSC=10

Code:

xbian@xbian-testing ~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 2101:8500 ActionStar
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 2101:8501 ActionStar
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 1934:5168 Feature Integration Technology Inc. (Fintek) F71610A or F71612A Consumer Infrared Receiver/Transceiver
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0951:1665 Kingston Technology

Code:

xbian@xbian-testing ~ $ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
ir_lirc_codec           3564  0
lirc_dev                8952  1 ir_lirc_codec
ir_mce_kbd_decoder      3860  0
ir_jvc_decoder          1924  0
ir_sanyo_decoder        2228  0
ir_sony_decoder         1884  0
ir_rc5_decoder          1860  0
ir_rc6_decoder          2540  0
ir_nec_decoder          2516  0
rc_rc6_mce               928  0
mceusb                 11301  0
rc_core                12464  12 lirc_dev,ir_lirc_codec,ir_rc5_decoder,ir_nec_decoder,ir_sony_decoder,mceusb,ir_m​ce_kbd_decoder,ir_jvc_decoder,ir_rc6_decoder,ir_sanyo_decoder,rc_rc6_mce
frandom                 3296  1
brcmfmac              136832  0
brcmutil                3088  1 brcmfmac
cfg80211              147744  1 brcmfmac
rfkill                 10124  1 cfg80211
vchiq                 183244  2
sg                     18804  0

i am now at the point that i am shopping for a flirc or a gpio receiver, but they are not easy to find in this part of the world, plus i know it CAN work and would like to figure it out as it may help others if we can get to the bottom of it. i suspect a conflict with ir-keytables, but documentation on the relationship between that and lirc is spotty at best. @CurlyMo, can we use this as a scenario to put together a step-by-step troubleshooting procedure that is worth adding to the wiki? after all, it ain't rocket science (or is it?).