Hmm - I am still having this problem and I was kind of hoping that Micorosoft would have brought out a patch or fix for it yet (no hope!)

I guess i'll just have to try the reg fix.

My problem is that I want the screen saver to work on the main media PC but NOT on the 360 !?

Well I did the registry edit and now my screen doesn't blank out on the extender. But my screensaver still works fine on my MCE PC. I don't see a problem anymore.

Just an update - I rebuilt my Vista PC and it all seemed to work fine and then I have managed to reproduce the issue.

I have a ViiV spec machine and it has enabled the "Allow hybrid sleep" mode in my power profile as per page 6 of this link (I assume that this is the old "away mode"):

http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/c/5/9c5b2167-8017-4bae-9fde-d599bac8184a/PMPolicy_Vista.doc

I have also set my power button to go into this hybrid sleep when I dont use it.  Whats interesting is that I get this 10 minute bug when the machine is in away mode but when its not in away mode it works fine !

Well my blank screen has been gone for a few months until last night. The recent windows update just caused my screen to go out again. I dont know what i did to make it stop either. I think this time its actually worse, its like every 5min the video just goes out with audio continuing.

cigga24:

Well my blank screen has been gone for a few months until last night. The recent windows update just caused my screen to go out again. I dont know what i did to make it stop either. I think this time its actually worse, its like every 5min the video just goes out with audio continuing.

yep i noticed it started happening again the other night. Guess it was an update. Will try the fix I used last time to see if that will do the trick.

Just a quick question for the last two posts...

What state is your media PC in when the blank screen happens on the 360 ?

I only seem to get this 10 minute bug when the media PC is in sleep mode.  When the PC is fully on the 360 extended gui works fine and i dont get the blank screen.

markcarline:

Just a quick question for the last two posts...

What state is your media PC in when the blank screen happens on the 360 ?

I only seem to get this 10 minute bug when the media PC is in sleep mode.  When the PC is fully on the 360 extended gui works fine and i dont get the blank screen.

My PC is...actually i'm not sure i guess its in away mode or something. I mainly use the 360 and rarely use the pc itself. I know i have to move my mouse to bring the screen up though. But my setup has been like this for almost a year now. I'm about positive it was the update.

cigga24:

I know i have to move my mouse to bring the screen up though. But my setup has been like this for almost a year now. I'm about positive it was the update.

Ok - So it goes into sleep mode and the screen goes blank, if you keep moving the mouse (and prevent the main PC going into sleep mode) do you still get the same problem with the 360 ?

 

they are in two separate rooms so doing that is not an option. But i could just make it stay awake. I have not tried that, but if the machine was sleep/away before and after i boot the 360 then it shouldnt matter right? Will try this afternoon.

Why dont you just start watching some recorded TV via the 360 whist browsing the web on the PC for half an hour.

I know for a fact that if I press the sleep button (putting the PC into away mode - Its a ViiV spec PC) then I allways get the 10 minute bug blank screen bug when watching live or recorded tv.

 

This seems to only happen to me when my PC is in sleep mode, with the Media Center application running in the foreground. 

Just caught the black screen bug after about a month of everything working fine. I want the setup to work so bad but its just one thing after another.

So what was the final fix for this Registery adjustment?

Thanx

Arise long dead thread! ;-)

I am having a very similar problem to the symptoms described in this thread. I have a VMC (Ultimate if it matters) supporting 2 Xbox 360 extenders and an HP MediaSmart TV extender.

One of the Xbox 360s does not have any manifestation of this problem -- it can play video for an hour or more without a black screen.

The second Xbox and the HP TV, on the other hand, have black displays after approximately 10 minutes. Audio is still playing but the video is black (ala a screensaver).

What I have done:

- I've gone in to the registry keys for each user on the machine to disable the screensaver;
- I've disabled power saving and away mode on the VMC;
- I've confirmed I'm not running OneCare (I'm using Avast for antivirus)

I'm really stumped by this and it is driving my wife nuts. I'd like to avoid the long shot of reinstalling the whole VMC (which can introduce other problems) as otherwise everything is running very reliably.

Does anyone have any advice/suggestions?

Thanks!

Marlin

Marlin,

Do you ever resolve this?  I just did a complete reinstall and this has poped up.  Did all of the above to no avail.

Anybody get back to you with a solution?

Brett

Thanks to all of you for sharing the details of the "black screen" issue you've been experiencing.  We're listening and have been trying to identify the cause.  Unfortunately, we are stuck...

We have been unable to get a consistent repro of this issue in house.  Are all of you still seeing this?  If yes, providing the details of your system configuration might help us identify the root cause.  Examples of information that may help us include:

OS and Service Pack Level

PC Make/Model

Network and Graphics Cards

Extender Make/Model

Extender Firmware Version or if Xbox, the Xbox Dashboard version.  To check the Xbox Dash Version, go to System -> Console Settings -> System Info and provide the WHOLE string starting with D: (include K: and X:)

For Xbox, copy down the properties (create date, last access, etc)  for the .xex file in \windows\ehome\mcx\x02

We also request exact repro steps.