[Feature] A200 Power management in May 2011 firmware

[Rusakov2@Netscape.net]

Hello,
is it a feature or a bug in May 2011 firmare for A200 ?
Previous, older firmware did not suffer from this feature.
Symptom: when left unattended for some time and no buttons on remote pressed and no movie is running, A200 goes into some form of power savings mode. My concerns are
1) after wake up - screen saver from A200 shows up and thus I dont know what file was it set on before
2) to remove screen saver a key press on remote is needed. Annoying and takes extra time
3) the worst ... after pressing key on remote A200 screen saver goes away and it starts to spin up the hard drive, which take s a lot more than several seconds and a rotating circle is shown until then.

How do I disable that A200 power management altogether - to set it to run in always-on mode of operation ? I don't care much about extra watts saved, but getting annoyed every time that sleep-resume-spin up cycle happens.
Is there any way to do that ? I am not *nix literate so please suggest a smiple way through remote control or some web interface method at most.
Thanks!

[BanditRider]

You can turn off the screen saver in the settings.
The hard disk spin-down is a function of the hard drive, not the A-200.
There might be a tool from the hard drive manufacturer to disable the spin-down.

Also try switching to decaf.

[Rusakov2@Netscape.net]

Hello,
and thank you for the reply.

(01-22-2012 01:56 PM)BanditRider Wrote:  The hard disk spin-down is a function of the hard drive, not the A-200.

this one I would not agree with. Two firmware releases back, on the same hard drive, A200 firmware did not allow hard drive to spin down and kept it running. I well remember that.
As for decaf, do you mean switch to another media player ? Yes, have been thinking about that for some time.

[halfelite]

the hd not spinning down was a bug. if you dont want the hd to spin down. then like bandit said there are tools to set the hd not to spin down its actually what controls when it spins down..

[BanditRider]

Some apps keep the drive spinning, like downloading or seeding torrents.

As for the decaf, I meant decaffeinated coffee... relax, smoke a bone, chill out. If you can't wait 10 seconds for the drive to spin up then you're too wound up.

[Rusakov2@Netscape.net]

(01-23-2012 04:33 AM)halfelite Wrote:  the hd not spinning down was a bug. if you dont want the hd to spin down. then like bandit said there are tools to set the hd not to spin down its actually what controls when it spins down..

Great ! Can get that bug back please ?
Regarding tools mentioned - I am not *nix literate, so could you please navigate me somewhere in A200 UI or in its remote control buttons to do that ?
I can wait dumb for 10 seconds ... perhaps once. But not every time. Power management is a great thing where appropriate. There should be an option to keep power at full on for all parts of A200 if user wants it to be that way. since A200 is a stationary device with AC power on at all times, there is no battery, hense no reason to do all that power saving stuff by increasing delays.

[BanditRider]

You chose to install a power saving hard drive.

If you install a "non-green" hard drive I suspect you'll have overheating issues in your A-200.

[Rusakov2@Netscape.net]

(01-24-2012 01:47 PM)BanditRider Wrote:  You chose to install a power saving hard drive.
If you install a "non-green" hard drive I suspect you'll have overheating issues in your A-200.

So... either way I lose on my A200 looks like. Grrr...
Looks like there is no solution for me rather than shelf A200 and shop around for more responsive product.

[accident]

can anyone name 1 person with a non-green drive overheating issue?

Just adjust your green drive to not spin down as quick. see the manufacturer support site for a tool to help with this.