Shortly, I am buying some 'junk low budget pc hardware. I am using it to put a Micro PC setup inside of an xbox console. I was wondering if there is any way I could turn the pc on and off from a remote control. I have seen some PC mods which you can buy a 'Car remote' and an IR receiver and it will turn something that takes x Volts. Im thinking if I could put the receiver inside the 'xbox pc' and then have it hook up to the power and once the on button (on the remote) is hit it powers up. I've made a list of the low budget xbox pc (hardware from ebay): Power Supply Motherboard w/ Processor Hard Drive Laptop HD to PC HD converter Optical Drive Memory Cold Cathodes If I don't win an item I will buy something similar. I've also got some IDE cables, keyboard and a mouse. If anyone has any advice, please post! Thanks in advance, Chris
A computer is started by shorting 2 pins on the motherboard which trigger the startup. I don't know of anything, but you might find a device that will change a switch (connected to the 2 pins) when it receives IR or radio input. GCSE electronics doesn't go far with this, but it is possible to do it with relatively cheap components.
Thanks for the reply Addis, I'll do some googling and come back with anything I find. If anyone else has any advice please post!
The one thing to keep in mind is that after a few seconds of shorting the two pins to power a system on, this will also trigger a shut down of the system. I'm not familiar with remote devices, but that would be something I'd keep in mind in the build.
If you somehow get frustrated and are unable to do with a remote... you could rig a light dependent resistor to the power pins of the motherboard and place it behind an extremely dark tinted plastic and trigger it with a laser pen or some extremely bright light.
Nice idea ninja, but I don't know whether there will be any dark places for it to go with the green cathodes on, but on the other hand there might.
