Best Way to Detect Computer Left On?

upstatemike

Senior Member
I have a PC that I let my nephew use when he visits and for some reason he can never remember to shut it down when he is done. Eventually I remember to check and shut it off but it would be nice to get a reminder that it is on. Is there any way to ping the thing say once per hour and if it responds have a TTS announcement that it is on?
 
Mike are you using HomeSeer? If so you could use a 3 or 4 line script to do this.
 
I am/will be running both. (Similiar to the concept of hardware controller + PC to split critical functions from extended features except PowerHome is my "Hardware Controller". It has been that reliable!)

Rupp-
What would the script be like? An actual ping and parse it somehow? Or some other function that can be called from within a script?

TonyNo-
I'll read up on Ph_ping.

Thanks for both ideas!
 
If you are running HS 2.X then this .net script should get you started. Just name it PingIt.vb and put in in a recurring event.

Sub Main(parm as object)
dim PingResult as integer

PingResult = hs.ping("192.168.0.103")
hs.writelog("Code",PingResult)
If Pingresult<>0 then
hs.writelog ("Ping check", "The pc is off")
else

hs.speak ("The PC has been left on!")
end if

end sub
 
Here's the PowerHome way to do it...

Set up a Formula-type Timed Event for every 60 minutes. The formula would then be:

Code:
if( ph_ping( "192.168.0.103", 100) > 0, ph_tts("The PC has been left on!"), 0)

100 is the TTL (Time to Live).

Done deal!
 
There are alos a couple of plugins that will give you this capability from within Homeseer. One that comes to mind is DooNetwork.
 
There is a hardware way to do it too... monitor the 12V power signal (used to power DVDs, etc).

I have an input on my HVPro for monitoring PC power. I also use a relay output to turn on and off the PC - connected in parallel with the power switch so I can manually control it too.
 
Don't forget DooNetwork plugin for Homeseer. I use it for several similar functions as it turns an IP address into a device that you can then act on as needed....
 
Many Homeseer and MainLobby customers use the MLWMI plugin for this. After a certain time, or event, the PC can be remotely turned off on schedule.
 
If the machine powers itself off at shutdown, you could always set up an event using the standard AT scheduler to run at a specific hour and the PC could shut itself down at that prescribed hour.
 
huggy59 said:
If the machine powers itself off at shutdown, you could always set up an event using the standard AT scheduler to run at a specific hour and the PC could shut itself down at that prescribed hour.
Good idea but what if I end up using it at that time? Can I abort the shutdown? (Obviously I have never used the AT scheduler).
 
upstatemike said:
huggy59 said:
If the machine powers itself off at shutdown, you could always set up an event using the standard AT scheduler to run at a specific hour and the PC could shut itself down at that prescribed hour.
Good idea but what if I end up using it at that time? Can I abort the shutdown? (Obviously I have never used the AT scheduler).
Another option would be to create a simple visual basic app that monitors the screen saver mode and have it set that if the screen saver has been running for x minutes or x hours, shut down the pc. :ph34r: Then just place the program in the startup or registry startup so everytime the pc is started, the monitoring program is started.

The Pod
 
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