Powering Down A HTPC

For convenience, I have a couple of remote controls next to my bed, so that I can easily shutoff the computer and everything connected to it, when I get tired of viewing.

One remote simply puts the computer to sleep, which works fine, so far as it goes, but leaves the TV/monitor, DVD player, etc. running. So I put a remote controlled electrical switch in the outlet that the cable that powers all of these is plugged ito.

Unfortunately, when I shutoff all power, that defeats the sleep function, and after turning power back on, I have to turn the computer on at it's own power switch, and Windows thinks that there was a problem, and displays the boot options menu.

I was thinking about setting it to go into hibernation, instead of sleep, but that tends to create locked files on the hard drive, that I would rather not have.

I really don't care about whether anything is saved, or that it can continue where it left off, I just want an easy way to control it as I nod off, or want to wake to a movie. Can this be done without using hibernation?

I think that both of you have misunderstood. The question is not about how to switch any of the hardware either on or off, it is about how to switch it on remotely, without having to go to the computer itself to do so. Yes, I can remotely put power to the PC, but that doesn't turn on the computer. I can not turn the computer on with the remote after it has had the power shutoff, because it no longer can recover from sleep. If I use the PC's own power switch, obviously I can't do that remotely. The idea is to be able to power on the hardware and reach desktop simultaneously remotely.

Maybe I didn't understand either, but I think Zepher's suggestion would be the best here in the sense that I understand that as if you plug the computer in the master one, when you put it to sleep, it shuts power down to everything else (slaves), and when you use your remote control to get your computer out of sleep, it gets power back to everything else.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

No. It appears that this isn't going to go anywhere, because I really don't know how to explain any better than I already have. It seems clear enough to me, but obviously I'm wrong, and if I continue to explain, all that it will do is to make the question even more unclear. I appreciate the efforts made to help, but unless someone can decipher my question, I will consider the thread dead.

seekermeister said:

I think that both of you have misunderstood. The question is not about how to switch any of the hardware either on or off, it is about how to switch it on remotely, without having to go to the computer itself to do so. Yes, I can remotely put power to the PC, but that doesn't turn on the computer. I can not turn the computer on with the remote after it has had the power shutoff, because it no longer can recover from sleep. If I use the PC's own power switch, obviously I can't do that remotely. The idea is to be able to power on the hardware and reach desktop simultaneously remotely.

In almost every BIOS is a setting as to what should happen when power is applied after a power failure (which is in essence what you simulate when you turn off the power strip). Set this to "on" and the computer will automatically turn on when you turn the power strip back on. This will not work for a hibernate or sleep situation.

Steps:

1) Shut down PC
2) Turn off power strip
3) Turn on power strip
4) PC comes on automatically based on BIOS setting

You can't power the PC on remotely unless it has power in it supplying the IR/Bluetooth (whatever you're using) receiver. In almost all cases (this one included, it seems) when the PC is off (shut down) all the power is cut, so the 'power on' signal from your remote will not be received.

You can leave it in sleep mode for this purpose, which should leave the receiver powered on and able to receive the 'power on' signal from your remote.

It's the same with a TV - put it on standby and you can use the remote to turn it back on; turn it off at the switch on the TV itself and the power is cut, so the remote won't work.

As for turning everything off at once, have a look at Logitech's Harmony remotes - they're universal remotes that can control everything in one go. They have a steep-ish learning/set-up curve, but once they're working well they're a real time saver.
Harmony Remotes