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User

09.01.2015 06:14:24

Harmony Smart Control Disconnected message

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

When I start the activity for Remote Buddy (it includes other devices such as the Mac Mini, AV receiver, Eye TV) I get the message

(in a grey box at the bottom of the screen) "Harmony Smart Control Disconnected" this repeats every time I press a key on the Harmony remote. Even if I re-pair the Harmony Remote. Clearly it must be paired as Remote Buddy (I assume that is where the message is generated) is reacting to the key press....it has never worked successfully.

If I quit and restart Remote Buddy, it asks me to press any key on the Harmony Smart Control. When I do this, I get the disconnected message.

I have tried completely removing the Sony PS3 device used for Remote Buddy, recreating it etc but it always gives this message. I use the Harmony extensively and it functions perfectly for every other device and activity.

I am on Yosemite 10.10.1 and the latest release of Harmony code. I have just downloaded and installed Remote Buddy from your site. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Colin

Last edited: 09.01.2015 06:21:39

These entries from the FAQ may be relevant to this topic:

Hardware - Apple® Remote

After uninstalling/quitting Remote Buddy, my Mac® no longer reacts to the Apple® Remote. (FAQ015E0241)
To enable you to use all capabilities of the IR Receiver of your Mac®, Remote Buddy is using its own driver. In contrast, all other applications with integrated Apple® Remote support usually use the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem.

As long as you're running Remote Buddy, Remote Buddy and its driver are responsible for turning the received button presses into actions. As soon as you quit Remote Buddy, this task is again handled by the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem.

If other applications don't use the interface to the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem correctly, this can lead to the effect that nothing happens when you press a button on your Apple® Remote. For as long as you're running Remote Buddy, issues like this are covered by Remote Buddy and it's driver and are therefore not visible to you. However, as soon as you quit Remote Buddy, the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem is back in control and any issues caused in it by other applications become visible.

Therefore Remote Buddy is neither the cause of the issue nor is it responsible for it. Instead, the cause of the issue exists independently of Remote Buddy. It's located elsewhere and can also only be solved there.

Although our products can't cause any such issues, we're regularly contacted about such issues and asked for help. In order to make locating and fixing the cause of such issues as easy and efficient as possible, we've developed a free diagnostics tool: Remote Control Diagnostics. It can locate issues with a single click and will provide you with information about the issue as well as with instructions on how you can fix it.

Hardware - Harmony® Smart Control

How do I set up the Harmony Smart Control and connect it to Remote Buddy on my Mac? (FAQ015E0264)
Please see the detailed HowTo on this topic in our blog.
Nothing happens when I press a button on the Smart Control. (FAQ015E0261)
This can be due to a number of many, very different reasons:
1. Wrong/No Activity: the Smart Control will only send your button presses to Remote Buddy if you've selected the "Remote Buddy" activity. Activities on the Harmony Smart Remote are chosen by pressing one of the buttons from the "Music, TV, Movie" row at the top of the remote. Please note: short and long presses of these buttons can select different activities.
2. Bluetooth turned off: please make sure that Bluetooth on your Mac is turned on.
3. Harmony Hub not paired: the Harmony Hub sometimes looses the Bluetooth pairing when making changes to its configuration. To initially establish - or re-establish - a Bluetooth pairing between the Harmony Hub and your Mac, follow this guide:
  
  Pairing instructionsShow
4. Soft keyboard pairing: make sure you only have paired your Harmony Hub to your Mac as a "Sony Playstation 3". If you also pair your Harmony Hub as a soft keyboard, Remote Buddy will no longer be able to capture input events coming from it. Why is this? In "Sony Playstation 3" mode, the Harmony Hub identifies as "Consumer Control" device to your Mac. For this class of devices, any app is allowed to exclusively capture all input. For keyboards, however, OS X only allows access to apps running with root/administrator priviledges, locking out Remote Buddy. To properly remove the pairing as a keyboard, first use the Harmony in that mode, then remove "Harmony Keyboard" from System Preferences > Bluetooth - and finally remove the respective device from your Harmony's configuration. Since OS X caches the identity of Bluetooth devices, it may take some time, several attempts and maybe even a system restart before OS X sees your Harmony Hub as a "Consumer Control" device again and again allows Remote Buddy access to it.
5. Empty batteries: if you can't control any devices with your Harmony Smart Remote at all, while using the "Harmony Control" app on your iOS device still works, chances are the battery of your remote needs to be replaced. Logitech provides instructions for this.

Which Harmony commands need to be assigned to the respective buttons on the Smart Control so that I can use all buttons with Remote Buddy? (FAQ015E0265)

When the Harmony Hub connects to my Mac, I'm asked for a PIN. (FAQ015E0262)
Please enter 0000.
If I haven't used the Harmony Smart Remote for a few minutes, Remote Buddy does not react to the first button press. (FAQ015E0263)
Please verify that no power saving options are enabled at "Remote Buddy > Preferences > Hardware > Bluetooth Receiver".

User

09.01.2015 15:37:01

Re: Harmony Smart Control Disconnected message

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Hi Colin,

thanks for asking.

If you press a button, does anything happen? Can you control apps?

Or does just the "Harmony Smart Control Disconnected" message come up in response to a button press?

If that's the case, please verify that no power saving options are enabled at "Remote Buddy > Preferences > Hardware > Bluetooth Receiver".

Please also check the paragraph on "Soft keyboard pairing" if you've paired your Mac as a computer with the Harmony Hub, too:

https://www.iospirit.com/support/faqs/remotebuddy/category/23/Hardware-Harmony-Smart-Control/entry/261/-/

Hope that helps,
Felix

User

10.01.2015 04:18:01

Re: Re: Harmony Smart Control Disconnected message

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Hi Felix,

thanks for the fast response. I checked the power saving settings, they were OK. I also checked the Soft keyboard paring, which was also OK. So i completely removed the device, the activity, reset my iPhone (the Harmony app was behaving strangely by now) and also restarted the Mac, and the Harmony Hub. I added everything again, including re-assigning the remote buttons, and it is now working :-) It is possible that I made some mistake in the original setup, but I’m suspicious about the Harmony App/Hub, which as I said stated behaving strangely (crashes, taking a long time to perform actions etc).

I do have some other comments/questions, which I will ask in another post. As far as I’m concerned, this one is solved. Thanks very much - the app works well controlling Eye TV.

Cheers

Colin

On 10/01/2015, at 3:37 am, Felix wrote:

Hi Colin,

thanks for asking.

If you press a button, does anything happen? Can you control apps?

Or does just the "Harmony Smart Control Disconnected" message come up in response to a button press?

If that's the case, please verify that no power saving options are enabled at "Remote Buddy > Preferences > Hardware > Bluetooth Receiver".

Please also check the paragraph on "Soft keyboard pairing" if you've paired your Mac as a computer with the Harmony Hub, too:

https://www.iospirit.com/support/faqs/remotebuddy/category/23/Hardware-Harmony-Smart-Control/entry/261/-/

Hope that helps,
Felix

[standard mail footer removed]

Last edited: 11.01.2015 05:05:52

User

11.01.2015 12:00:01

Re: Re: Harmony Smart Control Disconnected message

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Excellent to hear this issue is resolved!

Thanks for letting me know!

Cheers,
Felix

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