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IR remote reboot for the Raspberry Pi

Former Member

Greetings from Noway!

Here's a little tinker tip for you.

 

I use my RasPi3 along with the OSMC software,

on my tv. I love the pi and the software,

but every now and then, the system freezes up,

and I need to reboot.

 

This involves the tedious task of moving my TV set,

and unplug the usb power cable.

In the long run this is bound to cause wear and tear on the connections.

 

On my tv remote, there is a surplus of buttons that don't relate to the KODI software,

or the tv itself.

 

How about utilizing one of them to trigger an infrared sensor on the pi,

to cause a reboot?

 

All the best from Auggie.

Parents

  • Hi Aage,

     

    Better to get to the bottom of the reason for the freezing up.

    Normally Linux should be shut down gracefully using a command such as 'sudo poweroff', not by unplugging the power supply.

    Anyway, instead of unplugging, if you really must have a hard reset switch, then it is possible to solder a push-switch to two pins

    marked 'RUN' as I understand. You probably need to google for it, but it looks like they just need to be shorted to force a reset.

    If you wish to use an IR sensor then you need something to decode the signal - which would usually be the 'Pi, but that

    has frozen up.. so you'd need an additional microcontroller. This seems like a complication too far when the better solution is

    to debug and ensure that it doesn't freeze up occasionally.

    You could also try some typical things to rule in or rule out things like power supply and USB cable, running the Pi without the

    application software, confirming that the app freezes and not Linux, running the Pi 3 outside of an enclosure in case of heat

    issues, and so on.

Reply

  • Hi Aage,

     

    Better to get to the bottom of the reason for the freezing up.

    Normally Linux should be shut down gracefully using a command such as 'sudo poweroff', not by unplugging the power supply.

    Anyway, instead of unplugging, if you really must have a hard reset switch, then it is possible to solder a push-switch to two pins

    marked 'RUN' as I understand. You probably need to google for it, but it looks like they just need to be shorted to force a reset.

    If you wish to use an IR sensor then you need something to decode the signal - which would usually be the 'Pi, but that

    has frozen up.. so you'd need an additional microcontroller. This seems like a complication too far when the better solution is

    to debug and ensure that it doesn't freeze up occasionally.

    You could also try some typical things to rule in or rule out things like power supply and USB cable, running the Pi without the

    application software, confirming that the app freezes and not Linux, running the Pi 3 outside of an enclosure in case of heat

    issues, and so on.

Children
  • in reply to shabaz

    You are of course right.

    All OS'es should be shut down gracefully.

    But when they freeze, they freeze.

    There goes the grace of it.

     

    My pi 3 gets its power from the

    new official pi 3 power wall wart.

    The pi is getting lots and lots of air,

    and nothing running, except KODI.

     

    It behaves quite nicely when running Raspbian.

    I have no reason to suspect any other

    than the KODI software itself.

    It is great, and it is free, and far from perfect.

    Debugging KODI is way beyond my skills.

     

    I just think it would be a fun and convenient build.

     

    After all, in a Ben Heck setting,

    possibility and sensibility

    doesn't always go hand in hand image

     

    All the best, Auggie.

  • in reply to Former Member

    Ok, but back to the problem at hand - is OSMC/KODI an application that runs on top of Linux?

    When it freezes up, does the OS freeze up or just the app?

    By freeze up, does it stop responding but continue to run as a process (can be checked by typing

    ps -ef and observing the output, e.g. ps -ef | grep kodi ) or does the process abort?

    If the process aborts, as a workaround, it is possible to run a monitor script or program that could restart

    it.

    If Linux itself freezes up or crashes, this is a serious problem and needs further investigation.