Two unresolved issues: Network card and Microsoft MCE Remote in XBMC

Question

Hi everyone,
I have a "fileserver" running Arch, and also a HTPC running Arch and XBMC.  Whilst I am technically not really a newbie, I setup the server and HTPC over two years ago and haven't really touched them all that much since, leading me to lose much of what I learned when I set them up.
I have recently purchased the parts and setup a new HTPC and have setup Arch on it but I have two issues that I cannot resolve without some tips to point me in the right direction.
Problem one:
The onboard network interface on the motherboard doesn't seem to work "out of the box" with Arch.  The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2H.
lspci -vv shows the following:
Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology GA-EP45-DS5 Motherboard
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 40
Region 0: I/O ports at de00 [size=256]
Region 2: Memory at fddff000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K]
Region 4: Memory at fddf8000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: r8169
ip addr shows the following:
eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
link/ether 50:e5:49:57:b8:50 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
I am guessing that there is some sort of issue with the Kernel driver in use being r8169 not r8168?  Any tips?
The second issues that I am having is quite different.  I am using a genuine Microsoft Media Centre remot (version 2 I think).  There are two parts to this issue:
1.  Upon boot, IRW shows perfect input such as:
000000037ff07be0 00 KEY_DOWN mceusb
000000037ff07be0 00 KEY_DOWN mceusb
000000037ff07be0 01 KEY_DOWN mceusb
000000037ff07be1 00 KEY_UP mceusb
000000037ff07be1 01 KEY_UP mceusb
000000037ff07be1 02 KEY_UP mceusb
000000037ff07bde 00 KEY_RIGHT mceusb
000000037ff07bde 01 KEY_RIGHT mceusb
000000037ff07bde 02 KEY_RIGHT mceusb
000000037ff07bdf 00 KEY_LEFT mceusb
000000037ff07bdf 01 KEY_LEFT mceusb
000000037ff07bdf 02 KEY_LEFT mceusb
000000037ff07bdd 00 KEY_OK mceusb
000000037ff07bdd 01 KEY_OK mceusb
000000037ff07bdd 02 KEY_OK mceusb
000000037ff07bd9 00 Guide mceusb
000000037ff07bd9 01 Guide mceusb
000000037ff07bd9 02 Guide mceusb
000000037ff07bd9 03 Guide mceusb
000000037ff07bfe 00 KEY_1 mceusb
000000037ff07bfe 01 KEY_1 mceusb
000000037ff07bfe 02 KEY_1 mceusb
000000037ff07bfd 00 KEY_2 mceusb
000000037ff07bfd 01 KEY_2 mceusb
But the problem is that when I enter XMBC, there is absolutely no response to any buttons on the remote.
2.  Once the HTPC has been put to sleep (suspend / S3), upon resume the remote doesn't function quite properly.  IRW shows:
^[[B^[[B^[[D^[[D^[[C^[[C^[[A^[[A
The arrow buttons only work in XBMC, but nothing else.
I understand that when the lirc module was put into the kernel it changed the way things worked, but I cannot understand what I am doing wrong here.
Could anyone please provide me some direction in solving these two issues?  I am not well versed in Arch, but am willing to try and solve my own problem if someone can point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance.
Luke

Answer 1

I am having much the same problem with the RRC-126 and xbmc. At one point, X was making the remote a keyboard, which let some basic stuff work. Changing it in the xorg.conf stopped X from loading it as a keyboard and let lirc take over, then even the most basic functions (left, right, play pause) doesn't work. XBMC does seem to be connecting to lircd, but commands from the remote aren't being picked up (even though irw shows output fine)