Am I able to use a Media Centre remote?

I bought a new desktop last week and it came with a Media Centre remote which I know I am not going to use on the desktop; rather, on my Laptop.

Is it possible to assign it to my Laptop? I have inserted the cylindrical batteries with no luck when pressing the on button or the green MC one.

The desktop it came with is an Acer, but my laptop I want to use it with is an Asus N53JQ

Cheers

 

Did the remote come with an IR receiver? Generally, if it has it's own IR receiver you should be able to bring that over, but you would also need the appropriate software/drivers to run it.

 

Nope, it didn't come with anything; only the batteries and the remote.

 

It seems to work on the new computer I bought perfectly.

Is it possible to change what computer it works with?

 

Sepulcher, From this article, Use a remote control with Windows Media Center the remote you have may need bluetooth enabled on the computer you want to switch to.
Also is media centre enabled on the ASUS computer - control panel- programs & features - windows features - expand media features?
this link may also be of some help
Getting started with Windows Media Center
Bottom line Yes I believe it can be done.

 

Cheers for the links JOSEA.

I checked to see if Media Centre was enabled and it was. I am not sure how to enable bluetooth though.

What do I need to do if the remote still isn't working?

 

I read the specs on you asus , it has blue tooth capability. If you open device manager, - network adapters - do you see any entries for bluetooth?

Also does the ASUS have an icon you can click on to start Media Center? Mine does not, but if you create a shortcut to this Target:
C:\Windows\ehome\ehshell.exe /entrypoint:{CE32C570-4BEC-4aeb-AD1D-CF47B91DE0B2}\{FC9ABCCC-36CB-47ac-8BAB-03E8EF5F6F22}
You should be able to launch Media Center.

 

Hmm, I don't see any bluetooth entries. All I see is:

Atheros Gigabit Ethernet Controller
and
Atheros Wireless Network Adapter

I don't have an icon but when I search "Windows Media Centre" in the start menu it does display the program itself.

 

I have read the remote either works with USB cord, IR receiver (as Brett pointed out) or BlueTooth, so since it works on the Acer the issue seems to be how to get Bluetooth running on the ASUS.
I am not familiar with your model, but do you have a wireless console icon in the systray?
If you press Fn F2 do you see a small on screen display that allow you to enable bluetooth? see attached

 

Yes, I have the exact same blue wireless console icon as you

Bluetooth was not enabled so, like you said, I pressed Fn F2 and enabled it. It gave me a notification saying my radio device was discoverable but not connected.

 

You need to pair the bluetooth remote with your N53JQ if you haven't already. I don't know about media center remotes in particular, but with any bluetooth device, the key sequence to enable pairing mode is in the device user manual.

 

Well, since the remote came with the Acer computer originally I went through all documentation (I never lose PC manuals/guides) and there is no guide in any of the booklets regarding the Media Centre remote. From what I remember I took the keyboard, mouse and the remote out of the box and both the keyboard and mouse came with set up guides whereas the remote came only with small batteries.

The remote is not an actual Acer product from my understanding.

 

Try to find a model number on it somewhere. It may be in the battery compartment.

 

I am not sure which one is the model number as there are 3 sets of numbers. This may be the one:

RC2604301/01B

 

That's an infrared controller, standard media center remote.

Since the N53JQ has no IrDA port, you would need a USB infrared receiver to use the remote.

edit: The service guide says it comes with P/N: OVU430008 which looks to be the USB infrared receiver.

 

I've looked for an IR receiver with no luck. Maybe it's not possible to assign it to my PC?