You may have noticed that when using a tablet (like my Wacom Intuos 3) with Vista Ultimate or Vista Home Premium edition, that although the Media Center application runs perfectly on your PC, your XBOX 360 or other MCX will not load the Media Center interface. 

The error that occurs appears on a screen that looks like the old MCE 2005 visual interface, and indicates that the connection has been terminated and the only option is to try to reconnect.

I searched for a solution and discovered that the MCX cannot have the tablet services running or it will not load due to a program focus error.  No solution was listed, so I have come up with one that works for me.  Hopefully it will help anyone in a similar situation.

Here are the steps.  You might be able to skip a few of the steps, but to be thorough, I've included them all.  These instructions were created using Vista Ultimate, but should work with other editions of Vista and MCE 2005.

1. Turn off the XBOX 360 (or other MCX)

2.  Un-install tablet software and drivers

3.  Reboot the PC (still with extender off) ... then re-install tablet drivers

4.  Press the key combination WIN+R (WIN key is the key with the windows logo on it, typically located on the lower left of most keyboards) to run the "Run" dialog.

5.  Type services.msc and press enter

6.  In the services manager that opens scroll down the list and find the entries for "Tablet PC Input Service" and "TabletService."

7.  Right-click each service and choose properties.  In the properties dialog box for each item, on the "General" tab, change the startup type to "Manual."  Click "Apply," then "OK." 

(Note: I am using a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet, these services may be titled differently with another tablet, but should be very similar.  Disable all of the tablet services listed.)

8.  Reboot PC

(Notice on reboot that the tablet features may not work properly.)

9.  Turn on XBOX 360 (or other MCX) and connect to Media Center.  Notice, it may generate the same error you were getting before and offer to reconnect.  If you choose to reconnect, it should connect and be fine from that point on.

10.  Return to PC and run services.msc again.  This time, select the tablet services and choose "Start" at the top of the column to the left of the list of services. 

11.  Once both services are started, the tablet functions should be working correctly on your PC.  You can start any additional tablet utilities that you like.  For example, the Wacom tablet properties utility can be started and used for configuration.  The MCX will continue to work without any problem even if it is turned off and back on (disconnected/reconnected). 

A few notes about the above steps.  Everytime the PC is rebooted the two tablet services that were changed to "Manual" will have to be manually turned on as in step 10.  I realize that this is a little tedious.  The good news is, that only takes a few seconds.  You can write a batch file that executes and automatically runs both services, but that is beyond the scope of what is written here.

At this point, the XBOX 360 (or MCX) should be able to be turned off and on regardless of when the PC is rebooted without any problem.  I tested connection in various scenarios, and the only time that I got the original "Connection Terminated" screen or experienced any problems was the very first time I connected after changing the settings.  It has now been several weeks, and both my tablet and MCX are working perfectly. 

Now you can have your Tablet ... and MCX too!

Hope this helps.