Mmm.. that's different from Faq Master's lockup -- your jiffies are still working.

Point your browser at http://your.empeg/proc/interrupts
and refresh a few times: see if you can identify whether
or not "timer" is incrementing (yes), and SMC9194, and rdsirq
and any others. List them for me (or just save two successive
snapshots of the page).

Also look at empeg_ir and verify that it updates when you press on the remote.

-ml