I think this is normal behaivor.

The Rio Receiver is a slave unit. It runs its player software only after downloading it from the PC's hard disk, then it plays music streamed from the PC's hard disk. If the PC is turned off, the Rio Receiver can't get its player software, and therefore no program is running to "listen" for the signals from the remote.

Question: Since the Rio Receiver is just a slave unit and requires the PC in order to be useful, why are you even trying to turn it on without the PC?