Anyone has these boxes with Coreelec?

That’s what you are looking for. Try every option there and reboot after each change. Right now it looks like the IR onboard receiver is not recognizing the signal from the remote. Hopefully, by switching through protocols, you might find one that helps the receiver recognize the remote signals. If the system becomes unstable or unusable, just write a new boot media. It only takes a minute or two.

Another option you could explore is: CoreELEC BL301 Wake-Up feature [inject_bl301]

Could you provide a picture of the remote and device (can be a stock picture from the net)? The x96mini comes bundled with a couple different remotes.