Originally posted by Bui
Now, with focusing action assigned sorely to AE/AL, if the camera is idle, I have to press shutter to wake it up, then press AE/AL to focus, as the camera doesn’t respond on pressing AE/AL alone. This doesn’t take a lot of time but is quite annoying.
That is what you configured. Sorry it comes with the penalty of having to use the buttons according to set up.

You might be able to use the AE/AL button to wake the camera up, if that seems more natural.
Edit: Various buttons will wake the meter and/or camera. Which ones work for what depends on model.
Steve