PC Wakes But Recording Doesn't Happen

[Shaun White]

I've been using the Media Server and DVBViewer for ages now and I'm increasingly finding this problem.

I have it make auto timers and rely on it to wake my sleeping PC, record the show, then put it back to sleep. It's mostly unmonitored.

What I find is, I usually notice that first thing in the morning, the PC is awake when it shouldn't be. I turn on my screen, hover over the server icon in the taskbar and it tells me the the next timer to start is actually the one from the night before. My PC has woken up, but the recording hasn't happened. If I open the web interface, that appears stuck too and still shows the timer event that didn't happen. I either restart the server or my PC and then it will update to show the next timer. I took a look at the logs and I can see entries like "Invalid Timer" with the program that should have recorded the previous night.
Before I do a fresh install of Windows, please can someone knowledgable take a look and tell me if there's something in my setup that's wrong? It's a relatively new PC I built in Jan 24 with a Hauppauge HVR5525 which gets an aerial and satellite feed and then a USB Nova S2 Satellite stick. Thanks for any help anyone can give. I'm leaving the PC on from now on to see if my timers start without it having to come out of sleep.

support.zip

[Griga]

vor 15 Stunden schrieb Shaun White:

My PC has woken up, but the recording hasn't happened.

 

I can see it in the svcdebug.log. Though the Media Server is running, there is not even an attempt to start the recording. Let's have a look at some events that happened lately:

• 17.12.25 18:43:14: The Media Server gets Windows a message that your PC is about to enter energy saving (sleep/standby) mode, so it sets up a wake time for the next recording at 18/12/2025 21:47:00
• 18.12.25 22:00:10: The PC wakes up, 13 minutes too late. Why? I can see no reason for it. Or does your PC need such a long time for getting up? (Some people do, but that's another thing). However, the Media Server still should start the recording, except if its duration is 13 minutes or less. But nothing happens at all. No more log entries until
• 19.12.25 03:15:11: There are three attempts to connect to the Web Server of your Media Server via the internet, two from China, one from the USA (I've entered the IP addresses in a "whois" service for finding out). The Media Server blocks these requests, because (luckily) it is configured for not allowing access from other networks but your home network. The blocking proves that your Media Server is still responsive. Nevertheless this is a bit weird, because usually the firewall in your router should already block such requests, but it doesn't, which means it it is configured to forward requests to port 8089 from outside to your Media Server. Did you induce that? Many connection attempts like that can be found in your log. The whole world seems to be interested in your Media Server.
• 19.12.25 06:30:39: The Media Server is stopped (manually by you, I guess).
• 19.12.25 06:31:20: The Media Server gets re-started, loads its timer list and finds a timer for a programme that is already completely in the past, which triggers  the "Invalid timer" entry in the svcdebug.log.

The missed recording is

 

Inside No. 9: The Devil of... - ...Christmas. 1/6. Austria, Krampusnacht 1977. Who, 18/12/2025 22:45:00

 

Why does the Media Server set up a wake time at  18/12/2025 21:47:00 for it (almost 1 hour too early)?  Why does the PC wake up too late (18.12.25 22:00:10)? However, this was still early enough for recording the programme, but why is the timer completely ignored by the Media Server? Unfortunately the log doesn't answer these questions.  There are no errors whatsoever. The only possible reason I can think of for not executing a timer without any comment in the log is the timer being disabled.

 

[Shaun White]

Thanks Griga,

I really appreciate you taking a look for me.

 

I noticed the odd wake times too. I always have my timers set to 10 minutes before the recording starts and to last 15 minutes after and the times I saw in the log looked right off. If a program's due to start at 21:00, I'd expect the PC to wake up around 20:49 but that's not happening is it.

 

The external access attempts are my fault because yes, I have set up port-forwarding rules in my router. I wanted to be able to use the DVBViewer app on my phone to remotely add timers. To be fair, I hardly ever do that so I've removed the rules.

Yes, It'll be me stopping the server and then restarting it again as it just gets "stuck"

 

I checked the BBC website for that episode of Inside No. 9 and it helpfully tells me that this was last on at 22:00 on the 18th so taking my 10 minutes off this would make the Server's wake up time of 21:47 right but then why does the missed recording entry have a time of 22:45? Very odd. It's not something to do with GMT or British Summer time is it?

 

I left the PC on for a recording last night and that worked.

If it wasn't Christmas in a few days with lots of stuff on TV to record, I'd do a fresh install of Windows. I wasn't technical enough to see if there was something fixable but if it's a mystery, I think once all the Christmas TV is done, it'll be a reinstall and start again.

[HaraldL]

As it's not an older PC I assume the CMOS battery (usually a CR2032) is not at too low voltage, which could cause the mainboard clock, needed for wake up, to run slower or even stop while off or in standby (many don't notice this because as soon as the PC is started the system time is synced from internet and shows the current time then).

 

Perhaps some energy saving features of the mainboard (BIOS) or Windows/Drivers could prevent the proper wake up?

 

As my Win11 is in german perhaps the names are not translated exactly: Classic control panel (enter "control.." in start menu) -> System -> Energy plan -> Change energy plan -> Advanced settings -> Save energy -> Allow wake timers -> Must be Enabled! But I assume this is enabled as otherwise your PC won't wake up at all.

 

[Griga]

vor 11 Stunden schrieb Griga:

The only possible reason I can think of for not executing a timer without any comment in the log is the timer being disabled.

 

This is the best explanation I have ATM. Your timers were disabled for some reason.

 

Automatically created timers ("auto-timers") as result of an EPG search may be disabled due to the options at the lower right on the Search EPG page. If your timers are "auto-timers", select the search preset that triggered the creation an check these options.

 

On the Timers Page the enabled/disabled state of a timer is indicated by the round buttons at the left (green = enabled, grey = disabled) and can be changed by clicking them.