Losing Signal

[lucasbuck]

A few days ago when I would come back to watch TV after an extended period of time, it wouldn't tune anything it and would give me the 'no signal' error (occasionally no tuner). I checked, and all 4 tuners on my Ceton were fine. Usually if I shut down WMC, and restarted it, the signal would work. Sometimes it wouldn't and I would have to go through the setting up the signal process again.
I emailed Ceton and they replied with what I'll paste below. It sounds like they think it's an issue with my computer sleeping. I triple checked, and it's set to never sleep. Could there be something I'm missing? Not sure why it would start all of a sudden. Do most people just set it to never sleep, or use the setup below? Thanks for any help.

-----------------------------

Resuming Windows 7 from a suspend (sleep) state has many areas where problems arise outside our driver and hardware. Microsoft has an Away Mode that we advise our customers to use when faced with sleep resume issues. The Away Mode feature was specifically designed for Windows PCs that are being used as a set-top box -- it's meant to simulate other consumer electronics such as DVRs, TVs, and other media devices. We highly recommend you enable this type of setting in Windows 7. It saves power while providing instant access to both local and remote access to media content. This mode also is designed to optimize your PC for sharing content with remote devices as it will appear to be fully asleep yet deliver prompt service for your remote devices.

By default, when media sharing is enabled, the PC does not automatically enter Sleep when idle. However, this behavior is configurable, including the ability to enable Away Mode instead of preventing the Sleep idle time-out in Power Options. To change the power management behavior of media sharing and sleep to support Away Mode, follow these steps:

1. From the Start menu, click Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and then click Power Options.
2. Select Change Plan Settings for the current power plan.
3. Select Change Advanced Power Settings.
4. Expand When Sharing Media from Multimedia Settings.
5. Select Allow the computer to enter Away Mode or Prevent Idling to Sleep if you stream video and audio via Internet browser.
6. Expand Sleep after and set to Never by scrolling the minutes to zero. Note: you may see Plugged in and On battery so only choose Plugged in.
7. Select Allow hybrid sleep and set to Off.
8. Select Hibernate and set to Never
9. Set your Display timeout to your preferred setting:
10. Press Okay and reboot your PC.

[lucasbuck]

Actually, just got a reply back from Ceton (see below). It's an HTPC in the closet, no lid or button. Not sure what could be doing it. Appreciate any help.

Yes here is a sample of what your logs have.

Information 8/21/2014 3:10 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
Information 8/21/2014 8:50 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
Information 8/22/2014 2:40 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
Information 8/22/2014 10:17 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
Information 8/23/2014 4:37 AM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
//
The system is entering sleep.

Sleep Reason: Button or Lid

[Crash2009]

Click on the white flag, down by the clock. Open Action Center and check for solutions. Sometimes I get lucky in there, and Win 7 will fix itself.

Remote Desktop Connection makes it a whole lot easier to work on a box in the closet. Do you have that setup yet?

[lucasbuck]

Thanks for the reply. It said there were problems that hadn't been reported to MS. I ran it, but it said no solutions were found, and the message went away. I don't really need remote desktop, I just have a wireless keyboard in the livingroom and use it on the tv.

[Crash2009]

It said there were problems that hadn't been reported to MS.

Any of those problems happen around the same time as what you reported all ready?

Information 8/21/2014 3:10 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
Information 8/21/2014 8:50 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
Information 8/22/2014 2:40 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
Information 8/22/2014 10:17 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42
Information 8/23/2014 4:37 AM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42

[Crash2009]

I forgot to ask you something. What happened after you tried those directions Ceton gave you?

[lucasbuck]

I did, but 'away' was the only thing I could change. It was set for 'prevent idle'. There was no hybrid or hibernate option.

BUT, I went through event viewer and noticed that every time it slept, there was an event with the same time stamp immediately preceding it.

Level Date and Time Source Event ID Task Category
Information 8/26/2014 5:11:43 PM Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 42 (64) "The system is entering sleep.
Sleep Reason: Button or Lid"

Of course, no lid or button, it's in a closet. But then I noticed that every time it went to sleep, the event right before it was:

Level Date and Time Source Event ID Task Category
Information 8/26/2014 5:11:43 PM BROWSER 8033 None The browser has forced an election on network \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{5DDB054C-BAD0-41C7-AE44-5432FCCA8D1E} because a master browser was stopped.

I checked several sleep events, and all the same. This BROWSER event happened right before it, same time stamp. I'm not techie enough to get it. Any know what's going on?

[Crash2009]

I seem to remember having a similar problem on my network about a year ago. There was a Win8 box that figured It was the Master Browser, anyway, every time the Win8 box was on the network there was a fight, and neither machine would work correctly. I think I disabled the Win8' boxe's wireless and that straightened it out. Give me a bit, to refresh my memory, and I'll get back to you.

[Crash2009]

Yea, it's what I thought. Something on your network needs a bit of a slap. could be unhappy router, or another system on your network has a network glitch or infection that's causing it to force elections constantly. As I recall when I had this problem the name of the Win8 box was listed in the error message.

Have you tried re-booting the router?

Found the screen cap, your event viewer should tell you which device is the problem.

[lucasbuck]

I really appreciate your help. I checked and I have two errors always happening at the same time (below). Library-PC is the desktop in another room. My HTPC is WMC-PC. Any thoughts on how to fix it? I haven't changed anything on the library-pc in a while.


Level Date and Time Source Event ID Task Category
Warning 2/26/2014 3:21:49 AM BROWSER 8021 None "The browser service was unable to retrieve a list of servers from the browser master \\LIBRARY-PC on the network \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{35DDF69E-F1F9-4A65-95C7-54B1C57A55C6}.

Browser master: \\LIBRARY-PC
Network: \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{35DDF69E-F1F9-4A65-95C7-54B1C57A55C6}

This event may be caused by a temporary loss of network connectivity. If this message appears again, verify that the server is still connected to the network. The return code is in the Data text box."

and


Level Date and Time Source Event ID Task Category
Error 2/26/2014 3:22:49 AM BROWSER 8032 None The browser service has failed to retrieve the backup list too many times on transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{35DDF69E-F1F9-4A65-95C7-54B1C57A55C6}. The backup browser is stopping.

[Crash2009]

Might be easiest to just select Sleep Never. Your master browser issues might just disappear.

[lucasbuck]

That's the issue, it is already set to sleep never. The error seems to be forcing it into sleep.

[Crash2009]

That's the issue, it is already set to sleep never. The error seems to be forcing it into sleep.

Well, you could stop the service on the library PC. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/135404 I wouldn't try regedit without a second opinion.

[lucasbuck]

It's actually the WMC that's the Master Browser. Not the library PC

[lucasbuck]

I read there's a way to make the router the Master Browser, but haven't found a way to make my ASUS RT-N66U do it. I wonder if that would even help.

[Crash2009]

It's actually the WMC that's the Master Browser. Not the library PC

Browser master: \\LIBRARY-PC
Network: \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{35DDF69E-F1F9-4A65-95C7-54B1C57A55C6}

[Crash2009]

I did, but 'away' was the only thing I could change. It was set for 'prevent idle'. There was no hybrid or hibernate option.

I don't know why yours would not have have the hybrid option. All mine do. Click on Sleep and open it up. The + sign means there is more to see. After you run out of +'s the setting will be blue click on the blue to change the setting. and you can also, Change settings that are currently unavailable

[lucasbuck]

Maybe that's an issue. If I do nbstat, it shows the WMC as the master browser. See below.

C:\Users\Library>nbtstat -a LIBRARY-PC

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.76] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
LIBRARY-PC <00> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
LIBRARY-PC <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered

but

C:\Users\Library>nbtstat -a WMC-PC

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.76] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
WMC-PC <00> UNIQUE Registered
WMC-PC <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
WORKGROUP <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

[lucasbuck]

And I checked, mine looks just like yours (balanced, currently unavailable, etc.) but all I have is sleep after and awake timers. Nothing in between.

[Crash2009]

And I checked, mine looks just like yours (balanced, currently unavailable, etc.) but all I have is sleep after and awake timers. Nothing in between.

What do you get when you click Change settings that are currently unavailable