EPG stopped auto updating? Works fine if I manually click the "Update EPG" button

[rjbeep]

Hi folks,

Hadn't paid attention to my nextpvr setup for a little while and recently noticed the guide info had stopped updating. I have it configured to use an UpdateEPG.bat file that calls zap2xml with my login and password.

This worked great for many months and still works just fine if i manually go to nextpvr settings -> channels and then click the Update EPG button.

The problem is nextpvr will no longer do the updates on its own even though I have it scheduled in settings -> Misc2 -> "EPG Update Hour" and "Auto Update EPG" is checked.

Instead, I manually click the "Update EPG" button in the settings -> channels section and then the guide is current until the for the 7 or so days of data that were manually downloaded run out.

Since everything works just as expected when I manually "Update EPG" from within nextPVR, does anybody have any idea why the automated part just stopped working?

Unfortunately, I wasn't paying much attention to this for a while so I can't say for sure exactly when the automatic updates stopped working. It *may* have coincided with the updated from Windows 10 to the Windows 10 "anniversary" update a few months back. That's the only thing I can think of that changed on the system other than any updates of the nextPVR software itself.

Running presently;
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
NextPVR 3.8.3 (160925)

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions. Appreciate the help.
rjb

[sub]

If I had to guess, I'd say you've got something wrong in your batch file (and it's not running correctly when it runs from the localsystem account and/or different directory), causing your xmltv file to not get an updated xmltv file.

So, check if your xmltv file is getting updated listings each morning.

Also, post your logs and I'll be able to confirm it's running your UpdateEPG.bat file over night.

[rjbeep]

Thanks for the guidance. Checked the log (attached) and it does appear that npvr wakes up, runs the batch file, processes, etc. However, the xmltv.xml file still has yesterday's date on it (from when I ran it manually).

Given that everything processes fine when I manually click the "Update EPG" button from within the npvr app, I'm thinking running from the various directories is fine and the problem is likely an issue with running from the local system account as you suggested.

Would you be able to offer any tips on how to correct that? I'm a bit confused by how it used to work and now it doesn't, making me wonder if somehow the Windows Anniversary update changed the permissions model somehow?

In the mean time, I'm going to rename the EPG directory to EPG1 and then create a new EPG directory and copy the batch file over to it with the home that whatever problem I have is somehow attached to the current EPG directory not allowing the local system account to run the batch file/modify the data file, whatever.

thanks again for any help!
rjb

2016-11-14 01:01:39.707 [DEBUG][62] Resuming...
2016-11-14 01:01:39.822 [DEBUG][36] Resuming...
2016-11-14 01:01:41.508 [DEBUG][6] cycling MVP servers
2016-11-14 01:01:42.211 [DEBUG][9] Recording service noted the system was resuming...
2016-11-14 01:01:42.211 [DEBUG][9] No C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts\Wakeup.bat
2016-11-14 01:18:19.007 [DEBUG][10] Pre EPG Update
2016-11-14 01:19:49.147 [DEBUG][10] About to update EPG
2016-11-14 01:19:49.288 [DEBUG][10] Updating EPG...
2016-11-14 01:19:49.288 [DEBUG][10] UpdateEPG@1
2016-11-14 01:19:49.319 [DEBUG][10] Running UpdateEPG.bat
2016-11-14 01:19:49.319 [DEBUG][10] About to run C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts\UpdateEPG.bat
2016-11-14 01:19:54.398 [DEBUG][10] C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts\UpdateEPG.bat has completed
2016-11-14 01:19:54.398 [DEBUG][10] UpdateEPG@2
2016-11-14 01:19:54.398 [DEBUG][10] Checking for any XMLTV listings
2016-11-14 01:19:54.523 [DEBUG][10] Will process xmltv file: C:\EPG\xmltv.xml
2016-11-14 01:19:54.570 [DEBUG][10] Loading XMLTV from: C:\EPG\xmltv.xml
2016-11-14 01:19:59.319 [DEBUG][10] channelEventLists.Count=414

C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 8A98-A5EE

Directory of C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts

07/16/2015 11:21 AM <DIR> .
07/16/2015 11:21 AM <DIR> ..
08/09/2015 04:20 PM 122 placeholder.txt
07/29/2015 08:48 PM 77 UpdateEPG.bat

C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts>type UpdateEPG.bat
c:
cd "C:\EPG"
zap2xml -u yourusernamehere -p yourpasswordhere -B

C:\EPG>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 8A98-A5EE

Directory of C:\EPG

11/13/2016 01:01 PM 50,814,490 xmltv.xml
07/22/2015 11:47 PM 4,904,229 zap2xml.exe

[johnsonx42]

It probably is a permissions issue given to you by the anniversary update. Report back whether creating a new directory fixes it. There's also a way to run a command prompt as the system user to test your batch file; google it. Lastly, you could change NRecord to run as your regular user in Services (run services.msc).

[rjbeep]

Thank you for the suggestions. Creating the new directory didn't fix anything. I'm going to try changing the nrecord service to run as my regular user next and see if that makes any difference. Thanks again.

[rjbeep]

Hi folks,

thanks again for the suggestions. I found the tools to run a command prompt as the system user and tried to run the batch file from there. That's where I saw that it was failing with a message like

"Can't locate URI.pm"

Interesting that this only happened when run by the system user... works fine when I run from my own account. Tracked that down to this info at zap2xml.awardspace.info

[INDENT]Windows Note: "Can't locate URI.pm" error usually means something
(virus scanner?) deleted that standard perl file when it was extracted to your
C:\Users\Name\AppData\Local\Temp\par-### folder
Delete that temp cache dir and retry (ensure URI.pm isn't deleted again)[/INDENT]

so... I ran the zap2xml install file again from inside the system user command prompt and then tried again and all worked fine.

Still no idea why uri.pm went inaccessible for only the system account after everything worked just fine for so long, but at least it appears to be all working again.

Thank you for pointing me toward a fix.

Best regards,
rjb

[vintdiesel]

Useful info!

I have the same issue with my media PC, the UpdateEPG.bat file which calls EPGCollector doesn't work automatically, but manually running it from pressing the Update EPG button within NPVR does.

My backup PC in the study which also has NPVR, does the automatic update OK though. Both PC's run Win10 before anniversary update, and have identical copies of the batch file.

I tried adding full paths in the bat file and that didn't work. I even used the change directory commands before calling EPGCollector and that didn't work either.

The only fix I could do on the media PC, was to call UpdateEPG.bat from the windows task scheduler 10 minutes before the scheduled update time with NPVR. This allows EPGCollector to run and create the .xml file then NPVR 10 minutes later is able to update the guide.

Your fix might address my problem.