[really_wacky]

Hi everyone,

Let me introduce myself I am from Belgium and new to the forum. Tough I was a XMBC user on my soft modded xbox a few years ago.

I have a Windows 7 computer with a few terra of media in my room, and a XMBCbuntu machine in the living room downstairs. My little sisters 10 and 12 are not allowed to enter my room or touch my computer, but they always want see things stored on my computer. So my computer needs to turn on automatically when they want to stream something when I am not around. This way my whole family can watch content from my PC without having to touch it.

When i use the android app 'Fing' my computer wakes up fine when it is completely turned off or in sleep/hibernate. I also tried different phones and different apps they all boot up both PC's.


PC specs:
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-950 Processor (8M Cache, 3.07 GHz)
MOBO: ASUS Sabertooth X58
RAM: Vengeance 6GB Triple Channel DDR3,
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6900[/quote]
HDD: 160GB SSD - 8TB storage.
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

XBMCbuntu specs:
Model: HP Compaq dc7900
Mobo: 82Q45
CPU: E8400 3.0 GHz, 6 MB L2 cache
RAM: 4 GB DDR2/800Mhz
GPU: Onboard.
HDD: 150GB
OS: XMBCbunutu - 13.2 Git:0f3db05 (Compiled Aug 17 2014)


So the question is what do I need to do to get XBMC to boot my computer(server) up?

I already did this: 'Settings → System → Power saving → Try to wake remote servers on access' but nothing happens.

I know there is a wiki page about it but its not very informative it does not even say where the 'wakeonlan.xml' gets stored or how to edit it. After searching Google I found that it was stored in user data, so I searched where I could find that as well... The wiki page told me it could be found in '~/.xbmc/userdata/' not sure what I had to do with that line since I barely use Linux. So I switched from XBMC to XBMCbuntu 'Start > Accessories > File manager' and typed in '~/.xbmc/userdata/' Hooray! I found the 'wakeonlan.xml' file... Now what? I cant open it except for with chrome there it shows my MAC address and my hosts PC name correctly.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Wake_on_lan
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Userdata

Then I downloaded the 'Advanced Wake On Lan' add-on.

And put in the MAC adress of my server and the PC name restarted my XBMCbuntu machine and turned of my host PC. But when booting It gave me this error 'XBMC must be run as root for ping-based host-up checks to work. You can disable the "host-up check via ping" in the add-on.' and disabling 'host-up check via ping' does not change a thing of course.

So I started searching how I add XBMC to root but I only found how I add my user to the root group how I login as root but after typing commands in the terminal I feel like a blind sheep following instructions.

http://forum.xbmc.org/reputation.php?uid=50237

So could someone please help me out here?


Thanks in advance!

[t4_ravenbird]

Regarding "Try to wake remote servers on access" you should only need to enable that setting and then normally it will work. However, your server must be present (awake) at the time you enable the setting - this will let XBMC discover the mac-address and store it (in wakeonlan.xml, yes)
Going into 'wakeonlan,xml' and do manual tweaking is for the more advanced user and is not normally necessary
If it does not work then please check log file for clues or post the logfile for us to have a look if it did not help : debug log (wiki)

[really_wacky]

Regarding "Try to wake remote servers on access" you should only need to enable that setting and then normally it will work. However, your server must be present (awake) at the time you enable the setting - this will let XBMC discover the mac-address and store it (in wakeonlan.xml, yes)
Going into 'wakeonlan,xml' and do manual tweaking is for the more advanced user and is not normally necessary
If it does not work then please check log file for clues or post the logfile for us to have a look if it did not help : debug log (wiki)

Ok thanks! I know that it has to be on, when I turned on the option it displayed a popup with my PC name and MAC address. And the info in the wakeonlan.xml file is correct. I will try to delete it and see if If it makes the file again.

Where or how do I get the log file?

---

Never mind there is enough info on how to get the Iog file. I will try it when I come home.

[really_wacky]

Nope I cant get it to work I made a video to show that both PC's boot trough WOL on a old smartphone and that XBMC recognizes my PC but wont wake it up.

Log file: REMOVED

Video: REMOVED

You can see my mac address in both I don't know if this is a problem? If it is safe or not?

[t4_ravenbird]

OK that was informative.
You suspend the server manually and so the 'wakeup' does not get re-enabled in XBMC

Default parameter for 'timeout' (in wakeonlan.xml) is 5 minutes . This means that XBMC is allowed to assume that server will remain on for 5 minutes (after it last talked to it). No verification or wakeup will be done unless that time has elapsed.
You may not test 'wake on access' by force-sleeping the server, you need to wait for its idle-timeout to kick in.
Try it, and see if it helps! If not, then please post a log-file again and we will get it sorted out

[really_wacky]

OK that was informative.
You suspend the server manually and so the 'wakeup' does not get re-enabled in XBMC

Default parameter for 'timeout' (in wakeonlan.xml) is 5 minutes . This means that XBMC is allowed to assume that server will remain on for 5 minutes (after it last talked to it). No verification or wakeup will be done unless that time has elapsed.
You may not test 'wake on access' by force-sleeping the server, you need to wait for its idle-timeout to kick in.
Try it, and see if it helps! If not, then please post a log-file again and we will get it sorted out

Ok thanks! This is not what I want to do then. I will try to set the sleep time to 15 or 30min and see if XBMC wakes my host when it goes to sleep.

What I really want is that my host wakes (or boots) up from as soon as XBMC boots or when I try to access a movie. I assume I need the advanced WOL for that. But that does not work because it needs root. Do I need to ask for help in the plugin's section?

[t4_ravenbird]

I dont see why this is not what you want. As I see it this is an exact match for your use-case and it is specifically made to wake server when you access a movie (and only then)

Just dont rush the testing by force-sleeping the server, that is not handled since probing availability of the server on each and every file-access would potentially give a silly high 'ping-frequency' and misuse the network.

For a quick test do this ; force-sleep the server and restart XBMC (just the application or reboot, does not matter). Now try to play a movie and observe what happens. (If server is not woken now, then something is wrong and I need the logfile to help you trace it)

[really_wacky]

I dont see why this is not what you want. As I see it this is an exact match for your use-case and it is specifically made to wake server when you access a movie (and only then)

Just dont rush the testing by force-sleeping the server, that is not handled since probing availability of the server on each and every file-access would potentially give a silly high 'ping-frequency' and misuse the network.

For a quick test do this ; force-sleep the server and restart XBMC (just the application or reboot, does not matter). Now try to play a movie and observe what happens. (If server is not woken now, then something is wrong and I need the logfile to help you trace it)

Yea I am sorry I understood the previous post I read (red?) it and replied really fast during my lunch break. I thought you meant that it won't work when the computer is turned off manually, only when the computer goes into sleep mode automatically.

After reading it again I got it to work by turning off 'Settings → System → Power saving → Try to wake remote servers on access' then deleting the 'wakeonlan.xml file' rebooting, turning the option back on and letting my host run for about 10 min and put it to sleep manually. When I tried to access a movie it powered up my PC.

Working: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qjp0FvNCBk

But then when I turned off my computer and XMBC. The booted up XBMC first and tried again I got a error message. I made movies and debug logs.

Not working: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRMZTRryms0


Logs: LINK


So just to be clear a scenario: I am at work my computer is in hybernate sleep, and the XBMCbuntu PC is off. My sisters come home from school and they want to turn on a movie does my computer wake up? Or does it have to be on first for the wake on lan function in order to work?


Thanks allot for the help already!

[t4_ravenbird]

First ;

So just to be clear a scenario: I am at work my computer is in hybernate sleep, and the XBMCbuntu PC is off. My sisters come home from school and they want to turn on a movie does my computer wake up?

Yes, this scenario is what this feature was made for. When they boot (or resume from suspend) the XBMC-PC - and then try to play a movie the server should auto-wake.

Now your problem; It fails because XBMC is unable to determine the ipaddress of the server (since it is configured by name) - can you reconfigure to use static ipaddress? You can normally do that on your router by assigning an ipaddress for your server so you dont need to change any network-setup on the server.

[really_wacky]

First ;

So just to be clear a scenario: I am at work my computer is in hybernate sleep, and the XBMCbuntu PC is off. My sisters come home from school and they want to turn on a movie does my computer wake up?

Yes, this scenario is what this feature was made for. When they boot (or resume from suspend) the XBMC-PC - and then try to play a movie the server should auto-wake.

Now your problem; It fails because XBMC is unable to determine the ipaddress of the server (since it is configured by name) - can you reconfigure to use static ipaddress? You can normally do that on your router by assigning an ipaddress for your server so you dont need to change any network-setup on the server.

Yea normally my IP address is set to static under windows, but I have the problem that I need to disconnect the router once in a while because some other device has stollen my IP address and I have no internet connection. But I never set the IP to static on a router before, my brother has the login so I will change it when he comes home. But you are right about the problem when XBMC knows the IP it allways works. So I marked the topic as solved.

Thanks for your help and time!