Scheduled task issues - but an unusual reason - server on battery!

[Koldov]

I've just come across a strange issue I haven't seen before and wondered if the Edugeek hive mind knows about it...

 

I've just noticed one of the servers is failing a few scheduled tasks and I couldn't find any reason for it, no Event Viewer entries, no history, it wasn't even really failing, it just wasn't starting at all...

 

Also if this is actually a 'thing' and if I can stop it. I mean it was a problem for me so I'm interested to know if anyone has seen it before so I can say for sure what is happening...

 

Background: We have our physical host servers on dual PSUs, one running from the wall socket and one from a UPS.

 

Unfortunately I don't remember if this has always been the case as I've only just noticed it whilst looking in to this problem... but the servers seem to believe they are running on 'battery' which I guess is technically true if they are using the PSU plugged in to the UPS... I'll also have to dig into whether or not this has any kind of impact on performance (like it does on laptops, possibly scaling down the CPU, screen brightness, fans speed etc.) unless anyone knows?

 

However, I'm not really sure what has happened lately as previously scheduled tasks have been running OK. The last time this particular task ran was 08:00 Monday 08/04/2024 then it just stopped running. I just can't think what has changed, especially considering I was on holiday that week! There is another one that also stopped running on the Friday before (05/04/2024) but it's only a Monday to Friday task so that makes sense if whatever happened after 08:00 on the following Monday...

 

Anyway, the only thing that connects all the Scheduled Tasks that stopped working is that they have 'Power - Start the task only if the computer is on AC power' ticked...

 

So, I get why they wouldn't start if the server thinks it's on battery... what I don't get is why it has suddenly started taking notice of this and what has changed?

[LeMarchand]

Although I don't see why it would have changed, I'd take a look at the UPS console and the actual plugs. Could someone have unplugged stuff and put it into different sockets? My PC here and the server I can see on the screen to my right are both on the UPS and not showing as "on battery".

[Koldov]

Hmmmm... maybe it was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction... only it has all the battery settings and status you'd normally see on a laptop etc. Which I guess you'd probably expect if it was 'aware' that it had a battery... but I'm not sure now if I can honestly say it 100% thinks it's 'On Battery'.

 

Also I'd tried all the settings for the Scheduled Tasks and it was only after unticking 'Only run only on AC power' that they actually ran!

 

Do you have a battery icon at all in the Taskbar?

 

I think it may be because the UPS (APC) is USB connected and the PowerChute software for management is installed.

 

There's definitely 'UPS Battery' showing in 'Device Manager'.

 

Edit: No I can't guarantee nobody has unplugged anything, but it is highly unlikely...

Edited April 17, 2024 by Koldov

[LeMarchand]

No Battery icon, and setup is the same as you (USB connection + PowerChute).

 

 

Edit: Just changed a task to "only on AC" and it ran.

Edited April 17, 2024 by LeMarchand

[Koldov]

Interesting... now I do seem to remember originally having the APC drivers and not seeing the battery icon!

 

Now I have this in Device Manager (using generic Microsoft drivers), which I stuck with because I thought at the time having the battery icon was a good thing...

 

 

Anyway, I've tried the 'Scheduled Task' twice now at 13:25 and 13:30 with 'Start the task only on AC power' ticked and it hasn't run... just tried it at 13:35 with it unticked and it ran successfully!!

 

Now even stranger is one of the VMs (Windows 10) is showing a battery icon, the other VM (Server 2019) isn't... this makes it weird because that's the VM this task is trying to start (although I don't think it's related).

 

Edit: I might try uninstalling the battery device tonight and getting the APC drivers back on (I have the exact same set-up on another host and it doesn't seem to be having these problems - although it isn't doing the same sort of task).

Edited April 17, 2024 by Koldov

[LeMarchand]

Windows decided to "upgrade" the driver?

[Koldov]

Windows decided to "upgrade" the driver?

 

Could be, although the UPC ones don't appear in the 'compatible' list of drivers to install...

[LeMarchand]

Apparently they're installed as part of the PowerChute setup. Might be worth a reinstall or updating (mine was out of date). Or, if you use 7-Zip on the exe, there's a promising looking inf folder in $PLUGINSDIR.