Update 2010-12-27: I’ve published a step by step instructions how to use ACPI for automatic wake-ups for an Asus M3N78-EM mainboard and yaVDR 0.3.0a. The ACPI method is easier to setup and does not need an additional reboot.

Here are the step by step instructions to set up NVRAM-WakeUp for an Asus M3N78-EM mainboard and yaVDR 0.3.0a:

1. Enable “Power On By RTC Alarm” in the BIOS settings (Power > APM Configuration).
2. Create the file /etc/nvram-wakeup.conf with the following content:

   ################################################
   ##  Mainboard autodetection information:
   ##
   ##    - Mainboard vendor:   "ASUSTeK Computer INC."
   ##    - Mainboard type:     "M3N78-EM"
   ##    - Mainboard revision: "Rev X.0x"
   ##    - BIOS vendor:        "American Megatrends Inc."
   ##    - BIOS version:       "0511"
   ##    - BIOS release:       "01/13/2009"
   
   
   /etc/nvram-wakeup.conf 
   need_reboot      = ON_ANY_CHANGE
    
   addr_stat        = 0xDD          # Status byte
   shift_stat       = 3             # The position of the status bit in the byte
   
   addr_day         = 0x8C          # Day
   addr_hour        = 0x8D          # Hour
   addr_min         = 0x62          # Minute
   addr_sec         = 0x63          # Second
   
   addr_chk_h       = 0x30          # High checksum bit
   addr_chk_l       = 0x31          # Low checksum bit
   
   upper_method = VT82Cxxx

3. Create the following custom templates (you may have to create the directories under /etc/yavdr/templates_custom):
   1. /etc/yavdr/templates_custom/etc/vdr/vdr-nvram-wakeup.conf/10_enable-nvram

      ENABLED="yes"

   2. /etc/yavdr/templates_custom/etc/vdr/vdr-nvram-wakeup.conf/20_commandline

      COMMANDLINE="-C /etc/nvram-wakeup.conf --directisa"

   3. /etc/yavdr/templates_custom/etc/vdr/vdr-nvram-wakeup.conf/30_specialshutdown

      SPECIALSHUTDOWN="/usr/sbin/grub-reboot PowerOff ; /sbin/reboot"

   4. /etc/yavdr/templates_custom/etc/vdr/vdr-nvram-wakeup.conf/40_force-reboot

      FORCE_REBOOT="yes"

4. Rebuild /etc/vdr/vdr-nvram-wakeup.conf::

   # sudo process-template /etc/vdr/vdr-nvram-wakeup.conf

5. Use the yaVDR web frontend to set the “VDR Shutdown” method to “reboot “PowerOff” kernel“.

Instructions to synchronize the system clock and the hardware clock can be found in Appendix A in my post “Ubuntu 9.10 & Via Epia-M1000B: Setup NVRAM-WakeUp to wake up VDR“.