diff --git a/src/Cli/CronJobs/ServersCronJob.php b/src/Cli/CronJobs/ServersCronJob.php
index 2927f0cf..9dfb53a5 100644
--- a/src/Cli/CronJobs/ServersCronJob.php
+++ b/src/Cli/CronJobs/ServersCronJob.php
@@ -77,64 +77,55 @@ class ServersCronJob implements CommandInterface {
             }
         }
 
-        $rSignals = intval(trim(shell_exec('pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps -f -p | grep -E "signals|\XC_VM\\[Signals\\]" | grep -v grep | grep -v pgrep | wc -l')));
-        if ($rSignals == 0) {
+        // Daemon liveness checks read /proc via ProcessManager: the old
+        // "ps | grep <word>" pipelines matched unrelated processes — e.g.
+        // ffmpeg's -thread_queue_size satisfied the "queue" check, so the
+        // encode queue daemon was never revived while any stream was up.
+        if (!ProcessManager::isAnyProcessRunning(array('XC_VM[Signals]', 'console.php signals'))) {
             shell_exec(PHP_BIN . ' ' . MAIN_HOME . 'console.php signals > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &');
         }
 
         if ($rServers[SERVER_ID]['is_main']) {
-            $rCache = intval(trim(shell_exec('pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps -f -p | grep -E "cache_handler|\XC_VM\\[CacheHandler\\]" | grep -v grep | grep -v pgrep | wc -l')));
-            if (SettingsManager::getAll()['enable_cache'] && $rCache == 0) {
+            $rCachePIDs = ProcessManager::findProcessPIDs(array('XC_VM[CacheHandler]', 'console.php cache_handler'));
+            if (SettingsManager::getAll()['enable_cache'] && count($rCachePIDs) == 0) {
                 shell_exec(PHP_BIN . ' ' . MAIN_HOME . 'console.php cache_handler > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &');
-            } elseif (!SettingsManager::getAll()['enable_cache'] && $rCache > 0) {
+            } elseif (!SettingsManager::getAll()['enable_cache'] && count($rCachePIDs) > 0) {
                 echo 'Killing Cache Handler' . "\n";
-                exec("pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps | grep -E 'cache_handler|\XC_VM\\[CacheHandler\\]' | awk '{print \$1}'", $rPIDs);
-                foreach ($rPIDs as $rPID) {
-                    if (intval($rPID) > 0) {
-                        shell_exec('kill -9 ' . intval($rPID));
-                    }
+                foreach ($rCachePIDs as $rPID) {
+                    shell_exec('kill -9 ' . intval($rPID));
                 }
             }
         }
 
-        $rNetwork = intval(trim(shell_exec('pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps -f -p | grep network | grep -v grep | grep -v pgrep | wc -l')));
-        if ($rNetwork == 0) {
+        if (!ProcessManager::isAnyProcessRunning(array(BIN_PATH . 'network'))) {
             shell_exec(BIN_PATH . 'network > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &');
         }
 
-        $rWatchdog = intval(trim(shell_exec('pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps -f -p | grep -E "watchdog|\XC_VM\\[Watchdog\\]" | grep -v grep | grep -v pgrep | wc -l')));
-        if ($rWatchdog == 0) {
+        if (!ProcessManager::isAnyProcessRunning(array('XC_VM[Watchdog]', 'console.php watchdog'))) {
             shell_exec(PHP_BIN . ' ' . MAIN_HOME . 'console.php watchdog > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &');
         }
 
-        $rQueue = intval(trim(shell_exec('pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps -f -p | grep -E "queue|\XC_VM\\[Queue\\]" | grep -v grep | grep -v pgrep | wc -l')));
-        if ($rQueue == 0) {
+        if (!ProcessManager::isAnyProcessRunning(array('XC_VM[Queue]', 'console.php queue'))) {
             shell_exec(PHP_BIN . ' ' . MAIN_HOME . 'console.php queue > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &');
         }
 
-        $rOnDemand = intval(trim(shell_exec('pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps -f -p | grep ondemand | grep -v grep | grep -v pgrep | wc -l')));
-        if (SettingsManager::getAll()['on_demand_instant_off'] && $rOnDemand == 0) {
+        $rOnDemandPIDs = ProcessManager::findProcessPIDs(array('console.php ondemand'));
+        if (SettingsManager::getAll()['on_demand_instant_off'] && count($rOnDemandPIDs) == 0) {
             shell_exec(PHP_BIN . ' ' . MAIN_HOME . 'console.php ondemand > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &');
-        } elseif (!SettingsManager::getAll()['on_demand_instant_off'] && $rOnDemand > 0) {
+        } elseif (!SettingsManager::getAll()['on_demand_instant_off'] && count($rOnDemandPIDs) > 0) {
             echo 'Killing On-Demand Instant-Off' . "\n";
-            exec("pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps | grep ondemand | awk '{print \$1}'", $rPIDs);
-            foreach ($rPIDs as $rPID) {
-                if (intval($rPID) > 0) {
-                    shell_exec('kill -9 ' . intval($rPID));
-                }
+            foreach ($rOnDemandPIDs as $rPID) {
+                shell_exec('kill -9 ' . intval($rPID));
             }
         }
 
-        $rScanner = intval(trim(shell_exec('pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps -f -p | grep scanner | grep -v grep | grep -v pgrep | wc -l')));
-        if (SettingsManager::getAll()['on_demand_checker'] && $rScanner == 0) {
+        $rScannerPIDs = ProcessManager::findProcessPIDs(array('XC_VM[Scanner]', 'console.php scanner'));
+        if (SettingsManager::getAll()['on_demand_checker'] && count($rScannerPIDs) == 0) {
             shell_exec(PHP_BIN . ' ' . MAIN_HOME . 'console.php scanner > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &');
-        } elseif (!SettingsManager::getAll()['on_demand_checker'] && $rScanner > 0) {
+        } elseif (!SettingsManager::getAll()['on_demand_checker'] && count($rScannerPIDs) > 0) {
             echo 'Killing On-Demand Scanner' . "\n";
-            exec("pgrep -U xc_vm | xargs ps | grep scanner | awk '{print \$1}'", $rPIDs);
-            foreach ($rPIDs as $rPID) {
-                if (intval($rPID) > 0) {
-                    shell_exec('kill -9 ' . intval($rPID));
-                }
+            foreach ($rScannerPIDs as $rPID) {
+                shell_exec('kill -9 ' . intval($rPID));
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Core/Process/ProcessManager.php b/src/Core/Process/ProcessManager.php
index 1f744d55..f7229480 100644
--- a/src/Core/Process/ProcessManager.php
+++ b/src/Core/Process/ProcessManager.php
@@ -493,20 +493,71 @@ class ProcessManager {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Check if nginx master process is running under xc_vm user
+     * Check if an nginx master process is running.
      *
      * Replaces CoreUtilities::isRunning().
      *
+     * The master is owned by root on typical installs (workers run as
+     * xc_vm), so the scan must not be restricted to the xc_vm user —
+     * a false negative here makes cron:servers/cron:streams bail out
+     * every run and no daemon ever gets revived.
+     *
      * @return bool
      */
     public static function isNginxRunning() {
-        $rOutput = [];
-        @exec('pgrep -u xc_vm -a 2>/dev/null', $rOutput);
-        foreach ($rOutput as $rProcess) {
-            if (preg_match('/nginx:\s+master/', $rProcess)) {
+        foreach (glob('/proc/*/cmdline') ?: [] as $rCmdFile) {
+            $rRaw = @file_get_contents($rCmdFile);
+            if ($rRaw && strpos(str_replace("\0", ' ', $rRaw), 'nginx: master') !== false) {
                 return true;
             }
         }
         return false;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Find PIDs of processes whose command line contains one of the given
+     * substrings. Reads /proc directly instead of ps|grep pipelines, which
+     * match unrelated processes (e.g. ffmpeg's -thread_queue_size satisfied
+     * the "queue" daemon check, so the encode queue was never revived).
+     *
+     * @param array $rTerms Cmdline substrings to match (exact, case-sensitive)
+     * @param int   $rLimit Stop after this many matches (0 = no limit)
+     * @return array<int> Matching PIDs (own PID excluded)
+     */
+    public static function findProcessPIDs(array $rTerms, $rLimit = 0) {
+        $rPIDs = array();
+        $rSelf = getmypid();
+        foreach (glob('/proc/[0-9]*/cmdline') ?: [] as $rCmdFile) {
+            $rPID = intval(basename(dirname($rCmdFile)));
+            if ($rPID == $rSelf) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            $rRaw = @file_get_contents($rCmdFile);
+            if (!$rRaw) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            $rCmd = str_replace("\0", ' ', $rRaw);
+            foreach ($rTerms as $rTerm) {
+                if (strpos($rCmd, $rTerm) !== false) {
+                    $rPIDs[] = $rPID;
+                    if ($rLimit > 0 && count($rPIDs) >= $rLimit) {
+                        return $rPIDs;
+                    }
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return $rPIDs;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check whether any process (any user) matches one of the given
+     * cmdline substrings.
+     *
+     * @param array $rTerms Cmdline substrings to match
+     * @return bool
+     */
+    public static function isAnyProcessRunning(array $rTerms) {
+        return count(self::findProcessPIDs($rTerms, 1)) > 0;
+    }
 }