Powering Up A Pc

galwaydude18

This is strange question. i hope this is the right fourm to ask it in. what i would like to know is there any way that you can power up a pc from a laptop! what i have is my main rig networked to my laptop via a network switch and there are time when i would be in my beedroom and want to access a file from the desktop so that i can modify it using my laptop! rather than have to go all the way down to another room where my main rig is to turn it on is there any way that i could turn it on from say my bedroom using some software or hardware on my laptop! this is probably a stupid question but it has been bugging me for a few days now! any information will be most appreciated!

galwaydude18

anyone?

KeRbDoG

lookup a thing called "network awake function" of the network card, most 3Com NICs have this, and they have a small connector that your connect with a cable to the motherboard of the PC.
Havent a clue how it works (Google it!) but i know its a function yea can use to do what you wanna do. i think its for Sysops in a company to be able to turn on your desktop when your gone home, but no one ever connects up the cable from the NIC->Mobo. have only seen this connector on more expensive network cards, cheapo mobos have the connector though.

Enjoy

galwaydude18

kerbdog do you have any specific names to look out for?

KeRbDoG

if i remember from the last system i made, look in the manual for a header that has wake in the name. small connector, about 4 pins i think.
the same on a network card

KeRbDoG

Remote Wake Up
google info

galwaydude18

jsut tried a few progs there and none of them actually turn on the main rig! it appers that unless is loaded you can only shut down, restart etc. using an ip address or the name of the computer on the network but once you shut down you dont have access to either the ip address or the name of the computer on the network and thus you cant turn on a computer. any other ideas?

KeRbDoG

always thought it would allow you to wake up the system from a standby/Suspend (hence the name, WakeUp or WOL-Wake On LAN). Yea notice the way the network card of a PC still stays semi active when you shut a PC down? I always assumed, with the correct network management software, NIC and motherboard that you could get the NIC to power on the mobo with its MAC address.
More info here
Never really bothered to fiddle with it. Where I work, we would use remote power management power strips yea give the gang plug thingy an IP and yea can login and tell it to power on the sockets your PC is on over kill (they cost 500+ each for 8 plugs) but it does work.

Dempsey

You need WOL (Wake on LAN) I had it. You have a network card that has a WOL, it had a 3 pin connecter that would connect to the motherboard to keep it powered. You laptop would send your desktop a "magic packet" and the PC would boot. The Desktop BIOS would need to have WOL Power On "Enabled aswell.

I still have it and I aint using it. Its was rarely used and would be in its box but your motherboard would need to support WOL

galwaydude18

how would ya know if the laptop has wol? it doesnt say anything in the bios about it! its a hp pavillion zd7348ea.

Dempsey

The laptop is to wake up the PC? or vice versa?

KeRbDoG

would be stated in the bios.
for a how to on WOL, check annoyances.org

Dempsey

My onboard lan controller has "Wake On" settings for when link is reconnected and magic packets. Go into network properties, properties of the network connection and click configure the LAN controller, THEN go to advanced and have a look for Wake On or something similar.

Only the Remote Computer needs to have this feature, any PC can send a magic packet

galwaydude18

the laptop is to wake up the PC. just to mention that i have onboard lan on my motherboard! that is what i use to connect the network with!

Dempsey

You need to access the advanced settings of the onboard lan (e.g. Intel PROSet). My last post will get you to the advanced settings of any lan controller

galwaydude18

does WakeOnLan FromPowerOFF mean i have wake on as is needed?

galwaydude18

bump!!!

jozi

i think so yeah

jozi

Capt'n Midnight

Older PC's with AT power supplies (leave on) and PC's with a BIOS option (many Dell's) to start up after a pwer cut can be controlled with remote power switch - LIDL did them a while back €25 for 4 - you turn off and on with a remote.
(of course you have to shutdown the PC using one of microsofts many different shutdown.exe programs which have completley incompatible syntax or use VNC / PSEXEC to shutdown on the remote PC )

Dempsey

galwaydude18 wrote:

does WakeOnLan FromPowerOFF mean i have wake on as is needed?

Check the help file to if that is for a magic packet(i.e. 16 x Ethernet Address) OR a direct packet(i.e. MAC address). I can select either or both.

I had to enable WOL from the BIOS to boot from power off. The settings in the OS are for standby, in my case anyway.

You might find these links interesting. The last one is for AMD's Magic Packet Program.

Magic Packet™ Technology

Wake On LAN (WOL) / Remote Wake Up (RWU) & the Magic Packet

AMD PCnet Magic Packet Utility

galwaydude18

i read somewhere that if the light where the cat5 goes into the nic then you have wake on lan enabled! the light is on the on the back of my desktop when i shut it down but i still cannot get it to turn on from the laptop using your link above to AMD PCnet Magic Packet Utility!

Dempsey

I had that problem too this morning when I was fiddling around. The advanced settings are for when the PC is in Stand By Mode.

Go into your BIOS and into Power Management and there should be a Wake on LAN setting there and Enable it there. Ya dont have to change the Subnet Mask that is defaulted on that program leave it at 255.255.255.255. You were able to get the ethernet address ok?

galwaydude18

is that the 00.0d.68 etc code that you get? is that the ethernet address?

Dempsey

Ya that seems like a ethernet address. Your ethernet address is unique the world over. Did you find that setting in the BIOS of your main rig?

galwaydude18

not yet! just waiting for my anti virus to finish updating! i formatted the pc last week and have been kinda busy loading all my software from scratch. must buy a 250GB or 300GB HDD with a caddy!

galwaydude18

just while im waiting on the antivirus to finish updating why does it say *NameNotFound* just under Hostname after i finish creating a list of hosts on LAN?

Dempsey

Dunno, are all the Computers appearing in the list?

galwaydude18

no it doesnt give any names for any of the computers. just been in the bios there and all i could find was on board lan control and on board lan boot rom. both are enabled. i also looked my mb manual and it says that wol is an additional feature on my mb in my main rig. gona do a quick google to see is there some problem with enabling it on my mb for some reason. il be back to you in about 2 mins!

Dempsey

Whats the Motherboard?

galwaydude18

Dempsey wrote:

Whats the Motherboard?

it a gigabyte GA-K8NNXP

galwaydude18

anyone any other ideas? i cant seem to find anythin on google to say how to enable the wol