Computers can do all sorts of crap, but can't turn themselves on at a given time?

KDOG

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Any else notice that? No automatic power on? Seems kind of silly huh? Is there a a program that can tell the BIOS to turn on the computer for ya? It would be nice to wake up, grab my coffe and have the computer waiting for me!
 

AndyHui

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member<br>AT FAQ M
Oct 9, 1999
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They can. ASUS motherboards have the option to power up at a certain time of the day. It's in the Power options in the BIOS.
 

Elledan

Banned
Jul 24, 2000
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Well, you could try it with a timeclock, you now, a switch that turns on and off at programmed times. And on a network you've got wake-on-LAN cables, but further...
 

dl

Banned
Oct 29, 1999
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sure they can!

I remember 3 years ago that the Dells I worked on had a function in the bios that allowed the computer to be turned on at a programmed time. I remembered setting it to turn on at 8:50am and logon to the network, so in case I'm late, it would look like I'm already in the office ;)

dunno about current mobos and their bios though...
 

FUBAR

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
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Well, in order for a 3rd party to do it, it would have to be a patch to the existing MB BIOS, as no software on the PC is 'running' except the bios and that's just the clock, when it's off.

I know that all the Dell Optiplex's at school do. ;) makes it easy for them to restore over the network after I screw em up with software...
 

Train

Lifer
Jun 22, 2000
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My old toshiba laptop did it, and it was set up in the windows control panel, was kinda cool, could also have it set to run a program(s) then turn off when done.
 

Vegito

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 1999
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Yeah, almost all the dells has that.. I have mine turn on at 6AM and backup by 6:30 and it always looked like I came in early and backed up the system before everyone gets in and makes me look goooood
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
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KDOG:

Not to sound like a jerk, but how do expect the 3rd party software to do it if the computer is turned off? Only BIOS would be able to take care of this, as any 3rd party would require the PC to be up and fully functional to do anything....
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
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I think most motherboard BIOS's have been able to do this for years. Before going 24/7(almost a year now)I was using BIOS to turn my old k6-2 300/Amptron 9600 TX2 system on at 8am everyday. That mobo is a good 5yrs old now(approx). There isn't a person on this board who doesn't have the ability to turn on their PC through BIOS settings, most likely.
 

dszd0g

Golden Member
Jun 14, 2000
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Most of this is a repeat.

First of all, most BIOSs support turning on at a specific time. I know that all Asus motherboards I have ever used have this option.

Second of all, you can enable wake on LAN. I don't know much about wake on LAN? Is it any LAN activity or specifically can it monitor for a specific IP? To the best of my knowledge it is any LAN activity which makes the feature pretty worthless.

If you want to get fancier you can invest in an X10 home network. Then you have one machine in the house the X10 server. You can hook up anything that plugs into the power in the wall up to this. There are also X10 wall light switches one can purchase. Then you can either use windows with task scheduler or unix with cron to automate things (or write custom software.) Most of the X10 software I've seen has been for Unix and mainly Linux. There is a lot of stuff for Perl that could probably be easily ported to NT if you know perl.
X25 also has remote controls.

With X10 you can have it turn on your cofee pot right before you wake up. Or you can hit the remote control from bed if you prefer having the control. You can turn on and off the lights in the house by remote or on timers. (I.e., turn off all the lights in the house that are still on at 2am.) You can have it automatically turn off and on the fish tank pump or heat lamp on your reptile cage.

You get the idea, the flexibility of X10 is nearly endless, however it's not cheap. It's usually about $50-75 for a starter kit and around $30 per device you want to add.

The idea of having their entire house run by a computer freaks out some people though. I'm fine with it as long as it isn't Microsoft controlling my home. :)
 

office boy

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
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WOL (Wake On Lan) listens for a &quot;magic packet&quot; that tells the NIC to wake the computer. It requires special LAN management software.
 

RossGr

Diamond Member
Jan 11, 2000
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DzD0g:
X 10 will not work with a ATX case, on the old AT cases you could leave the switch on and the computer would turn on and off with the wall power so the X10 modules would have worked fine. The power on the ATX case is a momentary contact so it needs to be pushed for the system to power up. That is why this feature must be supported by the BIOS. Since a ATX mobo is soft on/off it can turn itself on if it is written in the the BIOS code.

BTW; I have been using X10 for years, I had a board in my Apple II in 1983 that ran an X10 controller. I was neat, I could leave for a week and the lights would turn on and off pretty much like someone was home. They would come on at a random time inside of a settable interval. Like living room light on 30- 45 min after sunset.

You can get contollers and modules at Radio Shack for $10.00 - $15.00
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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RossGr

Many mobos have a Power On After Power Loss option. This would allow an X10 switch to turn on an ATX machine.
 

dszd0g

Golden Member
Jun 14, 2000
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BoberFett, exactly.

You know, I was meaning to mention that in my post that ones BIOS would need to support &quot;Power On After Power Loss&quot; or as it's called in my BIOS &quot;AC PWR Loss Restart.&quot;
 

DBavaria

Senior member
Jul 13, 2000
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goto kmart and buy one of those power time controlers, turns on the power for the plug at a certain time, so plugin you coffe machine and computer into it , set it ffor 7:00am, wheen ur ready, cofee and computer is ready
 

RossGr

Diamond Member
Jan 11, 2000
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BoberFett: That is what I meant by supported by BIOS, Couldn't recall the name of the feature.