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Having trouble waking up computer from Standby or Hibernate via Remote Desktop

J

Jawadali

Senior member
Hello,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Mods, feel free to move this thread to a more appropriate section if it is currently in the wrong place.

I was troubleshooting what will eventually become my "file server" over the past few days, and was running into a problem.

In addition to basic file organization via Remote Desktop, I eventually want to be able to create folders on this system to map network drives for other computers in the house, and was thinking that instead of leaving the system always on, that it could wake up as needed when accessed over the network. This would reduce the noise as well as the power consumption.

I can currently access my file server PC via Remote Desktop when the PC is on, but I want the server to "wake up" from either Standby or Hibernate when I access it via Remote Desktop connection, I can never connect.


Here are some quick specs of the server:


-Windows XP Pro SP3

-DFI Infinity Nforce2 Ultra Motherboard with onboard LAN (Socket 462) with latest BIOS (11/24/2004)

-Latest nForce2 drivers are installed from the nVidia website

-No keyboard, mouse, monitor, or speakers are connected

-only one user account with a password and administrator privileges

-Static IP address manually configured

-MAC Address disabled (not entered) in BIOS

-Wake-on-LAN is enabled in BIOS and in Device manager

-"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" is unchecked in the device manager

-Prompt for Password on resume from Standby is disabled

-Screen Saver (and password prompt) is disabled

-PCs accessing the server are running Windows XP Pro

- Under Power Options, "Turn of System Disks" is set to never, System is set to standby after 20 minutes and to hibernate after 2 hours. However, Standby and Hibernate settings were adjusted to shorter time periods while I was testing.



I tried playing with many of the options of the nForce Networking Controller in the device manager (including all of the power saving options), and tried only enabling either standby or hibernate, but nothing seems to work. I have to "wake up" the system using the power or reset button on the server, and then log in via Remote Desktop.

There was only one BIOS option relevant to Wake-on-LAN, and it is enabled. Wake-on-Ring, which I think is for modems, is disabled.


My old motherboard, which was an Epox 8RGA+ (also nForce 2 chipset), seemed to be able to do this fine with its onboard LAN.

However, that board wouldn't boot after a power outage, plus some capacitors started leaking, so it was replaced with the DFI board I am currently using. I also wanted to use the DFI board's SATA capabilities, and plan to add more SATA drives in the future.


Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jawadali
 
I thought that you had to send a "magic packet" to the NIC to wake things up - normal network traffic will not do it. At least that is my understanding.
 
Yea, if normal network traffic did it then the box would never sleep since Windows is always broadcasting things.
 
Assuming that you are talking about Sleep (Not Hibernate or Off), take a look at the Network card drivers they usually show the options to get the computer out of standby.

In Vista take look at the Advance Power Management as well.
 
Originally posted by: JackMDS
Assuming that you are talking about Sleep (Not Hibernate or Off), take a look at the Network card drivers they usually show the options to get the computer out of standby.

In Vista take look at the Advance Power Management as well.
Click to expand...

Yes, "Wake-on-LAN from Power Off" is enabled in the network card properties. I also played with all of the power management settings ("Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby", "Only allow management stations to bring the computer out of standby", etc.).

I am currently playing with some older NICs, but I have not made any progress on the onboard controller as of yet.

EDIT: I am running Windows XP Pro SP3 on the remote and client computers.
 
Thanks for the link; I was actually found that article and was reading it yesterday.

Since the Remote Desktop used to wake the computer from Standby on an older motherboard when it was running Windows XP SP2 (with no magic packet needed), I think something may have been changed with Remote Desktop in Windows XP SP3. The icon and some of the menus have certainly changed.


If the PC cannot wake from standby when accessed by another computer, It's going to make mapping network drives a problem, unless there is some way to automatically send a magic packet when a networked drive is accessed. I don't want to leave the PC on all the time since it consumes between 100 to 120 watts when idle/doing simple tasks.


As far as the Magic Packet is concered, I have not assigned any MAC address to the Onboard LAN. Can I just make one up?

Thanks for everyone's help so far.

Jawadali
 
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