NASLite Network Attached Storage

For those of you whose NL or other PCs do respond to WOL: What state is the PC in when NL shuts it down? Are any of the fans running? Front panel lights on? Does the ethernet connection respond to pings?

In trying to debug why my NL PC isn't waking up. The hardware and BIOS all claim to support it but it doesn't wake up.I noticed that when NL shuts down this particular PC it looks like it's completely off- no fan, no lights, no response to pings, no response to WOL signal from 3 different WOL utilities I downloaded.

On an even older PC I originally tried (using the same PCI network card), when NL shut it down the fan was still running, the power button was still lit and the network card still responded. If I pressed and held the power button it would then shut down completely. I don't know if that one supported WOL as I wasn't interested in WOL at the time. But it would usually restart at some random time after full shutdown?!?!

WOL requires ATX PC. What you are describing is an AT PC. An AT PC cannot be powered-of via the OS since the power to the board is turned on and off via a hardwired switch. Not sure what to make of your last sentence though. An AT will never start on it’s own unless the switch is shot.

With ATX, the BIOS controls what the board does when it detects activation of the power button. An ATX board is technically always powered, even when the machine is turned off. That is why many ATX power supplies have an ON/OFF rocker switch built right in the supply chassis. That way you don’t go pulling things in and out with the power on.

PC appears to be completely off - no fans, no front panel lights, no response to a ping.

Now - having said that - if you know where to look - there is an LED on the system board that will be on as long as the system has power applied, it doesn't matter how the system was shut down, as long as the power supply is connected to AC, this standby pwr LED will be on (this is a Compaq DeskPro), and as long as a network cable is connected, the link LEDs, both on the network card in the PC and on the network switch remain on.



Technically - yes - an ATX board always has power applied once the power supply is connected to AC, however this is limited to specific standby power circuits, fed from a separate +5V standby section of the power supply (sometimes known as flea power) and not the full power.

Actually there are no LEDs on this Gateway MB. The only LEDs are in the front panel power button and on the NIC. They both go off if I power down via the front panel button or via the NL shutdown command.

That said, I found a DOS config utility on the NIC driver CD. I put that on a DOS boot floppy. It turns out the NIC was set for WOL (which the MB doesn't support) but was not set for PME (which it does support). So, I enabled PME.

Now... if I boot the DOS floppy and then turn it off via the front panel button it always responds to a magic packet. But if I boot NL and then use it's shutdown command or the front panel button it will not respond to a magic packet.

azjerry:

Have you taken it to the next logical step ? ( I assume having been sent the magic packet your machine boots normally ... )

You should try the following sequence: config (as you did above) to PME with DOS floppy, then shutdown. Now remove the floppy and do what is normally needed to prepare for NL (not sure if you use USB or other method), then send a magic packet and see if NL boots successfully. If it works, that means NL re-configures the NIC back to WOL (knowingly or not (by inadvertent reset, or other default)). And if this does work it may be a simple change in the NL code to prevent resetting the NIC during boot that will allow WOL for many NL users. Or a config setting in the next release of NL which queries the NIC, saves the setting, then resets the NIC during shutdown.

Georg

The steps I've taken:
- boot DOS floppy, run config program to enable PME, save config to NIC EEPROM

- power off

- send magic packet, PC boots DOS floppy disk

- power off

- send magic packet, PC boots DOS floppy disk

- power off

- replace floppy with NL kicker floppy to boot NL from USB drive

- send magic packet, PC boots kicker floppy and boots NL off USB

- shut down

- send magic packet, PC does not respond

One thing I need to try that I just thought off: I last booted NL. I should now boot the DOS floppy, NOT run the config program, shut down and see if it responds to a magic packet.

azjerry:

ok ... you said "send magic packet, PC boots kicker floppy and boots NL off USB".

Run NL for a while ... is everything normal ? Are NIC (file transfer) speeds normal ?

Now let's analyze the syslog file. Are there any hints about the NIC configuration ? (being changed, reset, or current state ?)

When you say "shut down" (from NL) ... have you tried using the front-panel-power button ? ( I assume you have NL v2.0x. ) And yes, by all means try that last idea of yours ... (boot the DOS floppy after NL).

I hopefully can allocate a little time late in the day to play with my systems WOL and add more info to this thread.

Georg

I didn't notice any problems yesterday although I wasn't particularly looking for any. Everything seemed normal. I'll pay more attention the next time and also check the syslog.



I tried both the front panel button and the NL shutdown command. There was no response to the magic packet after either. I'm using NL 2.04 USB.

azjerry:

Interim questions:

1] Tell me more about your Gatweay motherboard (model = Nimitz ??, chipset, etc); and
2] confirm that it does NOT have on-board LAN (i.e. you are using only PCI NIC).
3] Is the power-lights/fan-state the same after front-panel-off after configuring the NIC to PME compared to NL shutdown ?
4] On your NIC card there are two LEDs. At least one green, the other can vary in color depending on network speed (100 vs. 1000). Which LEDs are ON when running NL versus after shutdown from DOS and shutdown from NL ?
5] Look at your SysLog and tell me whether you have a line something like this ... and tell me what the X.YZ is: "user.info kernel: PCI: PCI BIOS revision X.YZ entry at 0xfda95, last bus=2"

I've had some success with booting NL with WOL (even PME on one Motherboard), but have not nailed down a completely consistent procedure/condition. I'll report more on that after additional trials.

Georg

From my previous post: I booted the DOS floppy and shutdown- It did not respond to magic packets. I had to run the config program to get magic packets working again.


1. Information off Gateway's web site based on serial number:
Intel (Fedora) motherboard Pentium III - 866-MHz
The Intel Solano 82815 chipset consisting of:
* Intel 82815 GMCH
* Intel 82815 ICH2
* Intel 82815 FWH

# Five 32-bit bus master PCI v2.2 slots

# Meets ACPI specifications
# Power switch connector on-board
# Soft power off

From syslog:
Mar 8 05:13:53 user.warn kernel: CPU: Intel Pentium III (Coppermine) stepping 06

2. It does not have internal NIC. Only the PCI card

3. When the PC is on, the fan and power light are on. In all cases when the PC is shutdown/turned off the fan and light are both off.

4. With NL running only a green LED is on on the NIC. In all cases when the PC is off no NIC LEDS are on.

5. Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfda95, last bus=2


Here's the section dealing with the NIC. I don't see anything related to setting or resetting anything.
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - version 5.7.6-k1
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: Copyright (c) 1999-2004 Intel Corporation.
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: dgrs: SW=$Id: dgrs.c,v 1.13 2000/06/06 04:07:00 rick Exp $ FW=Build 550 11/16/96 03:45:15
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.warn kernel: FW Version=$Version$
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: pcnet32.c:v1.30h 06.24.2004 tsbogend@alpha.franken.de
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: ThunderLAN driver v1.15
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: TLAN: 0 devices installed, PCI: 0 EISA: 0
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: dmfe: Davicom DM9xxx net driver, version 1.36.4 (2002-01-17)
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: ns83820.c: National Semiconductor DP83820 10/100/1000 driver.
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.warn kernel: sk98lin: No adapter found.
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: forcedeth.c: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.50.
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: 8139cp: 10/100 PCI Ethernet driver v1.2 (Mar 22, 2004)
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.err kernel: 8139cp: pci dev 02:09.0 (id 10ec:8139 rev 10) is not an 8139C+ compatible chip
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.err kernel: 8139cp: Try the "8139too" driver instead.
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: 8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.26
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.info kernel: eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xd0808800, 00:40:f4:ed:c9:6e, IRQ 11
# Mar 8 05:13:53 user.debug kernel: eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8100B/8139D'

azjerry:

I'm still testing. But for now let me say it looks like I have the same or very similar PCI Ethernet card ( I get the same "pci dev 02:09.0 (id 10ec:8139 rev 10) is not an 8139C+ compatible chip " messages ), and so far I have been unable to wake an Intel Board that supports waking from S5 using PME or ACPI. The same Intel Board wakes just fine via it's on-board LAN from S3 or S5. Im using WinXP for testing due to it's flexibility ("powercfg.exe"). I do not have another PCI Ethernet card to try.

Thank you fordem, Tony, jeffjohn, micz, tvjohn, and dimension for your helpful comments ... I am trying to learn something while at the same time assisting in getting WOL to work with NL. I'm off to some high priorities and will continue to post in a couple of days.

Georg

Hello all:

Ok ... here's my 10 cents (call it inflation )

Some results:

1] WOL (Wake-On-Lan) is a hardware function. (As Tony and others have said.)
2] I have successfully woken 8 different motherboards with their ON BOARD lan. Various manufacturers (Abit, Albatron, 3 different Intel boards (845 and 875 chipsets), 3 different SuperMicro boards) all using socket 478. In all cases success was achieved from state S5 (power off, but power cable not disconnected of course). Some boards show an LED somewhere on the board indicating standby power as available, however, most boards do not have the indicator and work fine.
3] I could not get my PCI Ethernet card to work (apparently same as azjerry's). It's possibly too cheap ($9) a card to support WOL. I do not have another card to try.
4] It did not matter whether the system was WinXP or NASLite (the only two types I've tried). In other words, because it IS a hardware function, sending the Magic Packet simply turns on the system and boots whatever.
5] HOWEVER, if the system is WinXP it DOES matter if the system went into S1 (stand-by mode). I've only verified this on one Mobo (Albatron 865 chipset), but the WOL fails. If the system is in S3 (Windows Hibernate) it wakes successfully. Possibly a BIOS setting of S1+S3 (instead of only S1) might fix this. However, this same Albatron board also apprently (not 100% sure) woke from just a PING checking status. This is the only board of the eight that showed this issue. Otherwise the board woke fine with the Magic WOL Packet.
6] Only very OLD motherboards really need the special WOL cable. This provides standby power to the PCI Ethernet card so that it is always awake and can listen for the Magic Packet. If the PCI slots support the PCI2.2 spec (as opposed to PCI2.1 or older) the cable is unnecessary, because standby power is provided through the PCI bus. HOWEVER, the NASLite SysLog seems to inconsistently report something like the following line: "user.info kernel: PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfda95, last bus=2". On the Intel 875 board (no WOL header to supply standby power) the SysLog reports version 3.0 (which may be correct), but the SuperMicro boards show 2.1, and I do NOT use the cable (they DO have a WOL header, but I don't even own the cable), and all of these boards WORK.
7] I spent quite a bit of time (sometimes frustrating) finding out all of the above ... but I liked it for the learning experience ... which -- coupled with what I'll report on separately -- was well worth it. But I did not have enough time to follow up on every detail.

Recommendations:

A] Try rummaging through your BIOS and find "Wake On Lan" or "PME Wake on PCI" or similar. If it's not apparent find out if a BIOS update might fix the issue.
B] If you have a PCI Ethernet card check the documentation to make sure it supports WOL. I would not place this burden on ServerElements … there’s too much variability. ( *Disclosure*: I do not work for or benefit from ServerElement. I am merely an appreciative customer that likes NASLite. ) But may be we can do a User Forum Sticky where members report working versions (like USB boot motherboards).
C] Don't trust the exact SysLog messages, just try it. In most cases you will probably discover that the on-board ethernet WOL function works. And remember, ServerElements software should not be held responsible. The strange instance where azjerry was able to WOL from special DOS config floppy is IMHO a very isolated instance I would categorize as unsupportable.

If you have question … I might be able to assist after all this "learning". Just post your question here.

NOW … for the "prize". I took a few days to respond, because once I discovered the capabilities of WOL and its usefulness, I brushed up on my old scripting knowledge and then went on to learn to integrate that with learning from scratch to program in HTA (HTML Application). The result is a GUI for turning ON and OFF systems on my local network – I call is SysRC, or SystemRemoteControl. Just like my scripting that resulted (almost exactly one year ago) in a sticky entitled "SCRIPT for Proper Manual or Automated Shutdown" http://www.serverelements.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=810 I will ask ServerElements to make this new script a sticky, probably in the NASLite2 USB or original NASLite+ section (where the automated shutdown sticky resides).

Georg

Edit: See new topic now at http://www.serverelements.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8888

georg,

Thanks for all the followup and testing. It's definitely worth 10 cents

One thing I want to try yet is swapping my 99 cent Airlink PCI NIC for a name brand card. This wouldn't be the first time that I've had problems with Airlink stuff. If a different card fixes my problem it'll be the last time

Well I finally got around to buying a Netgear FA311v2 card. It also doesn't wake on LAN. After reviewing the limited documentation and Netgear's website I can't find anything that specifically says it support WOL. Does anyone hear successfully WOL using this card?

azjerry:

I like Newegg, in part because they are well organized in listing specs, and they have good links direct to the "Manufacturer Product Page". At Newegg it specifically says "NO" in the spec "Wake On LAN".

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=FA311
If you click on either card, then in the new page in the bottom left is the link to "Manufacturer Product Page" (but you probably got there another way).

I have not had time to test any other PCI NICs.

Georg