said by aryoba :

Then how did you remotely power up the machine? :)

In order to use WOL, there has to be at least two computers. One you use to send the Magic Packet from. Another one is the remote you try to power up.

said by Omego2K :

er I currently have one computer so I don't have a router

said by ChiTang :

If the BB modem is also a modem/router combo unit and the PC is using private Lan IP, my previous explaination applies.

If the BB modem is only a modem, your PC's Nic will have WAN IP address, then the packet will be router directly to your PC.

No subnet needed, only the WAN IP address + the MAC address.

said by shdesigns :

It does not need to use IP addressing at all. It is a broadcast packet. Some implementations use an UDP pacet to port 0, 5 or 7. It can also be IPX or any other protocol.

From the wiki article:

"Magic Packet

The Magic Packet is a broadcast frame containing anywhere within its payload 6 bytes of ones (resulting in hexadecimal FF FF FF FF FF FF) followed by sixteen repetitions of the target computer's MAC address.

Since the Magic Packet is only scanned for the string above, and not actually parsed by a full protocol stack, it may be sent as a broadcast packet of any network- and transport-layer protocol. It is typically sent as a UDP datagram to port 0, 7 or 9, or, in former times, as an IPX packet."

The IP address does not matter. It can be sent in any packet frame TCP, UDP, ARP, IPX, netbeui, appletalk. It does not matter.

Then could it be that it doesn't work because I don't enter a subnet on dslreports.com wake up page and only my IP?

said by aryoba :

Just because the mechanism uses Broadcast, it does not mean total IP independent. Keep in mind the Broadcast mechanism uses IP address of typically the last one on the subnet (i.e. something like xx.xx.xx.255 of /24 network). In other words, the mechanism still depends on last-known subnet and subnet mask which are logical entity in addition to the MAC address (which is physical entity) of the machine you try to power on remotely.

These physical (MAC address) and logical (IP subnet and subnet mask) entity utilization is controlled by OS. Hence, the WOL mechanism stops working when the OS process breaks unexpectedly as I mentioned previously.

said by fox7 :

To reiterate ChiTang's last comment about Magic Packet and broadcast... IP, UP we all P. It is IP independent, because it is broadcast and it is, the 'Magic Packet', the MAC of the NIC sent six times. So the NIC with the proper MAC will turn on it's computer.

fox7

said by Omego2K :

The following pattern works: I turn on my PC, get into windows, shut down, and use WOL. This works fine. However, if I turn it off before the OS, it's not working with WOL. There is no specific option in my bios for WOL. Only to power on from PCI device. To note my NIC(s) are onboard. Any suggestions why the NIC is not shutting down properly? I would appreciate the help.

said by ChiTang :

Can you repeat the pattern, how many times did you try it?

It looks like, you set up WOL in BIOS, turn it on via magic packet. Too eager to try one more time, don't wait to completely bootup and turn off by power switch, after that no WOL.

Do a normal bootup and a normal shutdown and see if WOL is back, repeat a few time and make sure WOL is working.
!
Thw WOL should work as vectravl400 said.

As for why it does not work by a power down. I am specualting that the NIc is not properly shutdown and reinitialsed. Therefore no WOL.

said by Omego2K :

Hi I set up my PC to wake on LAN and it works. However, I noticed it can only be woken up if I turn off my computer by shutting down from windows. If I turn off my computer before it gets to windows by pressing the power button I can't turn it on from wan. Why exactly is this so? How does windows effect the operation of hardware when it's not even running? I know I needed to setup my network card options in windows to get it working but I don't understand how it's working. Anybody could shed some light on the subject?

said by vectravl400 :

I don't think the OS plays a part in the Wake On LAN process. It's a BIOS setting that's commonly available on motherboards of any recent vintage. As tshmidt said, the NIC responds to a magic packet and powers up the system and boots from the first available boot option (Hard drive, CD, floppy, USB, etc). For more info on this see the wikipedia article

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN

said by vectravl400 :

I don't think the OS plays a part in the Wake On LAN process. It's a BIOS setting that's commonly available on motherboards of any recent vintage. As tshmidt said, the NIC responds to a magic packet and powers up the system and boots from the first available boot option (Hard drive, CD, floppy, USB, etc). For more info on this see the wikipedia article

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN