Wake up from Standby how? (1 Viewer)

Pavel

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May 18, 2011
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hi

I installed ipimp and connected with success to the htpc

As i understodd i should be able to wake my htpc with it but nothing happens when i try to connect.

Do i have to choose another method of standby than hibernate ?
 

cheezey

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August 26, 2004
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The iPiMP can only wake up remote MediaPortal clients, i.e. if iPiMP / TV Server / MediaPortal client are all installed on the same PC then it cannot wake that up. If your MediaPortal client is on another PC then you should be able to wake that up.
 

rmeredit

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  • April 10, 2007
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    Hi Pavel,

    What you need to look at is Wake on LAN (often abbreviated to WoL).

    You can get software on your iPhone/iPad (or just about any other platform) that can perform the wake command, but you need to set up your computer to be able to listen for the command, you also need to set up your router/modem to pass the command on to the sleeping computer if you're trying to wake it from outside of your home network.

    I use an app called Wake on my iPhone (it's in the app store, pretty cheap as I recall but not free). I set up port forwarding on my router to forward incoming traffic on port 7 to my HTPC. I also set up an external domain name using a free dynamic domain-name service (my router supports updating the service with my dynamic IP address from my ISP). Finally, I configured my computer's BIOS to accept the WoL command. Took me a while to get it all working, but it's been seamless ever since.

    If you are going to tackle it, get the WoL working from within your home network first before moving on to try to get it working from outside (eg. over a 3G mobile phone network).

    Good luck!

    Rob
     

    Matt Kirby

    Portal Member
    June 14, 2009
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    Hi,

    A few more tips for Wake on LAN:
    As rmeredit said, you are better off getting WOL to work on your local network, before adding in the extra complexity of being able to wake the computer remotely.

    To support WOL, your computer needs the following:
    WOL support in the BIOS: This used to only be available in high-end PCs and motherboards, however it's becoming an increasingly common option. If your PC was a self-build there is a good chance that the motherboard will support WOL (as it's an extra feature for the manufacturer to put on the box), if it's an OEM PC it will depend on the manufacturer and the model. Generally PCs at the lower end of the market don't support WOL. Some BIOS's have a simple "Allow WOL" option, for others look for options like "Allow PCI devices to wake computer" (even if your network card is part of the motherboard - it's still attached to the PCI bus). For initial testing, switch on every "wake" option in your BIOS!
    WOL support in the network card (NIC): Unless your PC is really old it will have a NIC on the motherboard - if the BIOS supports WOL the motherboard NIC should as well. If you have an add-in network card again it will depend on the make and model - branded ones will usually support WOL, no-name cheap ones may not. In Windows, check the advanced options of your network card - you may need to activate "WOL" or "MagicPacket" support. Also check the "Power Management" tab - make sure that "Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby" is selected.
    Fixed IP address for your PC: Although technically WOL works on the MAC address level of the network stack most WOL software will ask for an IP address - and you may also need the IP address to set-up port-forwarding in your router to get it working externally. You may get away with using a DHCP (dynamic) IP address for your PC - however it makes it far more difficult to trouble-shoot, and getting it to work remotely becomes more difficult if not impossible. So, set a fixed IP address for your PC - that way you know it wont change unless you change it.

    You will then need some software on another PC (or other device - iPhone, Android, etc) that can create the "MagicPacket" needed for WOL. This software will need the MAC address of the network card of the PC that you want to switch on, and possibly it's IP address.

    To get the MAC address:
    Open a command prompt (go to the Start menu, select "Run", and type "cmd", then enter)
    Then, in the command prompt, type "ipconfig /all"
    This will give you all sorts of information about your network settings, this bit you need is the "Physical Address". It will also show the IP address that you set earlier.

    Then, shut down your PC (on some systems WOL only works from sleep, on others it works from a complete shutdown (as long as the power isn't removed)). If you force a shutdown (by holding the power-button down, or pulling the plug) not only will your PC not like it but WOL will not work until you've powered up and powered down again.

    Put the MAC address into the WOL software on your other device and ask it to send the MagicPacket. One thing to note - for initial testing both devices need to be on the same network - if using a mobile device (iPhone, Android) make sure that it's connected to your wireless network, rather than a mobile-phone network.

    Hopefully your PC should then start up! If not, you are probably in trouble-shooting hell - double check that every relevant component on your PC supports WOL (BIOS, NIC) and that every "WOL" and "Wake" option is activated.

    Assuming that it works locally you can then try to get it working externally - this can be very tricky and depends on what type of router you have - some make it easy, and some make it very hard. Some won't let it work at all! The main issue is that you need to activate port-forwarding (so when you send the MagicPacket externally to your router, it knows where to forward it on). However, port forwarding in most routers works on IP addresses - you ask it to forward a certain port on to a certain IP address. The problem is that a network card only has an IP address once the OS (Windows in this case) is up and running - which isn't the case if you've shut the PC down. What you need is to be able to do port-forwarding to a MAC address, as that's the only thing the network card will respond to when there is no OS controlling it.

    My home router is an Alcatel/Thomson unit - for this to support WOL I needed to delve into the internal config and hard-code a certain MAC address to a certain IP address -it would then know how to forward the relevant WOL port when the PC was switched off.

    Assuming that all the parts support it it is very useful - on my system I can shut the PC down and leave the house, and if I then want to stream something I can wake my PC remotely from either my laptop, my Android phone, or even from a website - and then after a few moments login to iPiMP. And once I'm done I can use iPiMP to shut-down the PC again, to save leaving it on for hours.

    Good luck!
     

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