"WOL"?

[PeteCress]

http://www.sage.tv/hd_theater.html contains the following:

"WOL (Wake-on-LAN) support: The device is capable of sending WOL packets to wakeup a SageTV server in standby mode if that server supports WOL functionality."

Can somebody dumb this down for me?

Would "SageTV server" refer to the physical PC that is hosting SageTV?

If so, is "WOL functionality" something one would see in the BIOS setup screen?

From context, it sounds like maybe a PC with that capability could be shut down overnight and then magically woken up when that HD 300 box gets turned on.

Am I even close?

[peternm22]

You've got it right.

Basically a "magic packet" can be sent over a network to wake up a computer. Sometimes there is a setting in the BIOS, but there is usually a setting on the network adapter properties in the Device Manager (if you're using Windows). You enable WOL, and then the computer should be able to get woken up by the HD300.

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN

[JetreL]

Yes you turn WOL on in you servers BIOS. When the HD300 is turning on it looks for the Sage server. If it doesn't see it, it will try to send the packet to the servers mac address and wake the server. After a minute or two the server starts and the HD300 connects. It works too! I've done it several times!

[PeteCress]

Originally Posted by JetreL

Yes you turn WOL on in you servers BIOS. When the HD300 is turning on it looks for the Sage server. If it doesn't see it, it will try to send the packet to the servers mac address and wake the server. After a minute or two the server starts and the HD300 connects. It works too! I've done it several times!

Took awhile, but your post has finally soaked in.

Assuming this feature is not present in the HD200, it sounds like a selling point for the HD300.

Nice feature for me bc I currently have the kitchen HD200/TV/VCR/Phone/Radio on a timer that shuts them all down at 2230 and starts them up at 0630.

Now all I have to do is schedule a "Shut Down" job on the server for, say 2300, and plug the stuff I want to follow the server into one of those power strips that senses the server's draw and turns other outlets on/off accordingly.

[franklinmchris]

This doesn't work for me at all. I have vanilla realtek pce gigabit ethernet built into my ASUS motherboard, I am running Windows 7, I have used the power management tab on the NIC properties to disable powering down the NIC, enabled wake on magic packet and disabled wake on traffic, since that wakes the computer immediately. There are no other settings.

I connect to the server with my HD300 and check auto connect. I turn off the HD300. I put the PC to sleep. I turn on the HD300. It puts up the dialog saying it's sending to WOL packet to wake up the server. Nothing happens. If I wake the server with the MCE remote power button, the autoconnect goes through after some seconds.

I tried setting the forced_mac_address property, but this caused the PC to lose internet connection and to no longer show up in HD300 server list. deleting that property, got me back to my previous state.

Does anyone have any ideas what might be interfering with the HD300 WOL packet waking up the PC? Is there an easy way to troubleshoot this?

thanks
chris

[franklinmchris]

Figured out my problems. I used the mac address from the NIC status dialog instead of running ipconfig /all in a cmd window. That was what hosed the connection on my PC.

For some reason, unchecking "allow this computer to turn off this device to save power" had the side effect of disabling WOL options.

Now WOL works as advertised.

Lesson learned on forced_mac_address : be very careful what mac address you stick in there!

[QueOnda]

I understand HD300 can send out WOL to the sagetv server. Can sageTV server send out the magic packets to another device? I want to put a readynas to sleep and awake when I decide to use sagetv media extender.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by QueOnda

Can sageTV server send out the magic packets to another device? I want to put a readynas to sleep and awake when I decide to use sagetv media extender.

There's no such functionality built in. But it's possible in principle for a plugin to send out WOL packets (or whatever else you want to do) when an extender connects.

[PeteCress]

I'm currently beating my head against the wall vis-a-vis WOL.

FWIW, one that seems tb emerging is that it's router-dependent.

Not just any router will broadcast the magic packet.

Updating the router's firmware with applications like "Tomato" and "dd-wrt" seem tb the approach used by many - although not all routers will work with such an update.

Being technically challenged, I'm currently looking for a router that can handle WOL out-of-the-box (i.e. maybe some setup needed, but no zapping the firmware).

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by PeteCress

Being technically challenged, I'm currently looking for a router that can handle WOL out-of-the-box (i.e. maybe some setup needed, but no zapping the firmware).

Why send it through your router at all? Get a separate gigabit switch and connect all your LAN devices to that. Then the only thing the router will have to pass is Internet traffic (which is what it's meant for).

[cheekymonkey]

He only lists HD200's in his sig I'm guessing he needs a router running linux to send the WOL packet, I use a ReadNAS to perform the same function.

[PeteCress]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Why send it through your router at all? Get a separate gigabit switch and connect all your LAN devices to that. Then the only thing the router will have to pass is Internet traffic (which is what it's meant for).

Thanks for that insight - I had no clue about the distinction.

Changed the topology so that the only connections to the router are the cable to the ISP and the cable from a switch.... so everything's going through the switch.

But still no joy....

My OP was just an attempt to inject what little I had thought I discovered into a SageTV discussion.

But my immediate situation involves waking up another product (ReadyNAS Ultra-6), so I will bow out....