# Wake on LAN works, except with gnome



## agottem (Nov 19, 2011)

If I execute the command [cmd=]acpiconf -s3[/cmd] the computer sleeps and wakes upon when the wake on lan magic packet is sent.

However, if I use gnome-power-manager and set the computer to sleep after 2 hours, I'm unable to wake it up using the same process.

I looked around in gconf-editor, under the power manager section, but no settings stood out as being problematic.  The computer is set to suspend, not hibernate, for all scenarios.

Has anyone else encountered this?

Thanks,
Andrew


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## agottem (Nov 19, 2011)

I take some of that back, it appears gnome has nothing to do with it.  If I put the PC to sleep using [cmd=]acpiconf -s3[/cmd] and wait 20 minutes, I can no longer perform wake on lan.

I'm attempting to wake it up from a PC outside my local network.  Maybe my router isn't letting the packet through if the PC has been asleep for so long?


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## Orum (Nov 20, 2011)

After waiting 20 minutes, is there any way you can wake it from S3, i.e. power button or perhaps keyboard (if the BIOS supports it)?


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## agottem (Nov 20, 2011)

Yes, I can wake it up using keyboard/power button.  I can even wake it up by sending the wake-on lan magic packet from within the local network.

I cannot wake it up from outside the local network (over the internet).  Waking up over the internet only works if the computer has been asleep for a short time.

It must be a router configuration issue, but I'm not sure what.  I've setup port fowarding correctly (otherwise it wouldn't work at all).


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## tingo (Nov 20, 2011)

You know, it is called wake-on-LAN for a reason. It was never designed to work outside of that scope.


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## agottem (Nov 20, 2011)

tingo said:
			
		

> You know, it is called wake-on-LAN for a reason. It was never designed to work outside of that scope.



You should let these guys know:

http://wakeonlan.me/
http://www.depicus.com/wake-on-lan/

And, like I said, I can wake it up over the internet just fine so long as I send the packet within a couple minutes of it going to sleep.


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## kpa (Nov 20, 2011)

Yeah but you still can't send a packet based on MAC address directly over the internet, there has to be a service listening on the gateway or some other machine that sends the WOL packet on the local LAN.


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## Uniballer (Nov 20, 2011)

Exactly how are you sending the remote WOL packet?  If it depends on the router knowing the MAC address of the target machine from a previous ARP exchange then the router should forget the MAC address after some time period.  Can you send the packet to the local directed broadcast address so that the router doesn't need to know the target MAC address?


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## agottem (Nov 21, 2011)

I installed the net/wol port ( http://www.freshports.org/net/wol/ ), and am attempting to wake via the command:

`wol --port=7 --ip=<my_router_ip> <my_pc_MAC>`


On the router, I've set up port forwarding or port 7 to go to the PC.  I've also setup the router DHCP to always assign the ip 192.168.0.127 to <my_pc_MAC>.

Your statement about the router forgetting the MAC address after some time period sounds reasonable, as that fits with what I'm observing.  

I tried forwarding port 7 to the address 192.168.0.255 (to broadcast the packet), but my router doesn't seem to allow it (it gives me an error on the port-forwarding setup page).

Might turning off DHCP, and statically assigning IPs fix the problem?


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## tingo (Nov 24, 2011)

As kpa said, the only way this can work is if your gateway (or some other machine connected to the internet) has a service which allows you to send a WOL packet on the local network. Local MAC addresses do not travel outside of your local network.


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## Uniballer (Dec 11, 2011)

Well, it might be possible if you can install a permanent (i.e. static) ARP entry in the local router for the machine that needs to be woken up.  That way the router won't have to ARP for a machine that isn't there.  Not a very good general solution, but it might be OK for a machine or two.  Just remember it will never work if you change the MAC address (e.g. replace the NIC, or motherboard if it's an onboard LAN interface).


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