Even though this may not appear to be an Arduino question, perhaps the only solution is with an Ethernet Shield...
The problem:
I have a PC that is connected using WLAN, that is tucked away in a cabinet that I need to keep on. Wake On Lan (WOL) would be a great solution, but wireless WOL is not available.
Fortunately, there is an unused ethernet port on the PC that supports WOL....(wiring up to the main network isn't possible, but having a little device near the PC is OK)
So, question is:
Does anyone know of a device that exists that does nothing but send broadcast WOL signals over ethernet? Would the Ethernet Shield be a good candidate for such a device? The library doesn't seem too compatible with what I'm attempting, or is it?
I would envisage that the arduino would be externally powered and just sends broadcast WOL packets ever (?) seconds/minutes. (I could even connect the USB to the arduino and tell it to stop broadcasting after ? minutes once the PC is up and running again....)
...Or any other suggestions? Again, all I really want to achieve is to power the PC on if it's off! (PS: the PC's BIOS has absolutely no ACPI settings other than WOL)
tastewar:
You can't configure the PC OS to not go into Sleep mode?
The device will always be on, so sleep is already disabled. My problem is that I need to turn the machine on after an occasional power loss, during the night.
The device will always be on, so sleep is already disabled. My problem is that I need to turn the machine on after an occasional power loss, during the night.
You didn't provide your OS, but my windows machines reboot upon a power loss.
zoomkat:
You didn't provide your OS, but my windows machines reboot upon a power loss.
Thanks, but the PC doesn't reboot. I am aware of OS and BIOS capabilities: be assured that I wouldn't have asked this question otherwise
You see, the only other alternative I think of is to use a UPS and then use an external monitoring company (such as www.hyperspin.com) to monitor when the PC is not responding to external pings. It would work, but it would involve me putting on my slippers, getting in a car and then driving to the PC's location, just to press a power button, which seems rather ridiculous to me.
weirdo557:
its not windows that controls that, its the bios. check for a resume after power loss entry.
Please, not trying to sound ungrateful for any help....but is there any chance it can be assumed that I know that the BIOS does not have the setting and that the computer itself isn't capable to turn itself on after power loss? As I metioned, there are no ACPI/APM/Power settings other than WOL.
cmroanirgo:
Does anyone know of a device that exists that does nothing but send broadcast WOL signals over ethernet?
Hi Craig,
i have similar situation here.
want to power up computers ( not only desktops) in a office by sending them a Wake on LAN signal.
powerfailure is an isue here, too.
the device i am looking for should start running when power is available (no switch to press to power on).
and then wait for a trigger ( timer or external command like incomming GSM SMS) till it sends WOL to all the machines .
The EtherShield library for the Arduino-compatible Nanode comes with a wake-on-lan client example that seems to do what you want. Caveat: I haven't tried it.
