VNC and Wake on Lan

[Bulkhead]

I have been using UltraVNC for several years and find that it works pretty well, but I am curious to see if any of you have evaluated it but then chosen a different technique for accessing your other computers on your networks.

And on a related topic, I have a Dell Optiplex pc that I cannot get to come out of standby with a Wake-on-lan packet.

I've modified the bios to specify the appropriate hibernation level, but it doesn't matter. I've also turned on the wake-on-lan support on the NIC, but that didn't seem to help.

I have a wireless keyboard and it's associated USB transmitter/receiver on the pc (its in the living room connected to the TV). When I press a key, it does come out of hibernation.

I am thinking of getting a different PC but the thought of reconfiguring all that is on that device makes it a last choice.

Any of you resolve this issue in your environments?? Any additional ideas would be appreciated.

thx

 

[roussell]

1. Is it a wired interface and not wireless? WOL doesn't work with wireless connections.
2. Is the NIC on-board or a separate card? I'm guessing that it's on-board because of the BIOS setting you mentioned. Some cards have a jumper wire that must be connected to the motherboard for WOL to work.
3. What is the broadcast address you're using? 255.255.255.255 is default but if may help to specify your actual subnet eg. 192.168.1.255
4. Do you have the correct MAC address of the machine you are trying to wake? (make sure it's not another cards MAC)
5. Are you trying to broadcast across subnets/VLANs? if so then you'll need to setup forwarding in your layer 3 switch or router. You can also try mc-wol as it may help across subnets.

Hope this helps,
Terry

 

[Bulkhead]

Thanks Terri!

The interface is wired.
The NIC is external so, it occurs to me that the changes I made in the BIOS would not make a difference to how the motherboard behaves when the NIC gets a magic packet. I did not investigate if an external jumper and wired connection was available - I'll have to look at that as it is possible.
I am using mc-wol as a matter of fact. Calling it with a batch file wherein I specify the MAC of the NIC and I believe it is accurate

I just re-read my original post and it doesn't accurately describe my situation. Let me explain further.

My remote pc goes into standby mode. From my office pc, I attempt to login with UltraVNC, but my client cannot find the host computer on the network. As we would expect because the server pc (remote) is in standby mode.

Now, I send the magic packet via mc-wol, and then I try to login again with UltraVNC. Now my client finds the host computer and prompts me for credentials. I provide those and the session appears initiated. However, the screen is blank. I get a mouse cursor, but no screen image. I know the remote computer is active because I can reach it via Windows Explorer and can connect to the drives on it. But I cannot remotely control the pc with UltraVNC as the screen is blank. If I walk to the other room and touch the keyboard, the screen is presented and I can then control the pc via UltraVNC.


Ok, that describes the situation.

Any ideas?? And please don't suggest I train the dog to go to the other room and nose the keyboard for me so I can remotely control it!

thx

1. Is it a wired interface and not wireless? WOL doesn't work with wireless connections.
2. Is the NIC on-board or a separate card? I'm guessing that it's on-board because of the BIOS setting you mentioned. Some cards have a jumper wire that must be connected to the motherboard for WOL to work.
3. What is the broadcast address you're using? 255.255.255.255 is default but if may help to specify your actual subnet eg. 192.168.1.255
4. Do you have the correct MAC address of the machine you are trying to wake? (make sure it's not another cards MAC)
5. Are you trying to broadcast across subnets/VLANs? if so then you'll need to setup forwarding in your layer 3 switch or router. You can also try mc-wol as it may help across subnets.

Hope this helps,
Terry

 

[Monk]

Now that sounds familiar. Using PcAnywhere used to behave the same for me - I quit allowing the PC to sleep and it worked fine. Have you considered trying Remote Desktop?

Also the dog isn't a bad idea

Now, I send the magic packet via mc-wol, and then I try to login again with UltraVNC. Now my client finds the host computer and prompts me for credentials. I provide those and the session appears initiated. However, the screen is blank. I get a mouse cursor, but no screen image. I know the remote computer is active because I can reach it via Windows Explorer and can connect to the drives on it. But I cannot remotely control the pc with UltraVNC as the screen is blank. If I walk to the other room and touch the keyboard, the screen is presented and I can then control the pc via UltraVNC.


Ok, that describes the situation.

Any ideas?? And please don't suggest I train the dog to go to the other room and nose the keyboard for me so I can remotely control it!

thx