Can't wake on lan after being used on WiFi

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Kkkk1

Kkkk1

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Nov 14, 2006
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Hi,
We have 30x dell laptops installed in a Dell laptop trolley. It has a switch integrated into the trolley for remote management. However when the laptops are being used by the users it is obviously being used on the WiFi. Since it is then on the WiFi it gets a WiFi IP Address on a differnet subnet to the wired one. Now when the laptops are returned to the trolley at the end of the day they become wired on the network. When I send a wake up packet for remote management it doesn't work. This is due to the DNS entry still pointing to the WiFi address. Does anyone know how you can wake on lan in the given situation outlined above??????
(Please note that if I use the laptop wired and shut it down it WILL wake on lan as DNS has now got the wired address)
Many thanks.
 
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You do not correctly understand how wake on lan works.

Wake on lan has no concept of IP addresses or dns or even operating system. This is all done by the ethernet chip and all that understands is mac addresses. Everything else in the computer is powered down.

What the application that is sending the wake on lan packet is suppose to do is send a broadcast packet containing the mac address of the machine to be woken up in a special pattern.

I really don't know why there are applications that accept DNS or ip address because as you have found out those can change where the mac address can not. What you need is a list of the mac addresses of the machines that you need to mange. You should be able to then have the application send...
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bill001g

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You do not correctly understand how wake on lan works.

Wake on lan has no concept of IP addresses or dns or even operating system. This is all done by the ethernet chip and all that understands is mac addresses. Everything else in the computer is powered down.

What the application that is sending the wake on lan packet is suppose to do is send a broadcast packet containing the mac address of the machine to be woken up in a special pattern.

I really don't know why there are applications that accept DNS or ip address because as you have found out those can change where the mac address can not. What you need is a list of the mac addresses of the machines that you need to mange. You should be able to then have the application send to the mac address which should work.

The other major issue many people have with wake on lan is microsoft has a bunch of other garbage sleep/suspend stuff. If the machine is not actually in the correct mode it will not accept wake on lan packets if it is just suspended and not actually off. Wake on lan has nothing at all to do with the OS it can actually boot a machine that then loads its OS from a network drive but microsoft seems determined to confuse this issue.
 
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Kkkk1

Kkkk1

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mmmm,
The problem is when it is wired and it shuts down it will WOL. When I've used it on the WiFi it won't WOL. I work in a school and use a package called Impero that does the WOL as well as a ton of other stuff.

Would I have to import the LAN Mac Address's into Impero somewhere???? Thanks for the response.
 
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Kkkk1

Kkkk1

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I've just realised what a complete numpty I've been. I forgot to enable Wake on Wireless LAN, I only had Wake on LAN enabled. I then did a flush DNS and it seems to be working now. I've gone too deep into it and forgetting the basics.

Many thanks for your explanation though, it's made everything much clearer.

:)
 
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Kkkk1

Kkkk1

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It's an option available in the BIOS under the networking category. I've enabled Wake On Lan with WiFi and it's working now.
 
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