Here's how to bring a laptop out of standby

timeshifter · 01-13-2006, 12:04 PM

Background: after spending many hours searching here and even posting a question about it in the Newbie section it seemed that there was no practical way to bring a laptop carputer out of Standby mode without using a docking station or soldering a wire or two to the motherboard.

I've found a solution that seems pretty practical and may have other benefits as well.

You'll need:
- A Linksys WRT54G or WRT54GS router
- Sveasoft Alchemy v1.0 Firmware link
- add a command to the router's startup to send the Wake on LAN signal

Code:

/usr/sbin/wol 00:03:25:21:47:6D -i 192.168.1.255

The Linksys router is really a mini-Linux PC and can be configured to do all kinds of things. Sending a Wake on LAN packet was trivial as was adding it to the "autoexec.bat" of the router. I don't even know what the startup file is called in whatever flavor of Linux it runs -- you don't need to know, you add it through a button in the web interface. Here's how.

From the web interface for the Linksys (once you've upgrade the firmware, which I won't go into here) click on Administration then Diagnostics then click the Run button. A new Command Shell window will open.

In the top window you can enter commands then hit the Cmd button to execute them immediately. In this case you enter the command listed above and instead of hitting the Cmd button hit the Save Startup button at the bottom and it will be done. I'd recommend you test it a few times first before committing it to the startup.

This approach has some drawbacks. The biggest is the size of the WRT54G. It's not huge, but you'd have to make space for it somewhere and provide power. There may be smaller, cheaper boxes that will do the same thing but this is the one I have and am familiar with. You could install it just about anywhere in the car as you only need an Ethernet cable to reach your laptop.

It does open other possibilities too. You can use the Linksys as your wireless adapter by using what is called Client Mode. There may be some advantages such as better signal strength, etc. Or you could potentially use it as an access point to get to your network in your car.

LordSnow · 01-13-2006, 02:30 PM

Very interesting... nice find.

Have you actually verified that it works?

timeshifter · 01-13-2006, 02:42 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by LordSnow

Very interesting... nice find.

Have you actually verified that it works?

Yeah, it works. I haven't tried it in a car yet. I put my laptop in standby, unplugged and replugged my router. Took about 15 seconds from the time I plugged in the router til when I was able to use the computer.

nr000001 · 01-30-2006, 06:29 AM

Any news on this? I´m going to get this router and try it. Hope it works.

shotgunefx · 01-30-2006, 06:56 AM

Careful! Some newer versions of the WRT54G run VMware instead and can't be hacked.

See the link below for more.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.../12/01/2326222

nr000001 · 01-30-2006, 11:52 AM

Thanks for the heads up. Seems that the one I bought is v5 which has VxWorks's OS instead of Linux. But there seems to be WRT54GL which has Linux. Now I´ll just have to find/buy one.

nr000001 · 02-16-2006, 01:01 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by timeshifter

Yeah, it works. I haven't tried it in a car yet. I put my laptop in standby, unplugged and replugged my router. Took about 15 seconds from the time I plugged in the router til when I was able to use the computer.

This really works!

I bought the new Linksys WRT54GL (cheaper than the WRT54G, at least here in Finland), upgraded the new aftermarket firmware (DD-WRT; works for L-version), made the config for WOL and added the code timeshifter wrote to the first post. No more laptop power button butchering.

WRT54GL seems to be quite powerful router... I just may have to buy one for home use too.

NOTE: I you are not familiar with routers and firmware upgrading, read carefully DD-WRT documentation. Using aftermarket firmware may cause void warranty.

n0irsmurf · 02-17-2006, 03:04 PM

You say that some WRT54G routers aren't running it anymore. What about this one? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=84080

Because I even work at OfficeMax and can get a discount on it. But if not then i'll just shop around for a GL.

NRGZ28 · 02-17-2006, 03:24 PM

While that's a cool and smart idea.... It's way more complicated than soldering a wire to the power switch on the laptop's motherboard

NickFury · 02-17-2006, 09:03 PM

I would assume you would replace that MAC address with the MAC of your NIC in the laptop? I can't get it to work either way

nr000001 · 02-18-2006, 03:43 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by n0irsmurf

You say that some WRT54G routers aren't running it anymore. What about this one? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=84080

Because I even work at OfficeMax and can get a discount on it. But if not then i'll just shop around for a GL.

WRT54G v5 runs VxWorks's OS and has less memory than v4 or GL v1. I didn´t even bother to try if v5 could be used.

nr000001 · 02-18-2006, 03:45 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by NRGZ28

It's way more complicated than soldering a wire to the power switch on the laptop's motherboard

For some people the good old soldering method will propably be easier way, for me this was quite simple...

nr000001 · 02-18-2006, 03:48 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by NickFury

I would assume you would replace that MAC address with the MAC of your NIC in the laptop? I can't get it to work either way

No I didn´t. Just fixed IP. Check your laptop WOL properties if you have already working router.

timeshifter · 02-19-2006, 01:54 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by NickFury

I would assume you would replace that MAC address with the MAC of your NIC in the laptop? I can't get it to work either way

It's been a while since I did this, but I'm pretty sure you have to put your own MAC address in there. The IP address is .255 which means it's broadcast to all the 192.168.1.xxx. Before I made this work with the router I used a little app on my PC that I downloaded to test the WOL of the laptop. I plugged a few parameters into a GUI and clicked a button and it sent the packets and woke up my laptop. Then I moved on to the router.

NickFury · 02-19-2006, 09:05 PM

I've got the laptop to come on through WOL, however, when I commit the command to 'startup' it is not working. How long are you guys leaving the router off to test this? I've left mine off for about 30 seconds and when I plug it back in, I get nothing. But when I telnet in and send the command, it works like a charm.

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