My machine never S3/standby sleeps for more than 30 seconds (usually 1 to 5 seconds) when using the onboard Intel ethernet adapter's "Wake on Directed Packet" option (latest Intel Proset drivers) and a "Power Schemes" "System standby" time of 5 minutes i.e. the system sleeps after 5 minutes of inactivity, as expected, but then wakes almost immediately even though *not* being accessed/pinged etc. by another machine on the network. The machine will go to sleep and then wake up if the only other thing active on the network is my router; if I remove the network cable after it sleeps, it stays asleep (unsurprisingly :-)).

My best guess is that my router is somehow pinging the IP address of sleeping machine... Does that sound likely? How do I go about looking into this?

Disable WOL on bios. Wake On Lan.

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.

I don't understand. Why would I want to disable WOL in the BIOS? I *want* the system to wake on LAN based on a directed packet, I just want it to sleep when it's not receiving a directed packet (or find out where packets I'm not *deliberately* sending are coming from to wake it when it should be asleep)?

Use wireshark then to see the cause of this. Not any normal data packet turns it on.

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.

Well, I've already used Ethereal and the Microsoft Network Monitor on a different PC on the network to see what's going on at the point that the PC sleeps and wakes again. As far as I can tell, there are no packets on the network directed specifically at the IP address/MAC address of the machine at the point that it wakes up and sleeps again. There are just afterwards, as it becomes active on the network again, but not at the point that it wakes, and hence that could be the reason that it wakes up.

I've lodged a query with Intel support... I suspect that the onboard adapter is waking on general network activity rather than a directed packet, or that a directed packet is being sent but I just can't see it.

Anyone any further ideas on this?

Oh...I've just realised there's a misunderstanding above too:

"Not any normal data packet turns it on."

That's exactly what should trigger the machine to wake from standby - a normal packet directed to its IP/MAC address. You're thinking of WOL based on a *Magic Packet*, when I'm trying to use a Directed Packet i.e. the machine is supposed to wake when, for example, it's asleep and you try to access something on one of its previously active shares.

It's "Wake on a Dedicated Packet" that I'm trying to get to work as it makes the system truly usable as a server/NAS that sleeps when not in use, but wakes up of its own accord when you want to access something on it.

'bah. I keep saying "Dedicated Packet" in the above - the actual terminology is "Directed Packet", but you get my point: the system should wake on any packet directed *at* it, not a special (Magic) packet. The problem is that it wakes between 1 and 30 seconds after sleeping when no Directed Packet (that I can see on the network) *is* sent at it. I guess I'm either not seeing the packet, it's responding to other packets or....something else.

Anyone?

Sorry, I get it finally.

http://mysearch.intel.com/corporate...

Funny Intel can't even find an answer for it.

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.

Well...as a follow up to anyone searching and finding this, I switched from my current router (a Buffalo WYR-G54) back to my old router (a KCorp Lifestyle Gold KLG-575) and all is well.

My best guess is that the Buffalo is pinging the sleeping machine when it shouldn't be. I've not confirmed this with ant packet sniffing tools as (Ethereal etc.) but these certainly aren't showing all my network activity anyway e.g. they don't show pings I deliberately make by myself from the router to the server.

My old KCorp router is fine, except that the wireless is knackered. For a brief moment I thought I could use the Buffalo connected to it as a wireless switch (DHCP switched off, etc.). This works, but it must still be pinging out some crud onto the network when working as a switch as the server starts waking up when it shouldn't do.

I now have the predicament of finding a router with good wireless but that doesn't interfere with Wake on Directed Packet on the server...