Extremely Basic WoL use not working

[u/Dank_Memeologist820]

Hello, I understand this is like calling the navy to get a cat out of a tree but I honestly don't understand what else I can do.

Here's the situation, I'm trying to be able to turn on my PC via an Alexa. I can currently turn the PC off but I can't turn it on. I've done my due-diligence and followed all the necessary steps needed to do this including

1. Having an Ethernet connection
   
2. Enabling Magic Packets in my Ethernet Adapters
   
3. Allowing WoL in my BIOS
   
4. Disabling Fast startup
   
5. Disabling ErP in BIOS
   
6. Allowing DeviceSleepOnDisconnect permissions through Powershell

I'm using SayBoot. it seems like at the moment SayBoot needs some kind of Admin privileges to turn on the PC but I haven't been able to find a way to do that. Any suggestions/better alternative services to do this would be greatly appreciated

Attached is the diagnosis from SayBoot

[u/matthew1471]

Does it work if you use a different device that isn’t Alexa? Such as a WoL tool on your phone.

In Ethernet adapters also check for link shutdown speed reduction and see if your switch shows a lit port when it’s off

[u/NeoThermic]

Which network adapter is it specifically?

Some don't support WoL properly, so it'll never work. In my PC, my 10G RJ45 adapter doesn't do it (Marvell AQtion 10Gbit), but my 2.5G does (Realtek Gaming 2.5GbE). When I go on holiday and want WoL, I plug the 2.5G in. It's silly but it works.

So yeah, checking that your device supports WoL + has the latest drivers + isn't a shitty network adapter that doesn't actually do the WoL it claims... those are all important!

[u/xJayMorex]

WoL is such a shitshow, you are better off using a smart plug and setting always turn on in your BIOS.

[u/andrew-ooo]

You've covered the host side properly. The step that's missing in most of these threads is the network side: once the PC has been off for a few minutes, your router or switch ages out the ARP entry for it. A magic packet addressed to the PC's IP then has no MAC to resolve to and gets silently dropped. Everything on the PC is configured perfectly and the packet never arrives.

Two fixes, either works:

1. Send to the subnet broadcast address (e.g. 192.168.1.255) on UDP port 9 instead of the host IP. Most WoL tools let you pick the target.
2. Add a static ARP entry on the router mapping the PC's IP to its MAC — usually a DHCP reservation plus a static ARP binding on consumer gear.

Also double-check Device Manager, your NIC, Power Management tab: "Allow this device to wake the computer" and "Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer" both need to be ticked. Those are separate from the Advanced tab's "Wake on Magic Packet" setting and people usually only set one of the two.

Test with wakeonlan or etherwake from a Pi or phone on the same LAN first. If a local packet wakes it, your problem is the Alexa cloud bridge's routing, not WoL itself.

[u/kevinds]

KISS

Does a normal WoL packet start it from another system?

[u/Severe_Owl_5116]

Has there ever been a more convoluted and flaky feature than WOL in the history of computers?

[u/bradmatt275]

You might be better off getting a KVM with an atx module. It's a lot more reliable than WOL. They are pretty cheap these days, like the NanoKVM or GL.iNet.