How can I turn on a computer when it is truned off ?

Lost User

..or a relay, a free rs232-port on a spare computer (the observer), some solder and some patience :)

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Luc Pattyn

You win. It is past 10 o'clock and nobody offered a real solution. :)

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Ravi Bhavnani

Enable Wake-On-LAN in your system's hardware config - then do this[^]. /ravi

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Alan N

Hi, If you are happy to leave the computer in standby mode then a WaitableTimer can be used to wake it up. There's some example code here on CP A WaitableTimer wrapper class[^]. The simplest way to wake up a sleeping computer, without any programming, is to set a scheduled task with the option "Wake the computer to run this task". Alan.

Dave Kreskowiak

Check your machine's BIOS settings for a timed automatic power on option.

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Peter_in_2780

My Vista laptop surprised me by turning itself on at various "exact" times, until I figured out what was happening. If you go into 'Scheduled Tasks', you can set up a task with various options about power state and action. I've got no idea how to do this programmatically, but you could configure a scheduled task to run your job. The reason I mention Vista is that I don't remember being able to do this in XP. But I might be completely wrong... ;P [edit]somehow missed Alan N's post before writing this. :thumbsup: What he said...[/edit]

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modified on Monday, August 23, 2010 8:02 PM

PIEBALDconsult

Something like this[^]? :-D Again, look at the BIOS setting of the computer to be sure it will boot when power is detected.

EinA

Do you have another networked computer (anywhere) that can run the application? If so, run the wake-up application on the other computer and then buy an APC remote power switch with Internet connectivity. We use one on our server at a server farm so we can turn it on, turn it off or reboot it remotely if it hangs. Dave

LockH

It is easy, at least with my Dell Optiplex. Power on, press F2 to enter Setup Go to Power Management Select Auto Startup Select EveryDay, or Monday to Friday (default is Off) Set time you want the system to boot up. Save and exit Bios. OK, you asked how to write a program to do it, so this is cheating. But easier.

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Mike Winiberg

There must be some kind of either windows or BIOS API to control power on/off, at least for ATX motherboard based machines - here is a product that uses it (and I have a AV program that will wake the machine up if it happens to be off when it want's to update - nasty if it's a laptop in it's case though!) http://www.lifsoft.com/[^] Mike

Savvas Kleanthous

Just an idea: Why not use a the new TI Launchpad board (or any microcontroller board for that matter) and wire it parallel to the on/off switch of your motherboard. Then programm the Launchpad to close and open a port at a specific time. The wiring is extremelly simple to do even with little knowledge, but a lot of care. We did something similar (shutdown and turn on of a PC through IR receiver and a microcontroller) for a project we had some 10 years back and it was easy even then, so this should be VERY easy now. PS: I just mention the launchpad because it is very cheap, and also it has a thermometer built in. I can understand that most of us have preferences.

lognormal

OK - but what if your computer is not hibernating or in a suspended state: really "off"? You can buy power supplies that respond to "power on" signals, there are even power supplies that respond to SMS messages. (I had a remote installation near to the North Pole where the power continually failed and the machine had to be rebooted remotely - worked fine, perhaps because it was Linux with no GUI ;)).

Why make life more difficult than it is?

hlegend

There's usually a setting in the bios to turn on a computer at a specific time.

SomeGuyThatIsMe

Go buy an iBoot its a remotly controllable surge protector/ power supply. Most will run a website but others have a web service like interface you can code to, to do things. Or it may have a scheduling feature, some also can send out heartbeats and do things when they miss a certain number of packets. We used it to automatically reboot the web server when its NIC would crash. yes we replaced the server, only took a day or 3 to get one from dell.

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LloydA111

Most BIOS's have a feature for turning on the machine at a certain time/date.

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djdanlib 0

Nobody's mentioned this hardware solution yet. A great many BIOSes have an option to power the system back on when power is restored. So, if you have a programmable outlet timer (easily purchased at a hardware store) and you know with absolute certainty that the system will always, always, always be off during a certain window before the desired power-on time, that could be an option. Just set the timer to turn off power a few minutes earlier, then turn it on again at your chosen time. Bingo, you only spent about as much on this as you would on a sandwich or some Starbucks, and you got to visit the hardware store. I'd call that a two-for-one bonus, wouldn't you?

Alan Burkhart

Assuming you're away from your machine, probably the best you're going to do is have it in hibernation with an alarm to wake it up at the appointed time. If you're accessing the machine remotely, it shouldn't be hard to send it a command to return to hibernation (I'm assuming this - never tried it) when you're done. Or, you can train your cat to push the power button. :)

Earl Truss

Buy a mechanical timer and set the BIOS to start up the computer after a power outage. The timer turns on the power to the computer and the BIOS causes it to boot up.

Warren Diprose

As Kenneth stated, if you get into your system BIOS at bootup, normally by pressing or holding down a function key during POST, you should find Power Management or Auto Power On settings. Once enabled, you should also be able to select a time for everyday, or weekdays only. Obviously, these features depend on your BIOS version. This works on my Dell Optiplex 960 as well as my optiplex GX270 (2003 model).

Earl Truss

Really? I've never seen that in any of my computers.