15 replies to this topic

[Tamas]

LightsOut works usually fine on my WHS, but once in a while the server just wouldn't wake up, no matter what I'm trying.
In these cases, no client on my network can wake up the server.
Manually selecting 'Wake server now' or 'Wake server on internet (Wake On WAN)' has no effect.
The only thing I can do is to press the power button on the server and then it returns to the previous state just like it should.
I was not able to find any pattern for this behavior and there is no apparent entry in the Event Log that would explain why does this happen, but the problem occurs a couple of times or more per week.

How can I fix this? Any ideas what the problem may be?

Thanks.

[Tinus]

Can you please give me some more details?

Are you using hibernation or standby?
What hardware do you use?
Is it possible that there's a power outage when the WHS is not used? Like using a switched socket outlet?

[Tamas]

Can you please give me some more details?

Are you using hibernation or standby?

Standby.

What hardware do you use?

It's a self-built server. Components:
- Foxconn A7VMX-K motherboard
- AMD Athlon 4050e dual core processor
- two 1 TB WD EADS green and one 2 TB Samsung SpinPoint F4 hard drives in AHCI mode
- 2 GB OCZ Reaper PC2-6400 memory
- Onboard gigabit ethernet (Realtek RTL8169/8110 family)
- Onboard ATI Radeon 3100 graphics
- OCZ StealthExtreme 80PLUS 500W power supply

Is it possible that there's a power outage when the WHS is not used? Like using a switched socket outlet?

No. The server is connected to a UPS, so even if there was an outage (which is not the case), it would be protected.

[Tinus]

This looks like a Wake-On-Lan problem of your hardware.

I know that the Realtek RTL8169/8110 family is sometimes creating problems. You may want to verify these items:

• Bios update?
• Bios settings for wake-up events (either WOL or PME)
• NIC Driver update for Realtek RTL8169/8110?
• NIC Driver settings, see http://www.axonet.de...lp/en/00038.htm

[Tamas]

Thanks Martin.

I found a newer BIOS for the motherboard and also updated the drivers to the latest version from Foxconn's Web site. The network interface name changed now to "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller". Not sure why and there was no obvious change in any of the configuration options, but following these two updates, the problem seems to be fixed. At least I did not have the issue since then.

One more question regarding the NIC settings though. In the "Power Management" tab, you suggest setting all three checkboxes, including "Only allow management stations to bring the computer out of standby". I never had this third one set, simply because then outside requests don't wake up the server, such as accessing the homeserver.com web address of my WHS and the like. Is this setting really necessary? I don't remember having a problem because this is not set... I mean, the server doesn't seem to wake up for no reason, only when it really should.

Thanks again for the help.

[Tinus]

Thanks for letting me know that updating drivers fixed the problem.

I never had this third one set, simply because then outside requests don't wake up the server, such as accessing the homeserver.com web address of my WHS and the like. Is this setting really necessary? I don't remember having a problem because this is not set... I mean, the server doesn't seem to wake up for no reason, only when it really should.

You're lucky. When you have no unexpected wake-ups you can ignore this setting.

Basically it tells the NIC to ignore all wake-up packets except magic packets. Some users experience continuous wake-ups without that setting.

[Tamas]

Damn... I spoke too soon.

This morning, it happened again. Server wouldn't wake up, had to press the power button. Then everything was back to normal, no obvious reason for this behavior. Server went to sleep last night just fine, there is nothing out of the ordinary in the Event Log.

What should be my next step in troubleshooting this?

[Tinus]

This error is almost always a result of a driver problem.

Look for updates for
- Chipset drivers
- Graphics card
- Bios
- Or use Hibernation instead of Standby

[Tamas]

I made sure all drivers (and the BIOS) are already updated to the latest version, so I don't think I can do much more there.

I can try hibernation, but I'm not very keen on that because wakeup is a lot slower that way. From standby it's almost instantaneous.

Looks like I'll have to live with this issue then. Disappointing. Oh well... I suppose it could be worse.

[desmondtee88]

reserved

[Tinus]

That issue is completely outside of Lights-Out. So there's nothing I can do here. I know that hibernation is slow, but sometimes it's the only way to get a stable configuration.

[Tamas]

Just wanted to add that as Martin suggested, the problem appears to be caused by the onboard Realtek network adapter.

I switched to an Intel add-in card (an Intel PRO/1000 MT) and my unreliable wake-up issues have been completely fixed.
I even created a team (feature offered by the Intel NIC driver) between the onboard and the PCI network adapter so that I have failover capability just to make sure the server is always available on demand. Not a single wake-up issue ever since (for months), and I use standby, not hibernation.

[Tinus]

Glad to hear you got it working. Thanks for the feedback.

[LeeD]

Hello, the link about half way up this post that goes to the NIC card settings no longer functions - is there somewhere else on the Axonet site that has this information? 

 

I am having problems similar to the other users in that the server is not detecting client machine activity and stays in Suspend mode.  Similarly, I am not able to manually wake the server from the clients.

 

The server however does detect when the clients are turned off or in Sleep/Hiberate/Suspend and puts itself into Suspend. 

 

Judging from these posts it's likely a NIC card settings issue on the server.  Or, if anyone has any other ideas I would be most grateful.

 

Regards,

 

Lee

[Tinus]

Use http://www.homeserve...rements_nic.htm

[LeeD]

Thanks Tinus, it seems this was the problem all along as we're now up and running.

 

Cheers,

 

Lee