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I was wondering if it is at all possible to take full advantage of WOL if my network card supports it but my bios don't. I am considering buying a network card to that supports WOL. Would this work even if my bios don't have an option to WOL? If it is any help I am running Windows 7 64-but on an HP Pavilion p6270z. And I am thinking of buying this network card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166019

After buying this card I cannot figure out how to allow it to wake my computer from sleep none-the-less from shutdown

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If your BIOS lacks the ability to understand a signal coming from the network card it is not able to turn your computer on.

see wikipedia as well: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Wake_On_Lan#Hardware_requirements

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How do I check if its able to do that? Is it just that if I can't turn it on in the BIOS then it wont work? I understand HP slims down the bios quite a bit – Erik Jul 28 '11 at 3:24
I am not an expert on WOL, but wouldn't most BIOS'es support it for a long time now, and is that covered by enabling ACPI? Anyone? – KCotreau Jul 28 '11 at 3:25
if there is no entry in the bios-menus it's very unlikely. if you think hp disables features by flashing modified firmware onto the bios, a look into the motherboards manual might help. there are also custom ROMs available for some motherboards, but I would not recommend using them, those come without warranty and a good chance to completely kill your computer. – Walter Maier-Murdnelch Jul 28 '11 at 3:30
KCotreau I am not an expert as well, just played around with it myself for some time. In fact wikipedia says that WOL goes through ACPI but it has to be turned on or off in the BIOS. at least in most computers, some have it enabled per default. – Walter Maier-Murdnelch Jul 28 '11 at 3:36
That was my point, there is no special WOL BIOS entry, but rather I would assume that ACPI just needs to be enabled, which is the default for most boards I have seen. So in other words, if he buys the card, I would think it would work. – KCotreau Jul 28 '11 at 3:45
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In the old days, before they implemented “magic-packets” and put a WOL option in the BIOS, it was usually implemented with a WOL header on the motherboard that could be connected to a WOL connector on the NIC with a wire.

Most NICs have such a connector and the cable is not special; any three-conductor cable should work. Examine your board closely to see if there is a WOL header. (You may also need to set a jumper on the NIC or motherboard to enable WOL.)


Figure 1: WOL connector on NIC

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Figure 2: WOL header on motherboard

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Figure 1: Wired WOL diagram

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