Auto Power-UP Add in PCI card ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Don W. McCollough
  • Start date Start date
D

Don W. McCollough

I am looking for the cheapest way to power up
a PC from *completely off* using hardware/program and
Windows XP. I want to turn my computer on every
day at a certain time. I know that some
TV capture cards have power-up features (i.e Compro Videomate brand)
Unfortunately I can't find a distributor of Compro in the States.
I don't need the PVR/Capture features.

Is there any other PCI add-in cards that come with
software that will power up a PC at a programmed time?
I need something that's plug and play friendly as I have
a lot of add in cards.

TIA!
 
I am looking for the cheapest way to power up
a PC from *completely off* using hardware/program and
Windows XP. I want to turn my computer on every
day at a certain time. I know that some
TV capture cards have power-up features (i.e Compro Videomate brand)
Unfortunately I can't find a distributor of Compro in the States.
I don't need the PVR/Capture features.
Click to expand...

Do they turn the system on from being completely off (S5
power management mode as traditionally called "off"), or
only wake from a lesser power management mode?
Is there any other PCI add-in cards that come with
software that will power up a PC at a programmed time?
I need something that's plug and play friendly as I have
a lot of add in cards.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, there is nothing.

Recalling some past thread that isn't really related I will
post this disclaimer: If you are going to get down to
circuit level and build your own PCI device from scratch
then program it, then yes it's theoretically possible.

However, within reason, there's nothing. For a card to do
this it will have to have a clock, battery backup or use
5VSB power to keep time, nvram to store user setitng and
special software to program that. Far too much of a niche
product to be cost-effective to manufacture and sell. While
many PCI cards have capability to power on a system, they
don't do so according to a user-defined time and do not have
the capability to do so due to the lack of hardware to do it
on the card.

In other words the best bet is a motherboard that has the
feature in the bios. Many systems do now, being ever-more
common on a WinXP era system. If yours has a
manufacturer-artificially-limited bios funcitonality it
might be possible to manually edit the bios to (re)enable
such a feature but with that comes inherant risks. If you
want to try editing your bios to see IF it supports the
feature, then if you can enable it, Google search for
"<insert name of your bios manufacturer here, for example
AMI, Phoenix, Award> bios editing"
 
In message <5fn3f.18475$at1.6968@trnddc05> "Don W. McCollough"
I am looking for the cheapest way to power up
a PC from *completely off* using hardware/program and
Windows XP. I want to turn my computer on every
day at a certain time. I know that some
TV capture cards have power-up features (i.e Compro Videomate brand)
Unfortunately I can't find a distributor of Compro in the States.
I don't need the PVR/Capture features.

Is there any other PCI add-in cards that come with
software that will power up a PC at a programmed time?
I need something that's plug and play friendly as I have
a lot of add in cards.
Click to expand...

I can't speak to anything specific that does it, but a few thoughts:

1) This is impossible if the PC is completely off. Period.

However, most PCs don't turn completely off, the ATX power supply
continues to provide a +5V which keeps a few things powered.

2) Many modern BIOSs have the ability to power the system on at a given
time. This is probably the easiest method if your hardware supports it.

3) If your BIOS supports WOL you could create an external hardware
adapter to do the trick. PCI wouldn't be needed.

4) If your computer has the ability to resume operations when the power
is reconnected, you could use an external timer.
 
I am looking for the cheapest way to power up
a PC from *completely off* using hardware/program and
Windows XP. I want to turn my computer on every
day at a certain time. I know that some
TV capture cards have power-up features (i.e Compro Videomate brand)
Unfortunately I can't find a distributor of Compro in the States.
I don't need the PVR/Capture features.

Is there any other PCI add-in cards that come with
software that will power up a PC at a programmed time?
I need something that's plug and play friendly as I have
a lot of add in cards.
Click to expand...
Nearly all PC BIOSes have this function as part of power management.
Enter your BIOS, navigate to power management and it's under the
"Alarm" listing on most.
 
I am looking for the cheapest way to power up
a PC from *completely off* using hardware/program and
Windows XP. I want to turn my computer on every
day at a certain time. I know that some
TV capture cards have power-up features (i.e Compro Videomate brand)
Unfortunately I can't find a distributor of Compro in the States.
I don't need the PVR/Capture features.
Click to expand...
Those cards won't wake up the PC when it's "completely off." The
computer has to be in either standby or hibernation state.

Scheduled tasks can wake up the computer from either standby or
hibernation. On the last screen shown at
<http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/computer2prayer.html> under
Power Management, the "Wake this computer to run this task" box has to
be checked.
Second, the "Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby"
box shown at
<http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2306/2306article15-2.jpg> has to be
unchecked.
When the computer is shut down to either standby or hibernation state,
the scheduled task will wake up the computer at the selected date and
time.
 
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