RDC fails after Wake-On-LAN event

  • Thread starter Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\)
  • Start date
D

Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\)

Hello,

I have a PC at work with a static IP address. For several months I've been
using OpenVPN to connect from home. I can easily run Remote Desktop
Connection over this OpenVPN connection.

Now that it's summer, I wanna reduce the amount of heat produced in my
office. So I want my PC to go into standby after half an hour of non use.
But this is where things go wrong. And this is very wierd. RDC seems to
crash for no apparent reason when I wake my sleeping office PC from home.
Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a fix? Here's the procedure
that causes the crash:

A1) Before leaving work I log off and put my PC into standby.
A2) At home, I send a magic packet to my office PC to wake it up.
A3) After a few seconds, my OpenVPN client successfully connects to my
office
PC. This proves the magic packet works.
A4) I can now browse my office PC's shared folders and ping it. This proves
the OpenVPN connection works.
A5) When I launch RDC, it crashes on the login page. My home computer won't
let me do anything (not even control-alt-delete). After a few minutes the
RDC client exits without any error message.
A6) When I get back to work, I find my office PC has crashed and I have to
do
a hard-reset.

Also, this doesn't work:

B) Do exactly the same as above but from a PC at work (not using OpenVPN).
The PC successfully comes out of standby and but RDC crashes. This suggests
that the problem I'm experiencing has nothing to do with OpenVPN. Instead,
I fear the problem is that the RDC server dislikes being woken from standby
by WOL.

These things do work:

1) Do exactly the same as the failing procedure (A1-A6) but shutdown the PC
fully
(ACPI state S5) instead of putting it into standby. I can boot my PC from
home, initiate OpenVPN and run RDC
without fail. This proves the magic packet can be sent successfully from
home and that the OpenVPN is configured correctly.

2) Do exactly the same as in B but wake my PC by pressing a button on the
keyboard. I then connect via RDC from another machine. This works fine.

So, my question is: why does RDC fail specifically when I wake my office PC
from standby using Wake-On-LAN?

My config is:

Office PC
- Windows XP Pro SP1 fully patched
- OpenVPN 1.6
- Intel D875PBZ motherboard with onboard Intel gigabit Ethernet adapter
(most recent drivers & Intel PROset)
- I've set the BIOS to allow the Ethernet adapter to wake the PC
- The BIOS is set to put the PC into ACPI state S3 (suspend to RAM) when the
OS asks for "standby".
- Running Kerio personal firewall. It's configured to allow the relevant
OpenVPN and RDC connections.
- My institute has a hardware firewall with 2 incoming ports open - one for
the magic packet and one for the OpenVPN connection.
- PROset connections: "Enable PME = hardware default"; "Wake On Link
Settings = disabled"; "Wake On Settings = OS Controlled"

Home PC
- Windows XP Pro SP1 fully patched
- OpenVPN 1.6
- 3Com 802.11g wireless network
- Pipex 512k ADSL connection
- Hardware router

Thanks,
Jack
 
B

Bill Sanderson

If you change the video to (yecch) standard VGA, or something you can stand
that isn't the latest and greatest, does it change the behavior.

I hear what you are saying, but I'm inclined to give a passing grade to the
nic and drivers, since the VPN functionality seems to be perfect. That
leads me to think about the video drivers next--perhaps irrationally. What
video? If Nvidia, do you have their client service running? What happens
if you disable that service?
 
D

Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\)

Hi Bill,

Thanks loads for your reply.

You're right, my video could well be to blame. I have a Matrox P750 (latest
drivers) graphics card and a Matrox RT.X10 video editing card. But the
RT.X10 is disabled in the hardware profile I use for day-to-day stuff.

I will try tinkering around with the video ASAP and get back to you.

Thanks,
Jack
 
L

Lewis Veale

Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\) said:
Hi Bill,

Thanks loads for your reply.

You're right, my video could well be to blame. I have a Matrox P750 (latest
drivers) graphics card and a Matrox RT.X10 video editing card. But the
RT.X10 is disabled in the hardware profile I use for day-to-day stuff.

I will try tinkering around with the video ASAP and get back to you.

Thanks,
Jack

Hi Jack and Bill

Did you get anywhere with this? Was the video to blame?
I have (more or less) exactly the same problem.

Cheers

Lewis
 
D

Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\)

Hi,

No, I haven't progressed much. I'll do some more experiments tonight ( ~7pm
GMT)

I've posted on the Matrox forum and they've replied... you can see my thred
here:

http://forum.matrox.com/mga/viewtopic.php?p=52437

Lewis, do you have a Matrox graphics card too? If so, which drivers are you
using? The most recent?

Thanks,
Jack
 
D

Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\)

Hi,

OK - here's my report back after tinkering a little...

The only thing that works is this:

1) Remotely log into office machine using RDC. Then log off.
2) Put office machine into standby (this has to be done locally)
3) Now I can wake my office machine using WOL and successfully connect using
RDC.
4) This trick stops working as soon as I log in locally.

Things I've tried (but with no luck) include:
- Tinkering with every WOL-related setting in the Intel proSET application
- Tinkering with every WOL-related setting in the BIOS
- Turning off all the accelerated graphics functions on my PC (this stops
Matrox Powerdesk from loading, I believe)
- Connecting with the lowest graphics specs

Please - anyone got any ideas why my office machine wont let me wake-on-lan
and the connect via Remote Desktop Connection?

Many thanks,
Jack
 
B

Bill Sanderson

I'm afraid I lost track of this one.

When I use WOL, I use it with the machines in an OFF condition--not on
standby.

Have you tested this way? They need to be switched off, rather than powered
off by a power strip.
 

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