Desktop waking up from standby....

[97tbird]

OK, so I got the WRT54GL Linksys router, and set it up, everything works fine. Set it up for wireless access for our 2 laptops...finally we can sit in the living room, and surf...happy. Must say the router works great...5 bars of signal across the house...

We leave the router and modem both always ON, and put the desktop (to which the DSL modem and router are connected to) in standby mode when we're not using it. I've secured the network using WEP for now. (router has own SPI firewall).
Will go to WPA as soon as I learn more about it, and probably MAC address filtering, too.

The issue: since setting up the wireless network, Sometimes, the desktop suddenly "wakes up" from the standby mode for no reason...just comes on. However, each time it woke up, there was a popup message from the RealPlayer message center or something similar on the desktop....
How is this happening? How can I stop it? is this dangerous?
I really don't want to power off the modem and router each time we stop using the desktop.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[97tbird]

or should I turn the DESKTOP OFF (not standby) and leave the modem and router ON? will that even work, as to still transmitting the signal to the 2 laptops?

 

[Matt_S]

So you're saying the router is connected to the desktop, which is then connected to the DSL modem, correct? Is there some special software you have to use? Why don't you have the DSL modem connected directly to the router? That's the most efficient, secure way of setting it up and this router should support that. Then you wouldn't have to worry about the desktop and can just shut that off except if you're using it.

If this is a matter of your ISP keying your IP address off the network card's MAC address (each network card has a unique ID) as some providers do, you can also set up the router to spoof that address to the ISP (there's no harm in doing this). You also might have to set up a user name and password for the DSL connection in the router configuration web page. Let us know.

 

[Virtuoso]

To clarify: You have the modem AND router connected to the desktop?? (i.e. modem using a USB connection, and sharing through the computer's ethernet?) Or is it connected to the modem through the router?

The modem really should be connected to the router directly (if it's not already, through ethernet); that way you can shut off the desktop entirely and still surf on the lappy's if the waking-up situation is buggin' ya.

 

[97tbird]

Sorry. Yes, I do have the DSL modem connected to the router, and then the router to the desktop (like you guys said, which is the normal way). I didn't word that well in the original post.

So I guess I'll just shut the DT off, and leave it like that.
will let you guys know how it works.
Thanks

 

[Slick 55]

I have the same setup (except I have cable) and I leave my desktop off when not using it. The wireless works fine.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Quote:

---

Will go to WPA as soon as I learn more about it, and probably MAC address filtering, too.

---

Go with WPA - it has less overhead than WEP, so more bandwidth remains for the actual data traffic, although with 54 Mbps, you probably won't run into much congestion anyway. MAC address filtering is a good security measure as well.

Quote:

---

The issue: since setting up the wireless network, Sometimes, the desktop suddenly "wakes up" from the standby mode for no reason...just comes on.

---

What if you set the desktop to do 'hibernate' instead of 'standby'? Will it be woken up as well?

I have an opposite issue. My XP ignores all my standby/hibernate timers. It just won't go to sleep. So I end up turning it off manually.

 

[blupupher]

Check your ethernet card settings under the power management settings and make sure the "Allow this devise to bring the computer out of stand by" is not checked.

Or just turn the computer off.

 

[97tbird]

UPDATE:
I just turned the desktop off, and all is fine: we get the wireless signal as usual to the 2 laptops. Thanks.

Q-Pete:
on WPA: interesting to know that WPA uses less bandwidth. I read somewhere that it can decrease the performance of a wireless connection (don't remember the source of that info.)
I guess I'll try it soon, then. Just have to research a bit before doing it, although I think the Linksys software I have sort of guides one thru the steps...I'm just being careful because I'm kinda new to wireless...
Wifey was really proud of me for setting the wireless up by myself, though

 

[tmorris1]

Go into Real Player and shut off the message center section. It is checking for updates and messages from Real.com. Also like someone else said, make sure that the "Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby" is unchecked in the properties for the Network card.

 

[Matt_S]

WPA is actually quite easy to set up. It's really just a matter of setting a security key on the router and entering the same key on each computer on your wireless network. If you screw it up, you can always go back into it through Ethernet and try again.

About the bandwidth, WPA and WEP will both use some bandwidth compared to not using encryption, but WPA is more efficient and more secure. You may see a performance hit, but it's likely that if you're only using the internet, you won't notice any difference. In my house, surfing seems just as fast on wireless as it is on my ethernet connections.