3Com (R) Corporation
EtherCD (R) for the
3Com 10/100 PCI NIC w/3XP (3C990B-TX-M)
Remote Wake-Up Frequently Asked Questions
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Q: Is my 3Com Remote Wake-Up NIC supported in a PC that is not
capable of Remote Wake-Up?
A: Yes. The NIC can be used in any PC that meets the system
requirements outlined in the user guide. The Remote Wake-Up
capability of the NIC can only be utilized in PCs that are
specifically designed for this function.
Q: Is there anything in the BIOS that I can check to see if Remote Wake-Up
is enabled?
A: Typically, the BIOS contains user-configurable settings for waking up
the PC on PME or LAN signals. This setting might be under the Power or
Boot category of the BIOS. If you are experiencing difficulties
locating the setting, refer to your PC reference manual or contact
your PC vendor for specific instructions on accessing the BIOS.
Q: What type of software is compatible for waking up my 3Com
Remote Wake-Up NIC?
A: The 3Com Remote Wake-Up NIC is compatible with software that conforms
to AMD's specification for the Magic Packet wake-up packet. Examples
are: Intel LanDesk Manager, Tivoli TME 10, Microsoft SMS, HP Openview
Top Tool, Computer Associates' UniCenter, and McAfee.
Q: What is a Magic Packet?
A: A Magic Packet is a valid Ethernet packet that contains a
synchronization stream immediately followed by 16 repetitions of
the destination MAC address. The synchronization stream is a 6-byte
field of F's. The Magic Packet is not protocol-specific. It can
be IP, IPX, and so on, as long as it contains the synchronization
stream and the 16 repetitions. The Magic Packet can be routed to wake up
a remote PC. Since it is a valid Ethernet address, the Remote Wake-Up
NIC can accept broadcast or multicast packets as long as the NIC's MAC
address follows the above format.
Q: How do I suspend my PC for Remote Wake-Up?
A: This process varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. If the PC
has its own power sustain mode, you can perform a shut down of the
PC and it will shut down into a suspend mode. This low-power
consumption suspend mode will wake up once a Remote Wake-Up event is
detected by the NIC.
Q: What is ACPI?
A: Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. It is a specification
developed by Intel, Microsoft, and Toshiba Corporation that allows more
advanced power management features through the operating system to
the hardware interfaces.
Q: Why does my PC wake up when the network link is removed when I have
Wake-on-Link disabled?
A: If you have any Deep Sleep option enabled the NIC will consider loss
of link to be an error. If Wake-on-Error is enabled the NIC will wake
the system when link is removed regardless of the state of Wake-on-Link.
Q: Why does my PC wake up a few seconds after going to sleep when I have
DHCP lease renewal enabled?
A: Some DHCP servers send their clients an ARP request as part of the
lease renewal process. If the NIC is not configured to return ARP
replies, then the lease renewal process will fail and result in a
wakeup due to error. Turn on Respond-to-ARP along with the DHCP lease
renewal option in order to solve this problem.
Q: How do I use the Wake-on-Ping and Respond-to-Ping options?
A: In the general case, you should enable Respond-to-Arp whenever you
wish to enable Wake-on-Ping or Respond-to-Ping. This allows the
system that is sending the ping to discover your system's Ethernet
address so that it can properly address the ping message. You may
enable both Wake-on-Ping and Respond-to-Ping, but only one response
will go out before the system wakes up.
(%VER WAKEFAQ.TXT - v1.0.5)
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.