Computers mystically turning themselves on

[lmgtfy]

We use Impero to wake all machines using WOL in the morning which works well but over the last two weeks when machines are shutdown at the end of the day they randomly turn themselves back on usually within 20 minutes.

 

It is quite a strange problem and still appears even when the Impero server is shutdown so there must be some kind of network chatter somewhere that is causing this.

 

What is even stranger though is if the machines are set to standby (sleep) then they do not wake up. In the past I have had it the other way around if pattern match was enabled but never this before.

 

Does anyone have any ideas short of going around and resetting every switch to stop this issue? If the network cable is not attached to a computer then they will not wake but if the cable is attached and the machine is off (not in standby) then they do wake up.

 

I have checked things like scheduled tasks not causing the PC’s to wake up and also checked things like pattern match is disabled but what I don’t get if it is WOL then why do they not switch back on if in Standby as Impero still wakes them ok in the morning without any issues.

 

The other thing is it is not all machines it is around 10% of computers and it is not just one hardware type either.

All running Windows 7 if that helps.

 

Any suggestions anyone?

 

Thanks

[Achandler]

You could get a WOL sniffer on one of the machines that comes back on, then leave it on and see if it received a magic packet at about the same time all the others do. I assume it is consistantly the same machines that do it.

[Marches]

We had the same issue here, unfortunately I cannot remember the exact details however i know that we changed something in the bios of out Lenovo's to stop magic packets.

 

we also had a similar thing on a dell, same thing if remember correctly.

 

what hardware have you got?

 

if i get chance I will have a look at one and try get you a better answer.

[lmgtfy]

@Achandler I am already using a WOL sniffer named (Wake On Lan Monitor) which detects the packets impero is sending out but never detects any further packets throughout the day. Yes it is the same machines that turn on. Also if it was a true WOL packet then the machines turn on from Standby also I think.

@Marches thanks but we do need WOL to be enabled as we do use it to turn machines on in the morning. Hardware is all different as well but mainly Asus motherboards.

 

The main thing that stumps me here is it must be network related but why not wake from standby only shutdown. Time to run wireshark I think that should be fun.

[LukeC]

Your not running spiceworks by any chance for the inventory, as by default it wakes the machines up to scan them.

[Marches]

we left WOL, for exactly the same reason we use impero however we turned of magic packet.

[lmgtfy]

@LukeC really good thought we do use Spiceworks just for the ticketing system and have updated it recently. I have just checked though and in Inventory it is set to Scanning Disabled. Still the random not turning on from Standby exists though

[lmgtfy]

@Marches when you say you turned off WOL do you mean within side Windows? and impero still wakes the machines up ok?

[Marches]

within the bios we have separate options for magic packet and WOL as two different things, with WOL on and magic packet off our machines dont boot on their own.

[tekins]

Have you moved impero to a different server? If so, it could be the old one is still running (we had this), check the serverip.txt file is pointing at the correct ip.

[lmgtfy]

@Marches I will check the Bios again it just seems strange this has only become a problem over the last two weeks @tekins No impero has stayed on the same VM with same IP address for a few years now but thanks for the suggestion keep them coming

[LukeC]

Going back to spiceworks have you checked in the advance settings, Go to settings -> Network Scan -> Scroll to the bottom -> click to show additional settings -> and now set wake on LAN to false. Im guessing you have checked here but this has caught me out before.

[lmgtfy]

@luckC Thanks I wish it was that but just checked and it says Wake-On LAN false Cheers

[Oaktech]

are the Bios' password locked? has some one set a time to turn on in it?

 

Is it a WSUS policy? we have a policy that turns machines on from the WSUS server, installs updates and turns them off again at the weekends.

[lmgtfy]

Thanks everyone for your help yesterday I think it is now sorted.

 

I ran wireshark on one of these computers yesterday while it was switched off and saw tons of ARP packets coming from our NAS box (Qnap Ts-1079 Pro 10) to the machine. I thought it was a bit strange so rebooted the NAS on a whim and last night no machines switched on by themselves.

 

Either the problem was related to the NAS or it randomly went away. Still very strange but if its sorted I don't care too much :-)

 

Cheers