hey guys, is there any way i can automatically turn a pc on without having to go to BIOS? ie from windows using a language or the like
+4
A:
No, there isn't. BIOS is essential for your Input-Output operations between Software and Hardware. Without a properly-setup BIOS, no hardware in your system will work at all.
Martin Hohenberg
2009-11-21 08:05:43
What if hibernate was used instead of total shut down; would this avoid the BIOS?
Dipstick
2009-11-21 09:20:47
No. (Why do answers have to have 15 characters?)
Rich Bradshaw
2009-11-21 09:42:05
Hibernate is part of the OS and the restore process runs *after* the BIOS. The BIOS for example, configures the memory controller to enable SDRAM access. Nothing will happen without RAM. It also configures the processor PLL (clock multiplier) - the processor will run *very* slowly if that were not done.
Clifford
2009-11-21 09:49:29
+8
A:
If you want to turn on a PC remotely (i.e. from another computer connected to the network), you can use "wake on lan" to do it. Here is a C implementation: http://www.gcd.org/sengoku/docs/wol.c I have not tested this C code. I use a script in Perl to switch PCs on which telnets into a router and tells the router to send the so-called magic packet.
"Wake on lan" is a feature of the network interface so it may or may not be present on your computer.
Kinopiko
2009-11-21 08:06:37
Is is possible to circumvent the BIOS? Doesn't sending power to the motherboard start the BIOS?
beggs
2009-11-21 09:20:58
It also relies on wake on lan being enabled in the BIOS. Not that that's a bad thing…
LnxPrgr3
2009-11-21 18:03:06
BIOS is necessary to initialize the chipset. Without that, the IDE/SATA controller on the motherboard wouldn't be active to boot Windows.
msemack
2009-11-23 15:02:00
+3
A:
Note that many programs have already been written for this purpose.
See: Wake on LAN
Wade Williams
2009-11-21 08:08:49
A:
It sounds like you're asking how to call some sort of OS restart or shutdown feature (system call in UNIX/Linux, or I guess it would be a "service" in MS Windows).
In any event the details of how to start, restart or shutdown a system are platform specific and differ considerably from one OS to another ... and sometimes a bit among different hardware models and OS versions even within any given OS).
Jim Dennis
2009-11-21 09:15:12
I would think it's quite clear he wants to turn on a computer, not restart or shutdown.
wsd
2009-11-21 12:53:55
A:
Of course when the computer is powered off, no code will run, so the the answer to the title of your question is no. The actual body of your question seems to be a different question; what does the BIOS have to do with anything?
Technically is is possible without an external stimulus such as "wake-up on LAN" if your hardware and OS support the ACPI "wake-up on RTC alarm" feature. The RTC is battery-backed, and has an alarm feature that can trigger a wake-up.
However the issues/variable are: Hardware support, BIOS support, OS support, API support to access the protected RTC hardware resource in order to set an alarm in the first instance.
Clifford
2009-11-21 10:00:13