[Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

rabcor · 2013-08-21 15:29:20

I noticed this long ago but i never bothered to try to find out why.

I have two laptops (one hp and one thinkpad)

If i connect an ethernet cable to them while it's on, naturally the light pops up. But the light doesn't shut down with the rest of the computer when i shut it down. I do not understand how or why this would happen, Windows (7) turns off the lights when i turn it off.

My most effective method to get the damn light to turn off is to remove all power from the laptops. (alternatively i can just unplug the ethernet cable)
The network card most certainly should not be receiving power after the computer has been shut down.

What's up with this and can i fix it?

Last edited by rabcor (2013-08-21 21:36:07)

x33a · 2013-08-21 16:00:08

This is probably due to "wake on lan". See if your BIOS has such an option, and try disabling it. Though, I am not sure why the behaviour is different for Windows.

alphaniner · 2013-08-21 16:04:25

There is a reason why a NIC may be receiving power when the machine is off: wake on LAN. As to why you see different behavior in Windows vs Linux, IDK. If you have a shite NIC (ie. realtek) it's probably a bug*. If you have a quality NIC (ie. not realtek) it's probably something you can fix. Probably the easiest first step would be to use ethtool (extra/ethtool) to view and if necessary modify the WOL settings of your NIC:

# ethtool net1
...
	Supports Wake-on: pg
	Wake-on: d
...

* which may be unrelated to WOL capability.

Last edited by alphaniner (2013-08-21 16:08:11)

Mr.Elendig · 2013-08-21 16:22:40

Welcome to atx >=2.x standard. Quite a few things is still (standby) powered even after you turn the computer off.

ewaller · 2013-08-21 16:43:34

Moving to Kernel and Hardware.

mich41 · 2013-08-21 18:31:10

alphaniner wrote:

As to why you see different behavior in Windows vs Linux, IDK. If you have a shite NIC (ie. realtek) it's probably a bug*. If you have a quality NIC (ie. not realtek) it's probably something you can fix.

The problem is clearly with crap software (i.e. Linux), not hardware. If hardware was buggy, the quality software (i.e. not Linux) wouldn't be able to shut it down.

alphaniner wrote:

Probably the easiest first step would be to use ethtool (extra/ethtool) to view and if necessary modify the WOL settings of your NIC

This.
Set WOL to "d" (disabled) with ethtool on every boot. Or try BIOS setup, it's possible that Linux will preserve settings made by BIOS.

Last edited by mich41 (2013-08-21 18:32:42)

alphaniner · 2013-08-21 19:52:52

mich41 wrote:

The problem is clearly with crap software (i.e. Linux), not hardware. If hardware was buggy, the quality software (i.e. not Linux) wouldn't be able to shut it down.

Actually, I think the source of the OP's problem is not clear at all, and I didn't mean to indict the hardware specifically. But if the software (ie. Linux driver) is crap, then the hardware that requires it is effectively crap in the context of Linux...

That being said, my advice came from similar experiences with two realtek NICs (my only two experiences with realtek NICs) and both were problematic under Windows as well. So, I don't try too hard to avoid disparaging their products.

Last edited by alphaniner (2013-08-21 20:07:17)

rabcor · 2013-08-21 21:35:31

Thanks for your replies guys. found this wiki entry. One of my laptops has in fact got a realtek ethernet controller, the other has an intel one.

As i run ethtool they both do in fact seem to support wake on lan.

Supports Wake-on: pumbg
Wake-on: g

are both their settings.

i ran

ethtool -s eth0 wol d

on both laptops, and in both cases the Leds are now off after i turn them off.

Thanks a bunch for your help guys

Last edited by rabcor (2013-08-22 08:31:04)

alphaniner · 2013-08-21 21:58:21

Did you run

ethtool -s eth0 wol g

or

ethtool -s eth0 wol d

?

I wouldn't have expected the former would do anything, as both were already set to 'g'.

rabcor · 2013-08-22 08:31:48

woops i misspelled that, i did "d" not "g"

all i need now is to find a way to make the setting permanently stick.

x33a · 2013-08-22 10:36:11

rabcor wrote:

all i need now is to find a way to make the setting permanently stick.

BIOS?

WonderWoofy · 2013-08-22 13:17:18

A simple solution would be to just have something run the command on boot. On my laptop, which is rarely plugged into an ethernet cable anyway, I have a udev rule run it as soon as it is detected.

rabcor · 2013-08-22 17:47:37

Nah i couldn't find the option in my bios. But i do however already have a command that's run on every startup to disable hybrid graphics so i should be able to make that happen. Thanks.

Last edited by rabcor (2013-08-22 17:50:37)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-08-21 15:29:20

[Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#2 2013-08-21 16:00:08

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#3 2013-08-21 16:04:25

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#4 2013-08-21 16:22:40

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#5 2013-08-21 16:43:34

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#6 2013-08-21 18:31:10

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#7 2013-08-21 19:52:52

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#8 2013-08-21 21:35:31

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#9 2013-08-21 21:58:21

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#10 2013-08-22 08:31:48

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#11 2013-08-22 10:36:11

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#12 2013-08-22 13:17:18

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

#13 2013-08-22 17:47:37

Re: [Solved] Ethernet LED won't turn off when i turn off my computer?

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