Question Wake on lan does not work if alexa is connected to an ethernet cable

[Thinker0]

Hello everyone,
It's my first time on this forum and I need a hand for a problem that I do not understand and can not solve. A little while ago I finished configuring alexa for wake on lan, so as to open my pc through it, however I noticed one thing, it works if I connect alexa to wifi and does not work if I connect alexa via cable with the original amazon adapter, how is it possible? And how can I resolve the situation? Thank you very much to everyone for your attention.

 

[Ralston18]

What specifically is that "original amazon adapter"?

Amazon link?

Connectivety when wired (line diagram):

Router ----- Ethernet cable -----> Amazon adapter(?) ---- some cable -----> Alexa

Feel free to edit and correct my line diagram.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

There is probably nothing you can do. Alexa is basically garbage and only works on Wi-Fi apparently.

I’ve seen some people turn it on and set it up and then they can’t even turn on the television with their controller. They have to ask Alexa to do it. So it’s not a good situation and it’s a huge security risk so I don’t know why you would even want to use it.

 

[Thinker0]

What specifically is that "original amazon adapter"?

Amazon link?

Connectivety when wired (line diagram):

Router ----- Ethernet cable -----> Amazon adapter(?) ---- some cable -----> Alexa

Feel free to edit and correct my line diagram.

This is the adapter:

https://www.amazon.it/Amazon-Adattatore-Ethernet-Stick-Basic/dp/B01LXP5TXI/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_it_IT=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=1X5E5JUUKX4C&keywords=Adattatore+Ethernet+per+alexa&qid=1683723100&sprefix=adattatore+ethernet+per+alexa%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-1

In other words the link is:

Router - Ethernet Cable - Adapter - Alexa

Alexa works in every way with this adapter, I can control all my devices in the house, even turn on or off the TV that connected the fire stick... However, if I use the adapter I can not wake on lan, if instead I connect alexa to wifi without adapter works. I'm using the skill wake on lan available on the store, I configured the computer and alexa detects it among the various devices I can control. However, it still doesn't work, can I fix it somehow?

 

[Ralston18]

Regarding: "I'm using the skill wake on lan available on the store".

You are referring to:

https://www.amazon.com/Oscar-Penelo-Wake-Lan-WoL/dp/B07PGKK416

or some similar link - correct?

To summarize the problem:

You say "Alexa wake up my computer" and that works if Alexa is being used in a wireless environment. The computer wakes up.

You say "Alexa - wake up my computer"and that does not work if Alexa is connected in a wired environment. The computer does not wake up.

What are the wired and wireless MAC's for your computer?

You should be able to find the wired and wireless MACs (Physical address) by running "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the computer's Command Prompt.

My thought is that there is an error of some sort with respect to the wired MAC: either a typo or incorrect.

And remember that the computer should only have one network adapter (either wired or wireless) enabled at any given time.

 

[Thinker0]

This is the point, the mac address I used works and is correct, because I'll explain. Practically to be sure I did these tests:

1- I connected another pc to the network via cable and with the same mac address that I used on the skill I tried to make a wake on lan call and the pc turned on.

2- I connected a mobile device to the wifi network and I made (with the same MAC address that I used in test 1) a wake on lan call and the PC turned on.

In both tests, although the devices were connected to the network in a different way, with the same MAC address I managed to turn on the PC.
Alexa, on the other hand, can't.
The skill I'm using is the one you specified:
https://www.amazon.com/Oscar-Penelo-Wake-Lan-WoL/dp/B07PGKK416

 

[Ralston18]

Interesting.....

During the sucessful tests what was/is the nature of the "wake on lan call"?

And you changed the test devices' MAC to be the same MAC as the computer that is failing to wake when wired and you ask Alexa to turn on the computer. Correct?

Are you using "Alexa - turn on [PC name here]"? "Computer" as name/word should not be used as I understand the requirements. Keyword.

Where did you get the MAC addresse(s) being used?

If you are using thePC's wireless LAN adapter MAC for a wired LAN network adapter then that will not work.

FYI:

"On a computer with both a wired and a wireless connection (many laptops and notebooks), there will be one MAC Address for the wired (Ethernet) connection and a second MAC for the wireless connection."

Source:

https://harvard.service-now.com/ith...ess is unique,MAC for the wireless connection.

On your network computers run "arp -a" via the command prompt.

Match IP addresses, MACs (wired and wireless network adapters.

FYI:

https://support.pelco.com/s/article/How-to-use-an-arp-table-to-fin-IP-addresses?language=en_US

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/arp-...the ARP Table,identify devices on the network.

Objective being to identify the specific reason while Alexa will not wake that wired computer.

 

[Thinker0]

Interesting.....

During the sucessful tests what was/is the nature of the "wake on lan call"?

And you changed the test devices' MAC to be the same MAC as the computer that is failing to wake when wired and you ask Alexa to turn on the computer. Correct?

Are you using "Alexa - turn on [PC name here]"? "Computer" as name/word should not be used as I understand the requirements. Keyword.

Where did you get the MAC addresse(s) being used?

If you are using thePC's wireless LAN adapter MAC for a wired LAN network adapter then that will not work.

FYI:

"On a computer with both a wired and a wireless connection (many laptops and notebooks), there will be one MAC Address for the wired (Ethernet) connection and a second MAC for the wireless connection."

Source:

https://harvard.service-now.com/ithelp?id=kb_article&sys_id=08d833780f7472c02dfe5bd692050e04#:~:text=Your MAC address is unique,MAC for the wireless connection.

On your network computers run "arp -a" via the command prompt.

Match IP addresses, MACs (wired and wireless network adapters.

FYI:

https://support.pelco.com/s/article/How-to-use-an-arp-table-to-fin-IP-addresses?language=en_US

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/arp-table#:~:text=What is the ARP Table,identify devices on the network.

Objective being to identify the specific reason while Alexa will not wake that wired computer.

Only that I do not have a wireless card on the PC, I only have the lan card. So basically I only have a mac address that I used in all the tests.

So I don't think it's a mac address problem (which I took via ipconfig/all).

 

[Ralston18]

Okay:

The PC being a wired network connection will only WOL via Alexa if Alexa is wirelessly connected but will not do so if Alexa use using a wired connection.

On the computers in question, look for all device MACs.

FYI

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/powertip-use-powershell-to-find-mac-address/

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/how-to-find-the-mac-address-of-the-system-using-powershell

Also use "arp -a" to list out devices, IP addresses, and MACs (Physical Address).

Verify that all are as expected with respect to the network hosting Alexa.

 

[Thinker0]

Okay:

The PC being a wired network connection will only WOL via Alexa if Alexa is wirelessly connected but will not do so if Alexa use using a wired connection.

On the computers in question, look for all device MACs.

FYI

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/powertip-use-powershell-to-find-mac-address/

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/how-to-find-the-mac-address-of-the-system-using-powershell

Also use "arp -a" to list out devices, IP addresses, and MACs (Physical Address).

Verify that all are as expected with respect to the network hosting Alexa.

I just checked and it seems to me that everything is fine, the information I find with arp -a are the same that I find looking at the modem, among other things, I made the binding between the ip of the pc and alexa and their mac, so the ip address associated with their MAC addresses does not change .

But the situation has not yet been resolved, alexa connected with the cable can not send packets and I'm sure because I'm using a tool called Wireshark to view the packets that arrive at the PC network card and there are no wol packets.

The other devices continue to work, I can send wol packets from devices connected to wifi or connected with the cable (like other PCs I have in the same network), alexa no.

 

[bill001g]

WoL is such a painful thing to get to work now that microsoft has gotten bios manufactures to support their proprietary modes.

Still if it works from other machines then that is not the problem.

So the way WoL is suppose to work is the device sends a packet to the broadcast mac address ie FFFF:FFFF:FFFF. Inside the packet the mac address needs to appear in a very particular pattern.

What you find are implementations that cheat this standard. The most common one is they send it to the mac address of the end device and not the broadcast mac. The other they include things like IP packet headers even though WoL is not IP based.

Depending on how strictly the motherboard implements WoL these variations may or may not work.....they tend to work more than not.

You have already done what I recommend to test this. Wireshark should see the WoL packets even when the machine is fully running. What I would do is try to capture data from the mac address of the alexa just to be sure it is not sending the data in the improper format. Note the mac address will likely be different when it is send from the wifi and the ethernet adapters.

I suspect the alexa is not actually sending the packet. Would be nice if you could run wireshark on alexa or if switches that allowed you to monitor other ethernet ports were cheaper. My guess would be is there is either a bug or restriction in the USB/ethernet adapter that is blocking data send to the broadcast mac. Although that would be strange since DHCP is sent that way also. Note you should be able to see the DHCP request the alexa makes on your pc with wireshark. You likely have to power cycle it so it forgets where the dhcp server is.

A added though will the alexa function at all if you plug it directly into the pc without a internet connection. That way you could use wireshark to grab it. Can the alexa connect to the internet via wifi and still use the ethernet.

 

[nigelivey]

I think the reviews and comments regarding this "skill" says it all!!

 

[Thinker0]

Sorry for responding late, unfortunately I had some unforeseen events that kept me very busy. Anyway regarding Alexa still doesn't work and I wouldn't know how to connect it directly to the PC, what can I use? Because I have to in that case, connect both Alexa and give it internet access, if I connect Alexa's ethernet cable directly to the PC and connect Alexa to the wifi it might work, however at that point I wouldn't be able to find if the problem persists because Alexa connected to the wifi works and then I would have no way to do the verification. At this point I think it is a restriction of the adapter that prevents these packets from being sent. What could I use to verify packet output from Alexa?

WoL is such a painful thing to get to work now that microsoft has gotten bios manufactures to support their proprietary modes.

Still if it works from other machines then that is not the problem.

So the way WoL is suppose to work is the device sends a packet to the broadcast mac address ie FFFF:FFFF:FFFF. Inside the packet the mac address needs to appear in a very particular pattern.

What you find are implementations that cheat this standard. The most common one is they send it to the mac address of the end device and not the broadcast mac. The other they include things like IP packet headers even though WoL is not IP based.

Depending on how strictly the motherboard implements WoL these variations may or may not work.....they tend to work more than not.

You have already done what I recommend to test this. Wireshark should see the WoL packets even when the machine is fully running. What I would do is try to capture data from the mac address of the alexa just to be sure it is not sending the data in the improper format. Note the mac address will likely be different when it is send from the wifi and the ethernet adapters.

I suspect the alexa is not actually sending the packet. Would be nice if you could run wireshark on alexa or if switches that allowed you to monitor other ethernet ports were cheaper. My guess would be is there is either a bug or restriction in the USB/ethernet adapter that is blocking data send to the broadcast mac. Although that would be strange since DHCP is sent that way also. Note you should be able to see the DHCP request the alexa makes on your pc with wireshark. You likely have to power cycle it so it forgets where the dhcp server is.

A added though will the alexa function at all if you plug it directly into the pc without a internet connection. That way you could use wireshark to grab it. Can the alexa connect to the internet via wifi and still use the ethernet.

 

[bill001g]

The only reason I suggested hooking it to the pc is purely because it is the simplest way to see what the port is really sending.

You would need a switch that has the ability to copy all the packets on the port going to the alexa and give it to another port.
Generally this feature is called port monitoring or mirroring.

This of course is a feature on large enterprise switches but there are some small "managed" switches that have this ability.
I know tplink has one but I forget the model. You could look at something like microtik RB260GS for about $50. Its been a couple years since I played with the microtik and they seem to have change the hardware, not sure what. It should still have the port mirror option. These type switches get complex to configure because they have so many feature.

 

[Thinker0]

The only reason I suggested hooking it to the pc is purely because it is the simplest way to see what the port is really sending.

You would need a switch that has the ability to copy all the packets on the port going to the alexa and give it to another port.
Generally this feature is called port monitoring or mirroring.

This of course is a feature on large enterprise switches but there are some small "managed" switches that have this ability.
I know tplink has one but I forget the model. You could look at something like microtik RB260GS for about $50. Its been a couple years since I played with the microtik and they seem to have change the hardware, not sure what. It should still have the port mirror option. These type switches get complex to configure because they have so many feature.

That's fine, so I will go ahead and buy a switch to check the port and what comes out and then I will update you, thank you very much.