Perhaps you guys already know this, but it is a new option for me so I thought I'd mention it.  I have been struggling for the last few days trying to get WOL to work with my current setup.  It had worked on my mobo with 5beta14, but not with 5.0.6 and a purchased key.  I finally gave up and decided I would just leave my server off when not in use.

 

I don't use the server every day, just now and again when I wish to back up my machines and my music collection. The hassle is the server is located upstairs and I mostly want to back up my machines downstairs.  The server had been located where it is to keep it out of the way in a location with good airflow, yet out of sight.

 

During my attempts to get WOL to work, I noticed that that machine still drew a small electrical load and a light was illuminated on the NIC board.  It occurred to me that the NIC should still be able to sense commands.....or at least I surmised that to be the case. I looked around for a way to boot the machine remotely and found that my WOL software, Wake Me On LAN, can also boot my machine remotely!

 

I have tried it several times now and it works every time.  Boots the machine up from an "Off" state. Granted, not as fast as waking from S3 sleep, but better than having to physically push the button to start the machine.

 

I assume this is mobo dependent with proper BIOS settings, but sure am glad I stumbled onto this option. In my case, better than S3 sleep.

I do the same thing, my s3 script shut down my server when there are no activities, then my WOL app just booting the server. And I can do it over Internet as well [emoji3]

My original goal had been to save electricity and wear and tear on the hardware when not in use.  The ability to boot the machine from an 'off' state solves all my issues.  I save power and don't have to deal with the occasional problems brought on with a momentary power interruption, which happens about once a year around here.