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    Is it true that disabled WiFi is not really off ?

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by tempaccount23456, Sep 22, 2007.

  1. tempaccount23456

    tempaccount23456 Notebook Geek

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    Is it true that if you disabled WiFi via windows device manager it's not really off as it just stops windows from communicating with WiFi and the card just goes into a low power standby state and from time to time it sends wake on network packets but it gets ignored and then goes back to standby. ?
     
    tempaccount23456, Sep 22, 2007
    #1
  2. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

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    WiFi disabled means no radio transmition. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to get on the plane with your laptop.
     
    downloads, Sep 22, 2007
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  3. System64

    System64 Windows 7 x64

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    Disabling a hardware in Device manager essentially takes the device offline, and for the case of the Wifi card, it will not be able to wake up on its own or via the hotkey. Think of it as there are no Wifi device in the notebook.
     
    System64, Sep 22, 2007
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  4. ikovac

    ikovac Cooler and faster... NBR Reviewer

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    My card is dead when is off. In terms of function of course. :)
     
    ikovac, Sep 22, 2007
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  5. villageman

    villageman Notebook Evangelist

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    Interesting question Is there a "wake on WLAN" option? If there is I suppose that indeed the wifi is always on.
     
    villageman, Sep 22, 2007
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  6. tebore

    tebore Notebook Evangelist

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    It's sort of true to an extent.

    For every disabled device in Device Manager the device is off. But it still gets a bit of juice so the system can see it to activate and deactivate it. This state draws less juice than a device that's not disabled and has a sleep mode(Ala the Intel network cards).

    If you disable it in the BIOS it's disabled after POST and is off.
     
    tebore, Sep 22, 2007
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  7. INCSlayer

    INCSlayer Notebook Consultant

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    yea or if your computer is equipped with a wlan on/off button it will not be powered if the button is set to off of course
     
    INCSlayer, Sep 23, 2007
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