Greetings! So recently, i spent a few hours coding software. After i was done and i shut off my pc, i noticed both of the ethernet lights were on and blinking. Does this mean that Microsoft is sending data to their servers before the PC fully shuts off? I am scared that this might be the thing it does. How can i get rid of this issue? I have no idea if it’s related to Windows or the PC itself.

      • sneaky@r.nfEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        Power to the port may be hardwired for that feature to exist even though you have it disabled. Usually older models, but some do stay on just from being powered.

        If it’s a privacy concern check at your router and see if it holds an address.

  • lazynooblet@lazysoci.alEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Your PC network card keeps the connection up in order to receive wake on LAN requests.

    Any link activity whilst the PC is shutdown is packets that were broadcasted to the entire network. Other PCs, DHCP requests, etc send traffic to all devices on the network. So seeing some traffic whilst it’s off is nothing to worry about.

  • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 months ago

    You computer has a feature for Out of Band management. Either WoL as others have mentioned or vPro(Intel), iLon(HP), iDrac(Dell), as well a few other less popular systems depending on who makes your mainboard or NIC.

    This leaves the power on to the network card so that it can be used even with your computer off. It does not have access to your normal computer in the this case. Just the ability to turn on/off the system and sometimes options to update BIOS/UEFI firmware and send a console image to either a client or browser.

    The lights are blinking because broadcasts packets from other devices on your LAN are sent to every device. This is normal and expected behavior.

    • refalo@programming.dev
      2·
      2 months ago

      the link light is powered by the switch

      No it’s not. If you don’t believe me, unplug your PC’s power cord and watch the light go out.

      If the power cord is plugged in but the computer is shutdown, and the light is still on, then that means the network adapter supports WoL or OOB management and must stay on for that reason, but the network switch connected to the adapter is not physically powering any lights.

      • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        If the power cord is plugged in but the computer is shutdown, and the light is still on, then that means the network adapter supports WoL or OOB management and must stay on for that reason

        Also worth noting that Windows is especially bad about actually shutting down when you tell it to shut down because something something fastboot. I’ve seen similar inconsistently on Linux but I strongly suspect that to be more edgecases with specific hardware and my install.