Sounds like it should be working; the only thing I can think of is maybe it's addressing the WOL packet to the wrong interface/MAC address?

When you first added the laptop to the Steam Link, was the laptop connected via WiFi? If so, then the Steam Link may have the WiFi MAC address saved, so it's addressing the WOL packet to that address, and not the address of the laptop's wired interface.

The "wake on LAN" functionality is usually interface-specific (in other words, it has to be enabled specifically for the interface you're communicating with). So, maybe you've got WOL enabled for the wired interface but not the WiFi interface, and the Steam Link is addressing the packet to the WiFi interface?

Thanks for replying. If you're talking about the advanced/power management options in the device properties, I quintuple checked that all options are set correctly.
I tried for a while using chatgpt and gemini to try to fix the answer, and neither could.

Yeah, it really depends on what your chassis firmware (BIOS/UEFI) config allows you to do, and what it calls it. Consult the manual, etc.

The first thing I'd try, if you're willing to complicate things for something that may or may not help in the name of troubleshooting, is:

1. Disable the WiFi interface on the laptop (to absolutely ensure that the Steam Link can only communicate with it via the wired interface)
   
2. Remove the laptop from the Steam Link's list of paired devices
   
3. Re-add the laptop to the Steam Link (using the wired interface)
   
4. Power the laptop down and try using WOL with it again

The idea here is that you recreate the Steam Link's configuration for the laptop, and you know for sure it's using the laptop's wired interface address.

If that still doesn't work, then either the laptop isn't receiving the WOL packet or the firmware isn't responding to it for some reason. At that point, you're into low-level network diagnostics to confirm that the WOL packet is showing up at the laptop, followed by a deep dive into the firmware's manual to make super-duper sure the WOL functionality is enabled. Unfortunately, I've never seen a firmware UI that would react to a WOL packet while powered on (like, with a popup window or beep or something), so it's up to the documentation to make things clear.

If it does work, then the issue is most likely that the WiFi interface either can't or won't respond to a WOL packet...so you'll need to either fix that, or decide whether being able to use WOL is worth having to use the Steam Link via the laptop's wired interface.

Orrrr, maybe if it works you could unplug the wired, turn the wireless back on, and add the laptop to the Steam Link a second time. Then you could connect over WiFi without having to leave the cable plugged in all the time, as long as it was already powered on.

what are you trying to wake the laptop with?
lan and wifi will have different mac address to wake it up

are you trying to wake it from a device connected to wifi?

the router may be blocking it if wifi isolation is enabled

check if you can log into the router to send the wol magic packet
and turn off wifi isolation for the ssid you use