Network help: Gigabit running at 10Mbps

[rogerg (Roger)]

G'day all,

I have a new PC in my observatory which has gigabit network. For some reason it's refusing to connect at anything more than 10Mbps. I'm hoping someone will have suggestions?

Setup:
- an existing PC with gigabit, connecting at gigabit
- an existing gigabit switch (Netgear GS605 v2)
- new pc with gigabit connecting at 10Mbps

The above is connected to the network in the house which is all gigabit and working fine, but I won't detail that as I think it's irrellevant.

I have tried switching cables, ports on the switch, etc. For example I have unplugged the cable from the working gigabit PC and plugged it in to the new PC to then only connect at 10Mbps. To me this rules out faults with cable and switch but does not rule out software/firmware conflictions.

Any ideas?

I have tried forcing the new PC to use gigabit instead of auto-negotiating speed and this results in no working network connection at all.

I tell ya, trasferring .fits files over 10Mbps is great fun

Thanks,
Roger.

[michaellxv (Michael)]

How far from the observatory to your switch. Gigabit over copper has serious distance limits.

Take the new PC into the house and connect with a short cable and see what happens.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by rogerg

G'day all,

I have a new PC in my observatory which has gigabit network. For some reason it's refusing to connect at anything more than 10Mbps. I'm hoping someone will have suggestions?

Setup:
- an existing PC with gigabit, connecting at gigabit
- an existing gigabit switch (Netgear GS605 v2)
- new pc with gigabit connecting at 10Mbps

The above is connected to the network in the house which is all gigabit and working fine, but I won't detail that as I think it's irrellevant.

I have tried switching cables, ports on the switch, etc. For example I have unplugged the cable from the working gigabit PC and plugged it in to the new PC to then only connect at 10Mbps. To me this rules out faults with cable and switch but does not rule out software/firmware conflictions.

Any ideas?

I have tried forcing the new PC to use gigabit instead of auto-negotiating speed and this results in no working network connection at all.

I tell ya, trasferring .fits files over 10Mbps is great fun

Thanks,
Roger.

The only thing I can think of is some switches have a 10Mbps outlet as well as 1000Mbps outlets you haven't put it in that by mistake

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by michaellxv

How far from the observatory to your switch. Gigabit over copper has serious distance limits.

Take the new PC into the house and connect with a short cable and see what happens.

1.5m from PC to switch - the switch is in the observatory. The 20m gigabit link from Obs to house is fine.

Originally Posted by supernova1965

The only thing I can think of is some switches have a 10Mbps outlet as well as 1000Mbps outlets you haven't put it in that by mistake

I wondered the same, but by switching the cable like I did, from old PC to new PC (old PC running at gigabit) I figure I have negated that possibility

Thank you both,
Roger.

[michaellxv (Michael)]

checking what may seem the obvious but..

latest drivers for the network card?
cable for new PC meets Gig requriements and is not damaged in anyway.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

For short runs, 1G ethernet will run happily over Cat5 cable as along as it has all wires connected. It definitely works on Cat5e.

Ethernet not running at the rated speed is almost certainly a speed/duplex configuration error. The usual cause is one end being set to a fixed speed and duplex and the other to Auto. By IEEE specification the Auto end MUST fall back to 10Mb half duplex when it does not receive the negotiation signals.

Compare the settings on the two PCs and on the switch if it is configurable.

On the PCs look under "Configure"->"Advanced". They should both have the same settings for speed and duplex.

No matter what anyone says, DO NOT configure gigabit any other way than Auto. The IEEE definition says gigabit MUST autonegotiate. This is a battle I regularly have to fight at work.

For information, in 99.999% of non-gigabit cases ethernet should also be set to Auto.

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by michaellxv

checking what may seem the obvious but..

latest drivers for the network card?
cable for new PC meets Gig requriements and is not damaged in anyway.

You're right, that's obvious and I should have checked the drivers... but hadn't . Looking on the web now, strangely I can't find ANY drivers for it ... but.... I find many threads about Intel ethernet cards only working at 10Mbps until new drivers are installed! So... seems this is the track I need to take.

If only I could find drivers. Hmm.

The card is: Intel 82578DC

I will keep hunting. If anyone more familiar with finding such drivers is able to hunt it down that'd be appreciated. I'm not having any luck finding it on intel's driver download website.

Thanks,
Roger.

[michaellxv (Michael)]

Is it a separate NIC card or onboard? If onboard you could search for the drivers for your motherboard and this may get what you need.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by rogerg

You're right, that's obvious and I should have checked the drivers... but hadn't . Looking on the web now, strangely I can't find ANY drivers for it ... but.... I find many threads about Intel ethernet cards only working at 10Mbps until new drivers are installed! So... seems this is the track I need to take.

If only I could find drivers. Hmm.

The card is: Intel 82578DC

I will keep hunting. If anyone more familiar with finding such drivers is able to hunt it down that'd be appreciated. I'm not having any luck finding it on intel's driver download website.

Thanks,
Roger.

Try this one
http://www.intel.com/products/ethern...82578DC&s3=all

Scratch that one no driver

[michaellxv (Michael)]

Found the manual http://download.intel.com/design/net...hts/319440.pdf section 8.1 looks like your problem.

Look for a setting 'reverse auto-negotiation (LPLU)' and make sure it is not enabled.

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by michaellxv

Is it a separate NIC card or onboard? If onboard you could search for the drivers for your motherboard and this may get what you need.

awsome, works! great tip the motherboard is intel too, so you'd think searching for the card on their website I would've found it, but no.

Brilliant.

Well, that's the only problem I've had getting my observatory stuff switched from my XP machine to Win 7 so that's pretty good. All up and running now. All 1 LPT camera and 4 RS232 ports included. Amazing. Don't think I would've had the same luck under Vista.

Thanks guy's, you've been a great help.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by rogerg

awsome, works! great tip the motherboard is intel too, so you'd think searching for the card on their website I would've found it, but no.

Brilliant.

Well, that's the only problem I've had getting my observatory stuff switched from my XP machine to Win 7 so that's pretty good. All up and running now. All 1 LPT camera and 4 RS232 ports included. Amazing. Don't think I would've had the same luck under Vista.

Thanks guy's, you've been a great help.

If you had said you had Vista I would have called the men in white coats as I am sure you would have needed them by the time you got it workingGlad to hear you got it all going great news

[michaellxv (Michael)]

That's great news.