1Gbps network, 100Mbps connection

[Reduxion]

Hello,

there are many threads about this but none provided me with a solution...
The connection on my PC is 100 Mbps (via cable) while I reach 1 Gigabit per second on my laptop (also via cable, wireless I reach about 144Mbps).

I use the MSI P67A-c43 mobo on my desktop which has the Realtek 8111E Ethernet Controller. The laptop uses a Atheros AR8161/8165 controller.

Both router and switch are capable of 1 Gbps, all ports as far as I know.

Running on win 7 64-bit.

This is what we have tried so far:

- updated drivers to the newest version (7.065)
- tested with different cables which didn't go thought the wall (even used a new cable, one never used before). All of those cables were cat. 5/e
- used different ports on router
- Different cable heads or what ever they are called (cross / straight): did not work
- Forced 1 Gbps on the controller
- Checked settings @ router
- Rebooted router (with the internet cables still attached)


All with no results.
We don't have a clue anymore.. Hopefully you guys do! Please let me know if you know any solution to this problem.

Thanks in advance,

Mitch aka Reduxion

[Jay]

Do you have the most recent drivers?

[jim]

Have you left the wires plugged into the switch and rebooted it?

I've had that problem before and a reboot cured it.

EDIT: I'm a bit confused about your setup. You mention that both the router and switch are 1Gbps compatible, but you only talk about plugging the cables into the router? Also, are you sure that on your router all ports are gigabit? Some routers have 1 gigabit port, then all the others are 100Mbps.

[Reduxion]

Have you left the wires plugged into the switch and rebooted it?

I've had that problem before and a reboot cured it.

EDIT: I'm a bit confused about your setup. You mention that both the router and switch are 1Gbps compatible, but you only talk about plugging the cables into the router? Also, are you sure that on your router all ports are gigabit? Some routers have 1 gigabit port, then all the others are 100Mbps.

@ switch: My cable is on the router without a switch, but the cable of my bro's pc is on a switch which is upstairs. We both have the same issue and been struggling to find the source.
It's really strange because when I take the cable from my PC and plug it in my laptop all in a sudden I got 1 Gbps instead of the 100Mbps which I get on my PC (desktop).

@ ports: Im sure that all ports are 1 gigabit ports, since we plugged in our laptop from several ports and were able to get that 1Gbps..

I'll update my post to make some things more clear!

[jim]

Okay, so if the exact same cable plugged into the exact same port on the router gives 100Mbps on the PC, and 1Gbps on the laptop, without changing any settings whatsoever, that would pretty much eliminate everything but the PC.

I can't think of any baisc reason why it wouldn't work properly, which leaves a hardware failure of some odd description (seems weird though, not to fail completely) or a software/driver fault.

The best way of testing the latter, to my mind, would be to use either UBCD4Win or a Linux LiveCD and boot into one of those instead of your normal OS. If you can get a gigabit connection on there, then it strongly suggests that some part of your Windows install is borked, possibly drivers.

If that still doesn't work, then it suggests that there's a problem with the actual slot or chip, and the easiest solution would probably be to buy a cheap network card like this: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...oogle+shopping

EDIT: Just a long shot, but are there any compatibility options or similar relating to the Ethernet port on the BIOS?

[Reduxion]

Okay, so if the exact same cable plugged into the exact same port on the router gives 100Mbps on the PC, and 1Gbps on the laptop, without changing any settings whatsoever, that would pretty much eliminate everything but the PC.

I can't think of any baisc reason why it wouldn't work properly, which leaves a hardware failure of some odd description (seems weird though, not to fail completely) or a software/driver fault.

The best way of testing the latter, to my mind, would be to use either UBCD4Win or a Linux LiveCD and boot into one of those instead of your normal OS. If you can get a gigabit connection on there, then it strongly suggests that some part of your Windows install is borked, possibly drivers.

If that still doesn't work, then it suggests that there's a problem with the actual slot or chip, and the easiest solution would probably be to buy a cheap network card like this:

EDIT: Just a long shot, but are there any compatibility options or similar relating to the Ethernet port on the BIOS?

Thanks for replying so quickly.

@Booting with UBCD4Win: I'll try that today and give you a '' report'' on how it went.
@BOIS: Have checked it already, no options related to internet/ethernet or whatsoever.

[abaxas]

Can you force the driver to gigabit? If so and it works, it's an autonegociation issue, which may not be solvable.

Like all things in life, sometimes they just dont get along.

[SiM]

I had this problem when I got a new switch/longer cable. Luckily my mobo has dual gigabit NICs and the other worked fine at 1gbit.

My guess its what abaxas said.

Can you force the driver to gigabit? If so and it works, it's an autonegociation issue, which may not be solvable.

Like all things in life, sometimes they just dont get along.

[Reduxion]

Problem solved:

Wrong cable caps that didn't support 1 Gbps network were on our cables. Changed them and now it works fine!

Thanks for your help tho, really appreciate it!

[Bluecube]

Excuse my ignorance but what's a cable cap?

[DDY]

Excuse my ignorance but what's a cable cap?

I'm guessing Reduxion is referring to the plugs of the ethernet cable.

There are some ethernet cables which only have 4-cores rather than the 8-cores needed for gigabit, these 4-core ethernet cables will have the regular plugs but only 4 of the 8 pins populated, usually evidenced by the presence of 4 contacts rather than the usual 8.

[Reduxion]

I'm guessing Reduxion is referring to the plugs of the ethernet cable.

There are some ethernet cables which only have 4-cores rather than the 8-cores needed for gigabit, these 4-core ethernet cables will have the regular plugs but only 4 of the 8 pins populated, usually evidenced by the presence of 4 contacts rather than the usual 8.

^This

I had no clue how they were called so I thought 'cap' would do the trick

[Splash]

^This

I had no clue how they were called so I thought 'cap' would do the trick

Doesn't explain why you would get gigabit speeds on the laptop with the same cable, surely?

[abaxas]

Doesn't explain why you would get gigabit speeds on the laptop with the same cable, surely?

Never assume what windows says is what is actually happening in reality.Especially true for wireless networks.

[DDY]

Never assume what windows says is what is actually happening in reality...

10Gbps through my gigabit network apparently;

[Splash]

Never assume what windows says is what is actually happening in reality.Especially true for wireless networks.

I was assuming that the OP was seeing actual 100Mbps/1Gbps speeds, rather than just relying on the link display