Connecting at Gigabit speed

[chris_allen123]

Hi everyone,

I am running a Viglen desktop which is about 5 months old now and have just set up a small home network consisting of one other computer and my computer connected via LAN. My computer (3.2 GHz, XP Home, 1GB RAM, Norton Antivirus 2003) has internet access via the other computer and the internet sharing occurs via LAN. The LAN connection in my computer comes from the motherboard socket which is a 'Generic Marvell Yukon Chipset based Gigabit Network Controller' on an Intel D925XECV2 motherboard.

The other computer, with which file and printer sharing is used often, also has a 'Gigabit' network card. However, this card allows the connection speed to be set to '1000Mbps' whereas the card in my computer only has up to 100Mbps Full Duplex' in the properties section of the device manager entry and informs that this is the speed of the LAN when the two computers are connected - 100Mbps.

I know that 100Mbps is fast enough for LAN but have I misunderstood the 'Generic Marvell Yukon Chipset based Gigabit Network Controller' as being capable of speeds of 1000Mbps or have I been conned with a slower card fitted in my machine. I just wanted to connect both computers as efficiently as possible.

After obtaining the latest LAN drivers for my motherboard from the Intel site the options for the choice of speed still remain the same at 10 Mbps Half /Full Duplex, 100 Mbps Half / Full Duplex and Auto-detect.

Can anyone help me to connect at 1000Mbps speed or help me to descern if this is actually possible with the card/motherboard?

Thanks in advance,

Chris Allen.

[oracle128]

What type of cable are you using? Only Cat6 or better is rated at 1000Mbps.

Also, if you are connected to a router, switch or hub, that device will have to support a gigabit network connection too.

Which property are you looking at in the Configure dialog?

[Archangel122184]

Actually, only Cat5e and Cat6 cables are rated for gigabit connections (the enhance UTP cable will work), and before the question is asked gigabit will not work on a lower rated cable (the shielding sucks too much).

The fact that it doesn't recognize 1000Mb connections in the line settings does bother me though. When you go into the adaptor properties advanced settings (advanced tab in hardware manager properties) does it allow you to set gigabit master/slave options?

[oracle128]

Cat5E will work for a gigabit network, but is not rated for 1000Mbps transfer. See here.

If the property being looked at is 'MediaType', then you probably won't see anything other than 10/100 settings, if the connected cable does not fully support gigabit connections.

[Archangel122184]

I think it not necessary to argue about this, but lets make sure that information given is at least accurate.

Cat5e will register a gigabit connection even if the distance/emi+rfi sheilding isn't sufficient for 1000Mbs transfer. The question here is about optimizing a connection with options available. If the user has a Cat5e cable, gigbit will register and the user could sustain transfers between 200-300Mbps and burst around 450.

As for hardware line selections, unless the driver is specifically programmed otherwise, you can usually select a line type that is not currently available. On a gigabit capable card, the driver will always give you the option for gigabit master/slave settings.

[chris_allen123]

Thanks for the suggestions people btw.

There is no router between the two computers - it is a direct connection with Cat 5e cable. The cable I have says:

'YFC FTP CAT.5E PATCH ISO/IEC 11801 & EN 50288 3P VARIFIED FOR GIGABIT ETHERNET - 26AWGx4P TYPE CM (UL) CMH E164469'

all down it and is 30m long.

In reply to both of you, the property I am looking at is obtainable by double clicking on the Generic Marvell Yukon... card entry in device manager and selecting the speed and duplex entry from the advanced tab as can be seen below (hopefully). Am I right to assume that this is the line settings? The other options can also be seen in the pic:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f9...tworkSpeed.jpg


Is it possible for the card to refuse to show the 1000mbps option because the cable I have may or may not fully support it?

The network functions perfectly well at 100mbps I just feel cheated after going 'ooh look, the new computer has that new Gigabit network thing' when buying but finding out that it appears not to when I first come across another computer with a gigabit card.

I am starting to think that this is not a gigabit card but I will outline the settings of the other options incase this suggests anything untoward.

802.1p Support = Off
FlowControl = On
Hardware Checksumming = On
Interupt Moderation = On
Jumbo Frames = Disabled
Log Status MEssages = Status Messages
Max IRQ per sec = 5000
Newtork Address = Not Present (there is a box to enter a value also but it is set to Not Present)
Number of Receive Buffers = 256
Number of Transmit Buffers = 256
Speed & Duplex = Auto-Sense
TCP Segmentation = Enabled
Wake From Shutdown = Off
Wake Up Capabilities = Magic Packet & Pattern Mat

Thanks,
Chris.

[chris_allen123]

Sorry, nearly ended up with a double post because it told me that it hadn't worked.

[Archangel122184]

I've just checked the Marvell driver package. The drive DOES remove gigabit when the line doesn't support it. You probably have a standard cat5 cable.

[chris_allen123]

Ok thanks for that, it's fair enough I suppose. Shame I cant squeeze those last few mbits out of the lan.

Thanks for the help.

Chris.