can't get gigabit connection

[drobbins]

howdy,

I have a box with an onboard ethernet controller capable of gigabit speeds
in the past I've never had anything that fast to connect it to so it's always run at 100 Mb/s
now I've built myself a new "main" computer and retired the old one into a "server" role
this is all home/hobby stuff
the new box has a gigabit controller too so now I want to see this stuff work
here's the layout


SOHO_router/switch -------DSL_modem-------internet
|
|
old_pc-------------gigabit_switch---------------new_pc


so it should be a gigabit conection from the old box, through the gigabit switch, to the new box
when I run mii-tool on the old box it reports a 100 Mb/sec connection
ideas about what to do?
when run lsmod I see these lines which I suspect apply


e100 33997 0
mii 8385 1 e100

from there I'm lost
I can find the chipset if needed but it will take a little digging unless somebody knows a command to get linux to tell me

this is a fresh install of F8

TIA

Dave

[drobbins]

just a little update, the new box dual boots F8 and XP
under F8 mii-tool reports the same thing (100 Mb/sec)
under XP it says it has a gigabit connection
mind you these are the connections to the switch in between the boxes
doing an ftp transfer of a large file confirms there isn't a gigabit connection all the way through

Davr

[drobbins]

if it helps, the new PC has an Abit IP-35 mobo whith this

Onboard Gigabit LAN controller supports 10/100/1000M Ethernet (Marvell 88E8056)

it also reports 100 Mb/sec connection

Dave

[stevea]

There were bugs for the Marvell 88E8056 in early versions of F8. Be sure to update and reboot.

You must have cat5 (all 4 pair of wires implemented) for 1000Mbit enet.

mii-tool (oddly) does not report the speed. Use ethtool:
[root@lycoperdon ~]# ethtool eth0 | grep Speed
Speed: 1000Mb/s
[root@lycoperdon ~]# ethtool eth1 | grep Speed
Speed: 100Mb/s
You can also force the speed with:
ethtool -s eth1 speed 1000 autoneg off

There is usually nothing necessary to setup the gigE speed - it should auto-negotiate (hardware not software) with the switch and end up at 1000Mbit. To get really good performance from your local gigE you should use jumbo packets (if your switch supports them). Try setting all system to the same jumbo packet size with this sort of command:
ip link set eth0 mtu 9000
For optimal performance set all your local systems to the same mtu. Each interface has a different upper limit, typically in the 8600-9600 byte range.

Yo ucan put the mtu setting commands and such in the /etc/rc.d/rc.local to have then execute at boot.

The e100 interface *sounds* like* a 100mbit interface. Please use lspci -k and report the exact interface into if this doesn't work.
What switch are you using while we're at it.