Gigabit NIC Only Connects at 100Mbps !

[Kommissar]

Hello all. I have installed Fedora core 3 with two nics. One is a regular Linksys using the tulip driver and the other one is a 3com 3C996B-T that uses the Broadcom NeteXtreme chip - I think the BCM5701. I got rid of the tgm3 driver with rmmod and installed the Broadcom drivers from Broadcom's website using the rpmbuild. However, I cannot get the damn thing to connect in gigabit mode. On ifconfig eth1 up the link light for 1000 on my gigabit switch blinks 3 times, and then it locks onto 100! A "ethtool eth1" reports the speed as 100Mbps as well. I've tried everything, including the following driver arguements in my /etc/modprobe.conf
alias eth1 bcm5700 line_speed=1000 full_duplex=1 auto_speed=0

Can anyone help me?

Thank you!

[micha]

I got a Gigabit Ethernet NIC with a Broadcom chipset, and I use the tgm3 driver, which works good. So did you try to use the tgm3 driver, and see with ethtool if it works in Gigabit mode ?
Does it work under Windows (if you use Windows) ? Is your Gigabit Ethernet switch well configured ? Has it already worked with a Gigabit connection ?

[Kommissar]

I tried using the tgm3 driver and the same exact thing happens. I have a feeling that since the gigabit light flashes so much that it must have something to do with the switch. I"m upset because i have an SMC Switch and it is the only one i could find that supports Jumbo Packets. Windows computers connect to the switch in gigabit mode though, so why can't my linux box? I'll try buying another switch and seeing if that helps.

[Zigzagcom]

a couple of pennies...
GB ethernet must operate in full duplex mode. Are the interfaces on both ends of the link configured for auto-negotiation? If one end is forced into a certain config, the other end must be as well.

[Kommissar]

Well, currently, the linux gigabit line is configured for auto negotiation. It is by default and that is the way i loaded the driver module. On the other end, the switch auto negotiates and this computer is the only thing plugged into it.

[DRE.ORGY.NET]

From past experience I have found auto-negotiation not to be 100%. I would try setting the port on the switch to 1GB and seeing if that makes a difference if not I'd try doing the same to the NIC. I have had this problem a number of times with NICs and switches not auto negotiating the maximum rate.

[Kommissar]

From past experience I have found auto-negotiation not to be 100%. I would try setting the port on the switch to 1GB and seeing if that makes a difference if not I'd try doing the same to the NIC. I have had this problem a number of times with NICs and switches not auto negotiating the maximum rate.

Thanks for the idea Dre. I did append arguements to the modprobe to turn off auto negotiating and enable 1000 speed but unfortunately the switch is unmanaged and I can't set it to use gigabit by default. Therefore, tt always negotiates me down to 100 which is reall frustrating considering i could be getting 10x more bandwith. It's just an SMC that I got a great deal on for <100$.

Does anyone think that I should return it and try a new switch?

[micha]

Check your cable, maybe it's not a Gigabit Ethernet compatible cable (category 5e or 6).

EDIT: ooops, you said it works on Windows, so I don't know :(