Atheros 8121 ethernet controller says gigabit on the box (Asus P5Q

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Barnaby

It is advertised as gigabt=1000 megabits but only shows up as 100 megabits.
What gives ? I have the latest driver loaded on Windows XP Home Service Pack
3.
 
Barnaby said:
It is advertised as gigabt=1000 megabits but only shows up as 100 megabits.
What gives ? I have the latest driver loaded on Windows XP Home Service Pack
3.
Click to expand...

For GbE to work, you need an Ethernet cable with eight wires in it.
Some cheap cables only have four wires inside the cable (and 8 pin
connectors).

It won't autodetect GbE unless four pairs of wires are present
and working. (I had that problem on my older computer, where one
of the contacts in the Ethernet connector wasn't making good
connections. I had an eight wire cable, but it detected as 100BT.
Inserting and removing the connector five times, cleaned it
and it started working.)

Paul
 
Does it have to be Cat 6 cable ? (VS Cat 5) It`s the cable that came with my
Motorola cable modem.
 
-- The cable says Cat 5 on it and says it has four pairs . The manual says
the amber LED on represents 1000 megabits and the LED is on. Maybe try a new
cable ?I only have 5 megabit service so it really doesn`t matter but I would
like it to work.
Barnaby
 
Barnaby said:
-- The cable says Cat 5 on it and says it has four pairs . The manual says
the amber LED on represents 1000 megabits and the LED is on. Maybe try a new
cable ?I only have 5 megabit service so it really doesn`t matter but I would
like it to work.
Barnaby
Click to expand...

Does the device you're connecting to have a GbE interface ?

If the device at the other end of the cable is 100BT, then
both ends run 100BT and no more.

For a GbE link, both ends need a GbE chip, and you need a
cable with eight wires. There is no reason for a cable modem
or ADSL modem, to have a GbE interface. More likely to be 10/100BT.

For cable types, start here. There are links near the bottom
of the page, for the other standards. For a short patch cord,
I wouldn't expect the various cable standards to make a difference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable

Paul
 
Thanks , that answers it. My cable modem must support 100 megabit. The only
time a Gigabit connection is an advantage I heard is if you are doing a file
transfer like over wifi assuming the device supports it.
 
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