D-Link Gigabit PCI Card & Switch: only 100MB

[DeonH]

Good afternoon and thank you so long for your help.

I have bought this morning for our office, the following:
1. 8 Port, D-Link Gigabit, DGS-1008D
2. D-Link DGE-528T PCI cards

None of the desktops get to 1000MB.
Server: Windows Server 2003
Desktops: Windows 7, 32 bit.

I have really tried everything I could think of with no luck at all. I can only connect/get to 100MB. I have updated the drivers and not even this could do the trick. I have phoned D-Link's support telephone number but could not get any answer.

I will really appreciate any help I can get.

Regards,
Deon

 

[sox63]

Whats the connection rate of the server NIC?

 

[DeonH]

Hi there and thanx for the reply.

Connection rate of server NIC: 100MB (It also has a new DGE-528T card.)

What I cannot figure out, is that we have a Acer machine for which I have also bought a new card. But, after switching on the power supply to the switch, I noticed one green light: it is the Acer machine still using it's on-board LAN adapter. But, it is running on Vista.
At first, I suspected the switch, but after noticing that the Acer is connecting at 1000M, I was sure that the problem is with the PCI adapters.

Any suggestions will be very welcome.

Regards,
Deon

 

[sox63]

Sounds rather strange. It could be anything really, even something as trivial as type of cabling. You need minimum Cat 5e for 10/100/1000T and distance is also a factor, but it sounds like a small office there so I doubt thats it.

And looking at the Data Sheet, if its showing the green light for the Acer, then I would guess its onboard NIC is 10/100/1000. But maybe try and exchange the NICs you bought and see where that leaves you.

 

[howardb]

I also have the DGS-1008D 8-port switch and it connects fine at gigabit speeds between my 5 PC's - I would check the cabling again, as mine was plug and play. As soon as it was hooked up and switched on, I got the green light for the gigabit connection - my 100mb router (also D-Link) connects with an orange light, as it cannot achieve gigabit speed.

 

[DeonH]

Good day and thanx for all your help.

I think, I have discovered the problem. The single machine that is connecting at 1000Mbps, has a Cat 5e "UTP Enhanced" cable. All the other cables are only Cat 5e without the "UTP Enhanced". Can this be the problem?

<edit>
Just had an e-mail from D-Link. Francois suspects the connection of the cable. It has to be 4 twisted pairs. Ours are 4 straight pairs.
</edit>

Thanx again.

Deon

 

[Asha'man X]

Generally speaking, network speeds are set automatically. The network card and switch negotiate the speed during boot up. I think you've already spotted the problem in that it could be the cable. Get some fresh cables in there, it should make a difference. Try moving one of the other computers to the cable that gets the gig connection, and see if it also gets that speed. If it does, it straight away points out the rest of the cables as the fault.

 

[DeonH]

Hi there and thanx for the reply.
I have connected PC's with the gigabit cards to the point where the one machine connects at 1Gig. All machines connect at 1 Gig at that specific point. So it is either the cables itself or the connection in the jack?

Thank you for your reply.
Deon