D-link and Duplex

[Pro100Blues]

Hi,
I have a D-link wireless router with a wired connection to a PIII based desktop. I bought a used Intel Pro100B networking card on ebay for .05 and shipping. The windows XP network connections shows the card is connected at 100 Mbps and the Intel Proset configuration program shows the connection at 100 Mbps Full Duplex. The problem is that the router setup and configuration page shows that the LAN1 conection is only 10Mbps and Half Duplex. The network card wont connect if autonegotiate is selected and will only connect at 10 or 100 full duplex. Half duplex wont connect even if the router says that is the connection. The 100 Mbps LED on the card comes on until the router connects and then the light goes out. The WAN connection shows as 100 Full duplex.

Do I believe windows and the driver software or the router?

Also, The desktop PIII has a 133 Mhz FSB and the Intel Proset software shows the PCI bus is only 33 Mhz. Is the 33 Mhz a typical PCI bus speed on a PIII or is this card old and slow?

The card passes the Intel hardware diagnostics.

[glc]

33 MHz is the correct PCI bus speed on *any* computer.

There may be a reason the card was only a nickel. For what you paid for shipping that thing, you can probably buy a new cheap 10/100 card. My old standby is a D-Link 530TX+, which can easily be found for 10 bucks. I only bother with Intel or 3Com cards in servers.

[Pro100Blues]

o.k. 33 Mhz is part of the standard. so, that isnt a problem, but the card passes all the checks. I went to the Intel site and read everything I could and the card isnt supported anymore and they say autonegotiate doesnt work.

What I really want to know is whether the speed that windows and proset see is actually the speed of the connection or is the speed and duplex the DI-624 sees correct?

I know you get what you pay for, but the card seems to work o.k. If it is just a quirk that the LED stays off even if the connection works, I can live with that, but if the light is off because it isnt connected at 100 Mbps and windows is lying, then I need another card. The router says 10 half and windows says 100 full, but the LED confirms what the router says.
The activiity LED works when connected.

Which would you believe the router or proset?

[glc]

I would not know what to believe without having items available for troubleshooting by substitution.

[Pro100Blues]

I tried some swapping:

1) unplug the desktop and plug the laptop into the LAN1 port

2) boot knoppix on desktop and use "insmod -i e100" and then "ethtool -s autoneg off speed 100 duplex full"

swap 1) DI-624 showed the LAN1 at 100 full duplex using the laptop's Natl Semiconductor adapter.

swap 2) connected the desktop the frist time at apparent 100 full duplex, but when I rebooted knoppix the second time it would only connect 10 half duplex.


It is starting to look like the card is only capable of 10 half even when it says 100 full, if that is even possible.

Possible?

[mojo]

It's most likely just a bad card. The best idea would be to get a new one. On ebay you don't usually save much money by the time you get ripped off for shipping. Get one of these.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=&srchInDesc=

[Pro100Blues]

I appreciate the help and suggestion to buy a cheap new card. I am now confused about PCI. I know I dont want PCI-e but there are also other PCI specs which I am not sure are compliant with my computer, like 2.1 or 2.2. Does that matter?

As for the Intel card, I didnt properly identify the card. It is an etherexpress Pro100 B T4. Appears T4 is a specification and is not capable of 100 full duplex, so that should explain why I cant connect at 100 full.

What specification would my DI-624 be using?

[glc]

A D-Link DFE-530TX+ will work properly in anything. As I said, it's my standard cheap NIC. If you want to dig around for a used high quality NIC, look for a 3Com 3C905TX, any variant.

Your router uses TX.

[Pro100Blues]

glc, that is the second time you recommended that card and I will try to get one.

As for my adapter being a T4 adapter, how is it that I even managed to get a connection to the DI-624?

From what I've been reading, the T4 spec cant do 100 full and the wires in a Cat 5 cable arent used the same as TX, so it seems a miracle the router is able to do anything with the adapter.

[Ob1]

cat 5 can handle anything up to a max of 100mbps.

router/switch negotiates the speed with your nic and adjusts that port accordingly whether its 10 half or full duplex or 100 half/full duplex.

[glc]

The D-Link switch ports are autonegotiating, so it can tell the difference between a standard and a crossover cable. It probably has just enough wires making contact in the right places to sustain 10mbs half duplex.

LIST price on the D-Link NIC is $25. That's what you will pay at Best Buy, etc. unless it's on sale. It's $10 plus $5 shipping at Newegg.com. The 3Com I mentioned is $24 plus $5 shipping at Newegg. This is the card I use for server duty.

[Pro100Blues]

I am working on getting a better network card, but as far as internet, this bogus T4 card hasnt hurt performance. Amazing, it barely connects to the router but it connects as well as the connection to the internet can provide.

[mojo]

That's because internet speed is a small fraction of the speed that your network runs at. Personally, my cable internet runs at 7 Mbps, and my network runs at 1000 Mbps, and your network is running at 10 or maybe 100 Mbps, much faster than most internet connections.