issues with Intel Pro/1000 and 1000baseTX

[Tim Judd]

On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 9:12 AM, James Tanis <jtanis at mdchs.org> wrote:

> I have a FreeBSD v7.0 box it has two Intel Pro/1000 NICs, the one in
> question is:
>
> em1: <Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection Version - 6.7.3> port
> 0x2020-0x203f mem 0xd8060000-0xd807ffff,0xd8040000-0xd805ffff irq 19 at
> device 0.1 on pci4
>
> what we get after boot is:
>
> em1: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0
> mtu 1500
>       options=19b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4>
>       ether 00:30:48:xx:xx:xx
>       inet 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
>       media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
>       status: active
>
> The problem is that the NIC refuses to connect at 1000baseTX.
>
> It's connected to a HP Procurve 1700-24 switch which supports 1000baseTX on
> ports 23 and 24. This particular computer is connected on port 24. I have a
> much older end user system which uses the same card (but earlier revision),
> runs Windows XP and is plugged in to port 23. The end user system has no
> problem connecting at 1000baseTX. I have of course tried switching ports.
>
> Attempting to force 1000baseTX via:
>
> ifconfig em1 media 1000baseTX mediaopt full-duplex
>
> gets me:
>
> status: no carrier
>
> After forcing the NIC to go 1000baseTX the LEDs on the backpane are both
> off. I can only come to the conclusion that this is a driver issue based on
> previous experience and the simple fact that the end user system is capable
> of connecting at 1000baseTX. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm hoping I'm
> wrong. I'd rather not do an in-place upgrade, this is a production system
> and the main gateway for an entire school, when I do not even know for sure
> whether this will fix the problem. It's worth it to me though, having a
> 1000baseTX uplink from the switch would remove a major bottleneck for me.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> --
> James Tanis
> Technical Coordinator
> Computer Science Department
> Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School
>

I'm going to point the finger at the possibility of the Ethernet cable
itself.

Gigabit link requires CAT5e or better (CAT6).  A CAT5 alone is NOT enough to
give gigabit speeds.  Check the markings on the cable, replace if it's not a
5e or 6 and try again.  This includes the discussion of proper terminating
and twist requirements.


--Tim