Windows 10: Yet another gigabit ethernet issue

Hello everyone,

Found this forum from my Google searches but couldn't find a similar issue.

I use ethernet cable to connect my laptop to a router. My router supports gigabit connection and the wiring of the house is cat 5e. Yet the connection is very unstable on my machine and I hardly see 1 Gbps negotiation. It is mostly auto negotiated as 100 Mbps. Read similar topics and saw that the problem often lies from the infrastructure. However, I did see 1 Gbit connection a couple of times within Windows 10 so I eliminated that out of the equation.

Here's what I have tried so far:

• I tried to set to 1 Gbps full duplex from auto negotiation in ethernet card settings. (I have onboard RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller) This did not change the negotiation speed, it remained on 100 Mbps.

• I tried booting to Ubuntu from an USB drive to check the connection and it was 1 Gbps and pretty stable; by that I mean it did not decrease the negotiation speed. Here you can see the hardware output from Ubuntu: Hardware output
• Strangely, after rebooting from Ubuntu to Windows 10, I saw 1 Gbps connection on ethernet status. However, this was temporary and switched automatically back to 100Mbps after some minutes. Plugging the ethernet cable out and back in multiple times sometimes helps to get 1 Gbit connection but this too is a temporary solution.

• I tried to update the drivers of my ethernet card from this page: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller | Realtek drivers download

Any tip would be appreciated. Thanks.

:)

 

Windows 10 BSOD

Thanks! I updated my driver for the Killer E2200 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, and although I can't fully speak for BSOD's yet I've already noticed it fixed a memory leak.

 

Windows 10 Ethernet Doesn't Work

netk57a.inf ??

"Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet"

"Broadcom NetLink (TM) Fast Ethernet"

"Broadcom NetLink (TM) Ethernet"

have a driver from 2014-10-17 ver 17.0.0.2 at windows update.

Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet

have a driver from 2015-04-10 ver 17.2.0.0 at windows update

***

 

At a minimum, upgrade the plugs on the ends of the cables to 3-piece CAT6:
Ideal RJ45 Cat6 Modular Plugs (25-Pack)-85-366 - The Home Depot

and be sure to use a good quality, ratcheting crimping tool. Your problem is almost guaranteed to be the wiring.

If you are using wall jacks, make sure they are rated CAT6 as well.

 

Hi,
Thanks for the answer. I did not understand how Ubuntu can manage to keep 1Gbps connection but Windows keeps reducing the speed to 100Mbps on the same infrastructure. Can it be a driver issue?

 

Different levels of fault tolerance. Ubuntu would appear to be more tolerant of faults than Windows. Might want to look at your packet loss statistics between Ubuntu maintaining a Gigabit connection at the expense of increased packet loss vs. Windows dropping the speed due to the likely high packet loss occurring at Gigabit speeds.

There are several VOIP testing sites that will measure network performance. It would be interesting to compare the results in Ubuntu at Gigabit speeds against Windows at 100 Meg.

 

What kind of websites can be used to measure packet loss? Ping tests from cmd show 0% loss.

 

There is a couple ways to use the ping command

To continuously send ping,
Code: ping -t 8.8.8.8[/quote] press Ctrl + C to stop it

To send a number of ping's
Code: ping -n 10 8.8.8.8[/quote] In this example I sent 10

As far as I know if you try these command's with linux it should work the same.

 

I've used this one in the past:
8x8, Inc. VoIP Test and Broadband Speed Test

But you want to compare your results Gigabit vs. 100 Meg, not just the green light for VOIP

 

Sounds like the cable. If you have not used a cable tester then the infrastructure is still suspect.
HDE® Network Cable Tester: Circuit Testers: Amazon.com: Industrial Scientific

 

I have one of those. That only checks continuity, though. It doesn't check capacity. You can get all green lights on it but still not be able to get Gigabit connectivity. I originally ran cheap, Chinese CAT 5e cable from EBay in my house (basement runs, from main router to two hubs). I had a perfect connection according to that tester, but only 100 meg connection between the router and hubs. Replaced the cable with good CAT 6 from Home Depot but was using the cheap Chinese EBay connectors I had bought with the cable from EBay. I had a very hard time getting good continuity and always had one or two lights on that tester that wouldn't light.

So then I got the good 3-piece CAT6 connectors, also from Home Depot and now I have rock solid Gigabit connections. I also attempted to make 12ft patch cords to go between my hubs and the devices. I used the cheap CAT 5e cable with the good 3-piece connectors. Still only 100 meg connection - even through only 12 ft of the cheap cable. I made patch cables with the good CAT 6 cable and, again, rock solid Gigabit connection between hubs and devices.

 

I tried to do a test, but couldn't manage to install Java on a live Ubuntu. Therefore I couldn't run the test on Ubuntu.

Based on the comments here, I tried with two different (but shorter than what I used to use) 5e cables which are ~3 meters long and they were all able to give 1 Gbps connection. My regular cable is a Belkin and it is 5 meters long. I highly doubt that extra 2 meters causing the problem. I will try changing to a better cable, preferably a CAT 6 but it is not a requirement. Do you guys have any recommendations? I should mention that I live in Europe and ordering from websites such as Amazon would probably double the cost of cable price due to shipping fees.

 

Do you have any large building supply stores like our Home Depot?

 

We have technology markets here but local online websites often sell for cheaper. I noticed that there are different types of cables marked with S/FTP, U/UTP etc. Will the choice matter in my situation?

 

Choice probably won't matter, except for the difficulty in putting your own connectors on:
STP, UTP, FTP Cable When to Use Them!

As near as I can tell, the cable I use:
Cerrowire 100 ft. 23-4 Category 6 Riser Cable - Blue-2704-0144CR - The Home Depot

is just plain UTP or U/UTP unshielded cable. Any extra shielding certainly won't hurt anything, but it will make the cable more difficult to work with. For home use, I don't really see the need for any extra shielding.