Intel -> Brocade auto-negotiate problem

[MarkXIX]

I have a Dell Latitude E6400 laptop with an Intel 825xx series NIC card. When it plugs into our Brocade (formerly Foundry) switch, it auto-negotiates at 10Mbps. An older model Dell with a Broadcom NIC auto-negotiates at 1-gigabit every time on the same switch interface. Patch cable is 7 foot, pre-made CAT6 on both.

Odd thing is, if I set the NIC manually to 1-gig in driver, it links at 1-gig and runs as expected.

Tried two different drivers for the NIC, same issue. Any ideas?

 

[Emulex]

some switches do this. fix both the laptop and switch port to gigabit and rock on man.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

What emulex said, that or update the code on the brocade, maybe a bug. Also, wouldnt hurt to update the nic drivers

 

[spidey07]

What emulex said, that or update the code on the brocade, maybe a bug. Also, wouldnt hurt to update the nic drivers

True on code/drivers. But I will say I have never seen any autonegotiation problems with 1000 Base-T or triple speed ports, and that is with about every server/midrange OS and card imaginable. Also make sure the switchport is set to autonegotiate.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

True on code/drivers. But I will say I have never seen any autonegotiation problems with 1000 Base-T or triple speed ports, and that is with about every server/midrange OS and card imaginable. Also make sure the switchport is set to autonegotiate.

I've only seen negotiate problems a few times in my 10 year career. I guess I'm lucky

 

[spidey07]

I've only seen negotiate problems a few times in my 10 year career. I guess I'm lucky

The last time I actually ran into one was probably 1997.

The only other thing could be flow control settings on the switchport. That could explain why one card works and the other doesn't.

 

[Emulex]

i've got an old compaq p4-1.9ghz that switches (no way to alter this) to 10-half to PXE (can't turn it off either) then goes to auto. threw endless errors on the switch since everytime you reboot the switch would be at 100-auto then down to 10-half then back to 100-auto. the gigabit switch still throws errors. ended up putting a different nic in it.

seems to be a mix of old/new that caused me issues. i'm too lazy so i'll throw a good ole intel nic and be done with that on-board crap.

 

[MarkXIX]

I will review the switch configuration on Tuesday when I get back to work. As far as I can tell though, its set to auto.

Also, I updated the NIC drivers to the latest version available on the Dell support site.

Finally, the odd part is that if I set the NIC driver to 1-gig manually, the switch interface, still set to auto, links up at 1-gig. The plan on Tuesday is to grab one of these laptops and plug it into different switches to see if it consistently negotiates to 10Mb on different switches with different firmware, or if its just this specific switch with this specific version of code.

 

[Emulex]

gigabit is auto iirc; look for errors if its moving to 10/half it will throw errors everytime it does on the switches log file or port count

 

[Cooky]

Make sure you don't have splitters; they don't work well w/ auto negotiation.