Only 10.0 mpbs on LAN line

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Edst43 · #1 Post by **Edst43** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:21 am

I'm pretty new to the T43 and I have had no issues until I tried plugging in a patch cable and connected to a Linksys WRT54G-SRX200 AP with a four port switch. The Broadcom gigabit NIC card states that it is at 10.0mbps and don't understand why I can't get it to 100mbs like my desktop PC. I have changed some of the NIC settings from "auto" to 100 full, but that doesn't work. I can switch back and forth from LAN to wireless with no issues - but with a slower connection. The driver is 8.22.1.0
I am not using the "auto switch" capabilities (from wireless to cable) with the ThinkAdvantage Connections application, because that doesn't work either, because it cannot renew the IP, when it switches to the wired connection.
If I start the T43 with the wired cable already plugged in, the system will recognize both the wirless and cable setup, but will give priority to the wireless, and the NIC card will still register 10.0mbs. If I turn off the wireless, the NIC card is still in operation, but only at 10.0mbs
I apolgoize if this has been covered before, but I have had my T43 for about 3 weeks and other than this inquiry, it has been trouble free. Not sure if it is the AP or something wrong with the card.
Thanks in advance.

AIX · #2 Post by **AIX** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 4:17 am

sugestion: try with another utp patch.

#3 Post by **RonS** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:42 am

If the serial number of your WRT54G starts with "CDFB" then that may be the culprit. It means that you have the doomed "Version 5" of the router.

Previous versions of the Linksys WRT54G run Linux internally, and have been arguably one of the best small routers out there. With version 5, Linksys has switched to VXWorks, which has destroyed this product. It has many problems.

I just found two of the Version 4 boxes (starts with CDFA) at CompUSA yesterday, but I had to check about eight stores to find any that weren't version 5.

Linksys is introducing the WRT54GL (L for Linux) to keep the Linux line alive, but so far Buy.com is the only place I know selling them and I haven't heard of anyone who's received one.

davidspalding · #4 Post by **davidspalding** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:08 am

Not that it's conclusive, but my WRT54g v 1.1 router will NOT let my desktop's 3Com 3C905 PCI ethernet card connect at AUTO or 100 Mbps, never has, since purchase. The card did 100 mbps without fail on my BEFSR41 router.

So I would try your Thinkpad on another router/switch/hub. FWIW my TP43 connects to the WRT54G at 100. But I trust post-2001 Linksys hardware like I would a $3 bill.

Mike Luther · #5 Post by **Mike Luther** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:17 pm

DId you ever find a solution to this 10 Mhz max connect rate on your T43? Reason I ask is that I'm working with a new T43 with the ATI video card and the Broadcom MIC chipset in it. I have the very latest Broadcom B57 release OS/2 network drivers for this unit, posted last December on the Broadcom site. No matter what I do I cannot get this NIC to initialize at other than 10 Mhz and HALF duplex. Further, it will not connect at all to my ZyXel Broadband Cable router which has worked with everything I've ever thrown at it on the LAN side, even coax cable connected NIC cards!

There are additional custom settings for the Broadcom NIC chipset which can be set in the OS/2 MPTS configuration for this NIC. They include a choice of either 10 Mhz or 100 Mhz speeds. They also include a choice of either HALF or FULL duplex mode. If I go in and set the choice to anything other than the as found 'automatic' 10 Mhz rate at HALF duplex, then the instant the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS file starts the DHCP search routine to request a LAN address, the 10/100 LAN cable on the hub port assigned to it and plugged into this T43 goes NUTS! It rapidly winks on and on until it red slams out the hub's port and you have to reset it.

Plus the report seen on the Broadcom Loader for the driver in the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS run showes an 'indeterminant' baud rate with no speed or full or half duplex mode found.

The BIOS in this T43 is dated 06/09/2005 for this model. It's the first time I've tried to work with a Broadcom NIC chipset on the Thinkpads. I have worked with several others as well as other Intel 915GAV motherboards which use the Intel 10/100 driver for the Intel NIC chipset and these work flawlessly on both WIN XP as well as OS/2.

I can assign a fixed address to the XyXel router. I can then PING it fine. But that doesn't solve the DHCP problem and even if it did, it wouldn't be any good at pure 10 Mhz CAT 5 rates.

If you or anyone here has gotten this problem fixed on even WIN XP, it might help me in working with IBM/Broadcom .. to get this fixed.

Thanks!

smugiri · #6 Post by **smugiri** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:04 pm

Possible issues:

1. NIC management software can throttle the card to 10Mbps if you have "Power Save" mode turned on for the NIC.

Try turning off power save on the NIC and see what happens.

2. If you are running Access Connections, it also has a power save mode for NICs to conserve battery life that throttles NIC speed. Not sure how to change this for the Broadcom card since I have the IBM cards all through.

Mike Luther · #7 Post by **Mike Luther** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 11:51 am

Thanks Steve for your suggestions..

I'm no expert in Thinkpad BIOS settings. I understand what you posted however the term "Power Save" doesn't appear in the BIOS settings for this model of the T43 as far as I can find. In the POWER settings in this T43 BIOS setup, I can find no citation to the below for any "Power Save" mode setting for the NIC card. SpeedStep technology is ENABLED with the Mode for AC set AUTOMATIC and the Mode for Battery set AUTOMATIC. For this part of the research everything else is DISABLED and focused on fastest performance.

Can you suggest where I may be going wrong in setting things in this BIOS selection process? It very well may be that these are options in the Intel chipset BIOS that are not present here in the ATA Broadcom version. And, maybe this needs to be addressed which is why it isn't working, or .. is phrased some other way that we aren't together upon for this BIOS.

1. NIC management software can throttle the card to 10Mbps if you have "Power Save" mode turned on for the NIC.

Try turning off power save on the NIC and see what happens.

The "Internal Network Device" in the BIOS is enabled here. For the moment the "internal Wireless Device" in the BIOS is disabled here. In this Broadcom version of things there are three other options in the Network settings which might be relevant:

Internal Network Option ROM is DISABLED.

Thus the other two options are blocked but they are:

Wake On LAN is DISABLED.
FLASH Over LAN is DISABLED>.

As well the Internal Bluetooth Device is HIDDEN,

Now as to the below, I see no "Access Connections" in this BIOS operation. Is the below what you were pointing me toward and already done as you suggest below?

2. If you are running Access Connections, it also has a power save mode for NICs to conserve battery life that throttles NIC speed. Not sure how to change this for the Broadcom card since I have the IBM cards all through.

Thank you so much for your time and efforts!

smugiri · #8 Post by **smugiri** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:37 pm

Mike

It turns out that NIC throttling for power management is part of the Intel ProSet application. This means that it might not apply to the BroadCom chip.

Here is a screenshot of the application settings where you can throttle the NIC speed down to even 10BaseT to manage power within the Intel ProSet application.

Seems I was mistaken about NIC power managment in the BIOS and in Access Connections - I could not find anything when I checked. I apologize for "FUD".

You can however set the NIC speed in the card settings in Device Manager and limit it to 10MBps - check out the screenshot.

o1001010 · #9 Post by **o1001010** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 2:00 pm

i agree, try a different ethernet cable.

if you want to go gigbit you need a cat6

#10 Post by **bill bolton** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:12 pm

o1001010 wrote:if you want to go gigbit you need a cat6

Cat5e is also fine for gigabit connections.

Cheers,

Bill

davidspalding · #11 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 9:18 pm

For some power settings ("allow computer to turn off connection to save power" or some such), right-click you Ethernet LAN connection, click the properties for the adapter, and the last tab ought to be "power management." YMMV.

That said, I have a WRT54G v1.1, and my 43's Broadcom gigabit ethernet gets 100 mbps ... but (as I posted above) a 3Com 3C905 cannot get anything other than 10mbps with that router.

Mike Luther · #12 Post by **Mike Luther** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:30 am

Some months later, I have discovered a solution to this problem! The hardware mix in use where this problem occured involved a HUB. It failed on its own. I replaced it with a cheap SMC unintelligent switch. The instant I plugged this T43p into it instead of the old HUB, the whole lan operation with the Broadcom NIC shipset and the as furnished OS/2 drivers for it went off working just perfectly!

It looks like this NCI and drivers in this model in OS/2 simply cannot work with some very older 10 based network cards when used with a HUB, but can if used with a switch. That perhaps because of conflicts between full and half duplex mode for some particular mix of NICs across the network.

Thanks to everyone for the help. I learned a lot from all of you.

Mike

davidspalding · #13 Post by **davidspalding** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:06 pm

Unless my memory is faulty, bandwidth is divided in a hub, where as each port of a switch gets full bandwidth.

That said, I also have a problem in which my 3Com 3C905 pci Ethernet card can only do 10 mbps with my Linksys WRT54G v1.1. Something wrong with that router, as the card works great with other switches, hubs, and an older BEFSR41 router.

Only 10.0 mpbs on LAN line

Only 10.0 mpbs on LAN line

Similar problem in OS/2 with the T43 here.

Problem 'solved'

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