network connection speed

Ok, I have several systems on my home network, and suddenly one is doing something REALLY weird...

It will not stay connected to the network (or internet) unless I set the NIC speed to no greater then 10 (full duplex). Anything else, (Auto, 100 half.. 100 full or gigabyt)... it either becomes EXTREMELY slow (over two minutes to load the google search page)... or says "network unpluged"

So.. this started happening with the NIC built into my mother board ( this is a Dell XPS 720 system).... I checked the cable, checked the hub (linksys).. they were fine... so I figured... get a new NIC.

SO I got a new (admittedly cheap) NIC a PCI Express (Netis AD-1103 (Realtec RTL8111B/8168B chip I think )

.....AND THE SAME PROBLEM!!!

I updated the Bios, installed the latest drivers... tried NEW cables (cat6)

This is driving me NUTS!!

I know that 10 Mbps is fine for surfing the net... but I need to do file transfers between systems on the network... and when it SHOULD be at gigabyt speed.. 10 Mbps just SUCKS!

Any suggestions???

 

Are your systems on your network connected together with a switch, router or hub? Have you tried moving the connection to the troubled machine to a different port? Can you disconnect the other machines from the network temporarily to eliminate network traffic being the culprit?

 

I think you would call it a switch (Linksys 8 port workgroup switch, model # EG008W ver 3

I have tried different ports on the switch, tried different cables, tried my cables with other computers on the same switch, and the other computers still get 100 Mbps.

Dan

 

Hummmm. It would seem like it's pointing to the machine. One thing that troubles me is the "network unplugged" message. That is usually an indication that the ethernet card and the switch do not have a physical connection.

Where are you changing the speed?