100 megabits per second versus 1 gigabit per second
100 megabits per second versus 1 gigabit per second
Hi, I’m trying to link two computers. One has a virtual machine running PFSense, and I’m connecting via a Gigabit LAN switch. After switching out of the LAN, both devices are connected through the switch using a Cat 5E Belden cable. The issue is that the speed only reaches 100Mbps instead of the expected 1Gbps. I’ve turned off flow control and removed all unnecessary services except IPv4. The switch model is TPLink TL-SG1016, which should support 1Gbps, but it’s not meeting the requirement. Could anyone help me understand why this is happening?
Based on my observations, sometimes the systems fail to auto-negotiate speeds with Cat 5e even though it's rated for proper operation. You can choose between manually configuring speed and duplex or upgrading to Cat 6 or higher. Whenever I've seen this happen, customers ended up achieving 1Gbps instead of the advertised 100Mbps.
I attempted to configure the PFSense LAN Card at 1Gbps, but it disconnected afterward. On the second PC, it displays Gigabit Ethernet, yet when adjusting speed and duplex, only the 100Mbps option appears available.
It seems like there might be a negotiation concern or an issue with the quality of the 5e cabling, possibly due to poor termination or a damaged wire.
The PC displaying 100Mbps is a first-generation i5 from Dell. I initially installed the NIC driver from Dell. However, after updating Windows, it now shows an updated NIC version, so I thought upgrading would be beneficial since the older update didn’t prompt an update. It seems this isn’t the default behavior in Windows. I plan to reinstall the drivers again.
The NIC model refers to network interface card specifications. For Realtek devices, you can download the drivers directly from their site. Similarly, with Intel chips, the appropriate drivers are available on their platform.