[SOLVED] ATT Fiber w/ Arris BGW210 gateway auto-negotiating 100mbps rather than gigabit

jh828282

Reputable
Nov 26, 2016
7
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4,510
Recently added cat 6 cable to my house. Cat6 goes from ONT > cat 6 walljack > cat6> BGW210 > cat6> cat6 walljack > cat6 > cat5e walljack > cat 6> my PC. My PC has a realtek gigabit LAN card with updated drivers.

No matter what I try, the router keeps auto-negotiating my speed to 100 mbs. Over Wi-Fi I get speeds ~400 mbps. And yes, we have gigabit ethernet package.

When ATT verified punch downs - they attached their meter and ran a speed test off the SAME cable that goes to my PC and got speeds 800 - 900 mbs. They told me it was likely an issue with my PC. FYI, my MOBO is an Asus x570 TUF.

I cannot figure this out. I've tried different cables (all cat 6). I've played with settings within windows, i tried enabling gigabit full duplex on the specific router LAN port (and that made the port actually stop working and I had to reset it to auto-negotiate).

Any thoughts?

Find it hard to believe that a single cat5e keystone would downgrade me, especially when the tech's device got gigabit speeds.
 
Solution
There is not much you can set. Some bios have some powersave garbage but it generally does not cause a speed issue. The speed negotiation is not really so much software it is measuring voltages etc. It is done by the hardware and does not really use the driver.

If you suspect a driver the best option is to boot a USB linux image. If that works you can maybe find a different driver but generally a driver. This process has not changed in close to 20yrs so you would think there are no bugs.

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Recently added cat 6 cable to my house. Cat6 goes from ONT > cat 6 walljack > cat6> BGW210 > cat6> cat6 walljack > cat6 > cat5e walljack > cat 6> my PC. My PC has a realtek gigabit LAN card with updated drivers.

No matter what I try, the router keeps auto-negotiating my speed to 100 mbs. Over Wi-Fi I get speeds ~400 mbps. And yes, we have gigabit ethernet package.

When ATT verified punch downs - they attached their meter and ran a speed test off the SAME cable that goes to my PC and got speeds 800 - 900 mbs. They told me it was likely an issue with my PC. FYI, my MOBO is an Asus x570 TUF.

I cannot figure this out. I've tried different cables (all cat 6). I've played with settings within windows, i tried enabling gigabit full duplex on the specific router LAN port (and that made the port actually stop working and I had to reset it to auto-negotiate).

Any thoughts?

Find it hard to believe that a single cat5e keystone would downgrade me, especially when the tech's device got gigabit speeds.
The most likely failure are the wall plates. What did you use to verify you had all 8 wires connected?
 
It is pretty easy to test. Take the pc near the router and plug it in directly using the same patch cable you connect to the wall with. That will quickly show if it is the in wall cabling causing the issue.

Cables are very strange they can be just slightly out of spec and some devices will work and others will not. Sometimes they even randomly work and then drop to 100mbps.

In any case this is mostly a hardware function. You either suspect bad cables or bad ports. Ports are seldom the problem and you can't really fix them so you are much better off trying to find a bad cable.
 

jh828282

Reputable
Nov 26, 2016
7
0
4,510
The most likely failure are the wall plates. What did you use to verify you had all 8 wires connected?
OK, so I:

1) Tested the gateway by directly accessing it through its IP address. One of the tests is "speed test". It measured ~900/~900 from gateway to ONT to ATTs testing platform. So the wiring from the gateway out is good.

2) OK. So I dragged my PC downstairs and plugged directly into the gateway. still 100/100. I tried all the ethernet ports on the gateway - always 100/100. I tried two different cat 6 cables - 100/100.

So this leads me to believe its either A) my PC's network adapter (which is a realtek gigabit, could be either hardware or software malfunction) or B) something about the way the router is communicating/auto negotiating with my PC. I do not think its the cabling/keystones in the middle.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
OK, so I:

1) Tested the gateway by directly accessing it through its IP address. One of the tests is "speed test". It measured ~900/~900 from gateway to ONT to ATTs testing platform. So the wiring from the gateway out is good.

2) OK. So I dragged my PC downstairs and plugged directly into the gateway. still 100/100. I tried all the ethernet ports on the gateway - always 100/100. I tried two different cat 6 cables - 100/100.

So this leads me to believe its either A) my PC's network adapter (which is a realtek gigabit, could be either hardware or software malfunction) or B) something about the way the router is communicating/auto negotiating with my PC. I do not think its the cabling/keystones in the middle.
If you are using a factory made jumper cable, then I agree it is not the wall plates.
Have you verified that your network adapter speed is set to auto and not set to 100Mbit ?
 

jh828282

Reputable
Nov 26, 2016
7
0
4,510
If you are using a factory made jumper cable, then I agree it is not the wall plates.
Have you verified that your network adapter speed is set to auto and not set to 100Mbit ?
Definitely set to auto.

I am confused. I've googled the problem - some people got fixes with trying other cables, but i have tried multiple cables at the jack, and multiple cables at the router (directly to PC). I mean, unless all cables are garbage, I feel like that is not the issue.

It feels like a software/driver issue. Or the realtek is very sensitive to the cable or some nonsense.
 
There is not much you can set. Some bios have some powersave garbage but it generally does not cause a speed issue. The speed negotiation is not really so much software it is measuring voltages etc. It is done by the hardware and does not really use the driver.

If you suspect a driver the best option is to boot a USB linux image. If that works you can maybe find a different driver but generally a driver. This process has not changed in close to 20yrs so you would think there are no bugs.
 
Solution