Running eth0 in full duplex
 

I've been trying (so far, in vain) to get my ethernet adapter to run in full-duplex mode under SuSE 9.2.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-6VA7+ACs- (PIII/733) and, to date, I've tried a couple of 3COM cards -- a 3c905 Boomerang and a 3c595 Vortex using the "3c59x" module -- as well as a DEC DE500 -- Digital DS21140 chip using the "tulip" driver (odd that the de4x5 isn't selected but hey...) and so far no go. I have these running in full-duplex in other systems but not all under under SuSE 9.2 (mostly RH8.0 and SuSE9.0 but one Boomerang+ACs-Gigabyte combination is running FD under 9.2). All of these devices are connected through a Zenet 10/100 switch. I've moved the connection from the troublesome system to different ports on the switch, swapped out the cable, even bounced the switch, but the problem seems to follow the card. The Gigabyte/Boomerang combination was running in 100Mb/full-duplex under Red Hat 7.1 for a couple of years without a hitch. I'd switch out the Vortex if I thought that'd make any difference. At the moment that seems like it'd be just a waste of time.

The card does manage to switch to 100Mb but I cannot get the card to run in full duplex. Short of swapping in yet another vendor's card, I'm running out of options. I have another system that I want to upgrade to 9.2 but until I figure out the means of getting the ethernet connection in full-duplex -- reliably, repeatably, etc. -- I'm holding off.

Anyone got any ideas?

TIA...

Does your router support full duplex?

Only if it is a switch router will it support full duplex, are
you sure the Zenet is a switch router or is it misdescribed?

some of the cheaper routers do not have switching ports.

The Zenet is a switch, not a router, that acts as the "backbone" of the network:

Internet <-> Netopia <-> Linux firewall <-> Zenet switch <-> other hosts (Linux + Windows)

And the switch port that the Gigabyte+Vortex+SuSE9.2 (one of the "other hosts") is plugged into is the only port that is not showing a full-duplex connection. Until the system was converted to SuSE9.2, it was happily running in full duplex. As I think I mentioned above, it doesn't matter which port I plug this system into, the condition follows the system from port to port. It's just weird. Especially since the problem seems to be adapter-independent.