Why is my Laptop's gigabit NIC running at half-duplex?

[EastCoastMaster]

Ok so I have a relatively new laptop with an atheros gigabit NIC. It only has "auto negotiation" as a speed option for gigabit connection. My switch is a Netgear 16 port unmanaged gigabit switch and supports full-duplex. Using Net Meter I get about 315mbps write speed and 6-700mbps read speed using a WD 2TB My Book Live for the file transfer speed tests. I should also mention I put a Kingston SSD in my laptop. Why does it appear I am getting a half-duplex gigabit connection and how can I get a full-duplex connection to my laptop since the atheros driver setup page only has auto-negotiation for speed options for a gig connection, as mentioned above?

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Just wondering, do you have latest driver for the Atheros NIC?
And good quality Ethernet cable?

 

[tipstir]

Yeah that's also on desktop too that issue. You can't force it to 1.0 Gbps only Auto will run in Gbps. I've contacted both the maker of NiC chips maker the results where that's how they did. PC maker told me that's how it going to be.

Well the only way around all of this was to disable onboard NIC and use PCI-e card that doesn't have all this restrictions. You need USB dongle Gig from another NIC maker.

 

[Fraoch]

Using Net Meter I get about 315mbps write speed and 6-700mbps read speed using a WD 2TB My Book Live for the file transfer speed tests.

It's the drive, not the network. Tim's tests were similar to yours.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/31314-wd-my-book-live-reviewed?start=2

43.0 MB/s = 344 Mb/s

78.4 MB/s = 627.2 Mb/s

which more or less matches your numbers. He was using a gigabit network as well.

The processor and networking systems in the NAS plays a large role in this.