Windows XP: 100 mbit connection gives no connectivity; 10 mbit ok



The following problem has had me stumped for the past few days. I have
two Windows XP SP2 machines hooked up to a 10/100 mbit router to the
internet. The machine I'm writing this from is hooked up just fine with
a 100 mbit connection.

The other machine, however, has some problems. The on-board 10/100 mbit
NIC has worked previously, but no longer works since I reinstalled the
computer for my father. I have a completely new installation of Windows
-- as fresh as you can imagine -- but the network would not work. I
first tried acquiring an IP address automatically, which, after about 5
long minutes of acquiring, returned the following:

IP: 169.254.158.74
Gateway: 255.255.0.0

This seems to be in the domain of the standard settings if Windows uses
when it can't reach the DHCP server. But as we know, the server is
working fine since I'm using it as I type this message. I believe that
connecting to the DHCP fails for some reason, perhaps because of the
line speed (?).

The router is set up such that it *should* be:

Gateway (router's IP): 10.0.0.2
Subnet mask: 255.0.0.0
DNS (router's IP): 10.0.0.2

Just to be sure, I checked the status of the LAN here, and these are
indeed the settings we should be using.

Using the incorrectly appointed IP address above of course results in
XP telling me I have 'limited or no connectivity', I can only send
packets while no packets are received, and the network connection does
zilch, i.e.: the computer cannot be seen nor can it see others.

If I configure the network manually, using the proper settings, a
network connection is made and Windows says everything is hunky-dory.
However, once again, no packets are received from the router and the
network connection still does zilch; Windows just doesn't know it.

To my surprise, if I *only* change the line speed from 100 mbits to 10
mbits (either full or half, neither makes a difference) everything
works like a charm, even getting an IP via DHCP.

I've also tested the cable using a laptop; 100 mbits full-duplex works
perfectly fine.

The NIC device used uses the Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet
chipset with driver version 5.649.615.2006 (most recent as of this
message). It may be worth mentioning that I've tried resetting WinSock
2 (which wouldn't have been necessary anyway, since I just reinstalled
XP) and IPv6 is *not* installed.

.



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