Disclamer: I'm a total network noob. I'm setting up a home network. I have a small cheap gigabit switch (D-Link dlinkgo GO-SW-8G). I've placed it in a central(ish) location in my apartment and have cat5e cables laid in all the rooms. In one particular room I'm getting an orange light on the switch port when I connect it to the computer and it gives me a 100mpbs connection. The cable is almost 20 meters long. The other rooms seem to be getting the expected gigabit connection.
Now here is my question, am I hitting some cable length limit? Although I tried to dig around and read that cat5e should be fine at a length of ~20 meters (in fact they should be fine for ~100 meters, if I did my research correct).
Frankly, I suspect the problem is in the switch, however before I go and spend a bunch of money on a new switch, I would want to make sure that's the issue (also in case the issue is in the switch, could you perhaps recommend a switch, or at least what I should look for when choosing one). Your help is much appreciated.
Edit: Some additional info (which could be helpful?) - the port on the switch blinks orange for this particular room and green for the rest.
71 Answer
- Make sure the computer you're connecting actually supports 1 Gbps Ethernet.
- Try to swap cables with another switch port. If the port is at fault, you'll get only 100 Mbps on it no matter what the cable length is and what's connected on the other end. If other ports give you only 100 Mbps with this cable, then the switch is probably fine.
- Try to connect two computers directly with this long cable, without a switch. Set static IP addresses on both. Make sure both use the same network mask. On Computer 2 set Computer 1's IP as default gateway. Computer 2 should be able to ping Computer 1. Check if the connection runs at 1 Gbps. If not, it's a faulty cable.
