On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:48:39 -0000, "Trust No One®"
 wrote:

>Hi Folks,
>
>I've treated myself to a Netgear 24 port managed gigabit switch and a cheap 
>HP server for Christmas.
>
>I'm having problems obtaining Gigabit speed using certain patch cables. The 
>speed negoitated on the switch port with these cables is only 100mb/s. The 
>problematic patch cables are brand new 2m coloured ones (I luv these) and 
>are labelled
>
>ALCATEL DATA CABLE UTP FLEX 4PR Patch Cable 7XO.2 CATEGORY 5 EC VERIFIED
>
>If I try forcing the switch port to 1000 Mb/s, it stays down.
>
>I've tried other "no name" cables and they work fine, with 1000 Mb/s being 
>negotiated every time.
>
>So do I need special cables for Gigabit or do I have duff patch cables? I 
>thought Cat 5 did Gigabit!

you need 4 pair cables and the pairing needs to line up correctly.

GigE 1000-Base-T ports test the cabling before allowing the port to be
used, to make sure all 8 wires are connected.

in theory you also need Cat5 or better - but for 2m anything better
than wet string would work if the pairing was correct.
-- 
Regards

stephen_hope@xyzworld.com - replace xyz with ntl