Thanks for the reminder, Unkown_K.
Yonks ago, I helped change a lab of ISA bus PCs with 3C509 NICs to PCI bus PCs with the 3Com 10/100 card which normally worked (not the 3C590). We thought it was a safe move. It had worked previously.
Using a 16 bit DOS TCP/IP stack, we re-imaged the new PCs. That worked smoothly. Then we booted the PCs using Windows 2000 and 32 bit NIC drivers and TCP stack. Which didn't work out well. Owing to auto negotiation problems, we had a lab where half of the PCs communicated with the domain and half failed randomly.
Our network team had the answer, to swap the switch supporting the lab for a different model. Auto negotiation failure was about differing understanding of standards by 3Com and Cisco. It happens all of the time.
Yonks ago, I helped change a lab of ISA bus PCs with 3C509 NICs to PCI bus PCs with the 3Com 10/100 card which normally worked (not the 3C590). We thought it was a safe move. It had worked previously.
Using a 16 bit DOS TCP/IP stack, we re-imaged the new PCs. That worked smoothly. Then we booted the PCs using Windows 2000 and 32 bit NIC drivers and TCP stack. Which didn't work out well. Owing to auto negotiation problems, we had a lab where half of the PCs communicated with the domain and half failed randomly.
Our network team had the answer, to swap the switch supporting the lab for a different model. Auto negotiation failure was about differing understanding of standards by 3Com and Cisco. It happens all of the time.