Dell Inspiron 17R 5720 - NO gigabit available

Hi Giuseppe Martinelli,

I have provided a link below for Ethernet card:

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/inspiron-17r-5720?driverId=64MJX&osCode=W764&fileId=3080129052

From the above link kindly install the drivers and then restart the computer to check if the internet is working on wired network.

Now try connecting to internet. If the issue still persistscheck teh status in safe mode with networking (restart the computer and hit F8 on Dell logo and select safe mode with networking).

Let me know the status.

Awaiting your response!

I've downloaded latest driver (as you recommend), but look at this picture

the 1000 Mbps option in not available at all.

Thank you in advance,

Giuseppe Martinelli

Hi Giuseppe Martinelli,

Try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers from below link:

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Double–click the type of device that you want to uninstall.
3. Expand Network adapters from right pane, right–click the specific device you want to uninstall, and then click Uninstall.
4. In the Confirm Device Removal dialog box, click OK.

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false#1

From the above link kindly select the option Win7 and WinServer 2008 R2 Driver (option 3) and click on US1 and install the drivers and check.

Awaiting your response!

Thank you for your reply but I've found the answer by myself.

My laptop netwrk card Hardware ID is

PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8136&SUBSYS_05641028&REV_05

If you search for this line in rt64win7.inf file, you will find

;DELL

%RTL8136.DeviceDesc%  = RTL8105.ndi, PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8136&SUBSYS_05641028&REV_05

So my laptop network card chip is RTL8105.

Searching for info on the internet you will find on the vendor site

www.realtek.com.tw/.../productsView.aspx

that this chip is 10/100 Mbps only.

So, I bought a brand new laptop with latest Intel Core I3 Sandy bridge CPU and a 10/100 Mbps netword card.

I've no word to describe my anger.

That's simply unbelievable!

Thank you for your attention.

Giuseppe Martinelli

I just got a 17R 5720 and am having the same problem.  Now when I first got the machine, it was functioning as a gigabit card.  I did a Windows Update and I believe it got the driver replaced and now I can't get above 100mb.  I have a gigabit switch and was transferring data between the two machines and getting 11MB/s transfer.  After the update, I'm lucky to get 1MB/s between the two.

I've uninstalled, deleted drivers, installed new, installed old - even followed the link above and nothing gets me back to gigabit.

The driver from Dell even says it's for the gigabit nic - what do we need to do get this back to gigabit?

Bill

Same here my new Inspiron 15R 5521, cannot connect in 1000mbps

What class Cable is being used?  Who makes it? Stranded or Solid Wire? How Long? Keep in mind the monikers are Marketing not actual thruput.  100 meg is not 10x faster than 10 meg and 1 gig is not 10x faster than 100 meg.  Half or Full Duplex counts as well as Hub or Switch.  You are only as fast as your slowest link.

Unless you are transferring large files regularly (movies is the only common scenario that I can think of) 10/100 should be fine, imo. You should also remember that gigabit is backwards compatible with 10/100. Verizon Fios does not offer 1000 meg Internet.

No that is not the problem, I connect to Netgear switch and it says clearly that the link is 100M. The switch is also connected to a server that link is 1000M. I use CAT5E high speed 100 MHz Cable.

I still Think its hardware issue that the new inspiron only has fast Ethernet port. I hope Im wrong

I tried the new driver from realtek, no change.

Hi,

How is this possible, I can only connect at 100meg too. Brand new I7 with 16 gig memory paid R17000 for it and cant do a gig.

Please tell me this can be fixed..

I was also caught out and would like to voice my displeasure at this issue.

The particular Realtek IC is the RTL8106E and is apart of of PCIE family.

Its not like they did not have a fast enough bus internally to connect the NIC to.

They could of chose a better option such as the RTL8111CP which is a PCIE single chip solution and not cripple a laptop which has DDR4 and 7th gen i series processors.

Any laptop which has a 17.2 inch FHD and 7th gen Intel processors should automatically qualify for a Gigabit Ethernet port in 2017.

As a Systems administrator I take into account this philosophy:

I need to transfer 3-4 gigabit files multiple times a day. Without GigE I imagine how many hours over the lifetime of the laptop I would never get back being idle and waiting for a trivial file transfer

and without any suitable option to connect an external NIC to. No USB3 wont cut the dice nor would I want to carry an external adapter anyhow.

At the time of writing there is no other 17.3 inch screen solutions from dell so I have reverted back to my old Studio 1737 which has Gigabit Ethernet.

Even the specifications for the Dell M7710 at time of writing which costs AUD $8,985.90 only lists under networking a "RJ45" not the speed. Does this even have gigabit Ethernet?

/rant over.

A note to Dell: We need GIGABIT ETHERNET, SERIOUSLY.

I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 24 3464 all-in-one desktop with Intel 7th gen processor.  Although the computer is in the same room as the router and is getting 160-170 gbps speed on the wireless, I plugged the ethernet into my cable modem when I was doing some speed testing, using a cat 5E cable.  I was shocked when my speed was only around 90 gbps.  All other devices tested on the modem were around 215 gbps (we are paying for 200 with Suddenlink).  Two of those devices tested were old Dells, one a five year old all-in-one and the other an eight+ year old laptop.  Imagine my shock and anger when I discovered that the brand new desktop has a 10/100 ethernet card while the two older Dells have gigabit cards.  I do not understand why Dell is doing this!  There are some of us who do still need to use Ethernet, especially if a computer is too far away from the modem to receive a strong wireless signal.

These are designed to sell for as low a price as possible - it's cheaper to integrate a 10/100 chip than a gigabit chip, if only slightly - but that slight difference is reflected in the system's rock-bottom price.

Price pressures on low-end systems are enormous -- if an ODM (or the seller) can economize even for pennies a unit where most users will never notice, they will.  

ejn63 is certainly correct on the economic realities of low-end PCs.  In the era of smartphones and tablets, more and more people are willing to spend less and less on a PC, or even forego a PC entirely.  That trend has resulted in PCs being available for historically low prices (adjusting for inflation), but that in turn leads to cost-cutting measures because the profit margins on such products are razor thin.  And even offering the OPTION of a Gigabit adapter would increase the overall cost of the system due to the need for multiple component variants and the increased design, testing, and manufacturing flexibility required to deliver and support that.

But if you're sitting there saying, "I would have gladly paid a few extra bucks for Gigabit Ethernet!!!", then I would recommend spending those few extra bucks on a USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet adapter.  They cost $15-30, and on a desktop/all-in-one system, it wouldn't even be meaningfully less convenient since you can just keep it permanently attached and hidden behind the PC.  StarTech even makes some adapters that include 1-3 USB 3.0 female ports built into them so that you can maintain or even increase the total number of USB 3.0 ports available on your system while you have the adapter connected.

Imagine my shock and anger when I discovered that the brand new desktop has a 10/100 ethernet card while the two older Dells have gigabit cards.

I have never known Dell to put 10/100/1000 Ethernet cards in their consumer-grade PCs which the Inspiron is.

Dell's business grade PCs have the Gigabit Ethernet port. Heck, my Latitude D620 from 2006 has a Gigabit Ethernet.