DL380 G5 NIC only works on Auto

[david.swanson]

I have two DL380 G5s running Windows Server 2003 R2 32-bit with the NICs teamed for fault tolerance and connected to Cisco Catalyst 3750 switches.

Both were generating a lot of network errors until I set the NICs on one to 100Mbps Full Duplex and it completely stopped its errors. I attempted to do the same on the other server but both ports stopped working, showing "Network Cable Unplugged". Either works if set back to Auto.

What can I try to get it to work? Why does it work on one, but not the other?

We have checked cables, replaced them, swapped them with the other server, all of which made no difference to the operation of either.

I know that Cisco and HP recommend setting both to Auto, but the switches' ports are set to 100Mbps/Full Duplex and we don't have any influence over the configuration.