Kinda upset at the lack of response to GBe issues

[pfeerick]

I suspect that the reason this works is that the negotiation for GbE does not happen and by default the unit comes up  100 /full.

Just out of curiosity, with a non-modified cable, what happens if you run "sudo ethtool -s eth0 speed 1000 duplex full" ... does it give the ethernet a kick to reboot and re-negotiation as GbE/1000Mbs? I'd try myself... but as you know... it's a non-issue for me. However, I can switch between 100Mb and 1000Mb that way.