3C905-TX - Why does the Fast EtherLink/EtherLink XL NIC connect at half duplex?

Question: Why does the Fast EtherLink/EtherLink XL NIC only connect at half duplex when I connect it to a full duplex hub, when I configured the NIC's duplex to Auto Select?

Answer: When the NIC duplex is configured for Auto Select and the diagnostics or the driver initializes, it attempts to establish a link with the hub to determine its duplex capability. If this communication is unsuccessful, the NIC will connect at half duplex for stability. If you know that the hub does support full duplex, you could force the NIC to connect at full duplex by running the configuration utility and setting the option of Duplex to full.