I work hard at NOT hard coding my speeds, but still fail about 1 in 25 times. some equipment is 'iffy' some wires are out of spec. etc.
being moble, I would work HARD at not having to hard code duplex , even if it meant a newer NIC.
newer drivers are available from 3com without a new OS. I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.