CAT-5 only has only 4 wires, that is new to me. It's the problem of whoever choose to do the plug IMO. A badly did plug with CAT-5e or CAT-6 (CAT-6 is overkill and unnecessary under normal circumstances) can cause the same effect. That's why I said to check the plug. Most of the times, I have seen 1Gbps works fine with proper CAT-5 cable and plug. When it does not work, it's either like you said (some company decide to include cable with 4 wires with their network modem, router), or a badly done LAN plug. But that's that, the problem of the OP is he thought he has a gigabit interface and if I am to believe the spec page I linked to, then his belief is wrong.