Bootstrapped autonegotiation clock from a referenceless clock chip

A method, system and apparatus, for bootstrapping an autonegotiation signal in an intermediate device. The intermediate device initializes using a referenceless clock circuit. The intermediate device then recovers a more accurate clock sourced from a second device via a clock data recovery circuit in the intermediate device. The second device has a physical medium attachment interface within the intermediate device that does not require autonegotiation. The autonegotiation signal is communicated to a first device having a physical medium dependent interface to the intermediate device, thus requiring autonegotiation.