I get the same problem, it is not the cable I know this for the fact. If I go to device manager and uninstall the Lan connections and have W7 re-install them then it seems to start fine. Yes I have the latest drivers, I also disable IPV6 for the adapter as this has been known to cause some problems.
I have wireless USB adapter hooked up as a backup incase the LAN on the board does not start I do not have time to fix it.