i210 driver installation freezes Windows 7 x64

[indy]

I bought an i210-T1 PCIE-card for my desktop PC because the onboard Realtek chip seems to have trouble with large file transfers (random aborts) and speeds could probably improve a bit as well.
However i can not get the card to work.
Every time I try to install the driver my system freezes, only a reset or power-off works.
Afterwards the card is displayed under it's correct name in the device manager, but with a 'Code 31' error.

What I tried so far:
- research with google (problem does not seem common at all)
- switch PCIE slots
- plug a network cable in
- driver versions: 18.5, 19.1, Windows Update
- default mainboard bios settings
- install Intel Inf drivers

The mainboard is an Asus with a P55 chipset.
Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ericloewe]

I'd start by trying it on a different computer. If it fails there, I'd say you've got a bad card.

 

[indy]

Right now I only have a laptop otherwise, but I will do that on Sunday.

 

[indy]

The card works fine in a different computer.
Any ideas would be welcome.

 

[Ericloewe]

I'd say it's the motherboard acting up for some reason.

If you feel like experimenting a bit more, you can try loading an Ubuntu (or favorite distro here) live CD with the card attached and see if it works there. If so, it might be something in the Windows installation that's messing things up.

 

[solarisguy]

Since this is a FreeNAS forum ;) you can try booting FreeNAS from USB, and see whether it logs any errors. In my experience, FreeNAS 9.2.1.2-9.2.1.6 work with Intel 210, FreeNAS 8.x does not.

 

[indy]

And it works just fine with Ubuntu (Live).
Next up: testing a fresh Windows installation.
Stupid Windows...

 

[indy]

The new Windows installation freezes as well and at the exact same point.
I have pretty much given up at this point.

 

[Ericloewe]

Maybe if you disable the onboard GbE controller?

If that doesn't work, I guess we'll have to blame it on some mysterious, improper interaction in the system that only happens in Windows (bad driver, most likely)... Any chance you can try a different version (say, 8?)

 

[indy]

Maybe if you disable the onboard GbE controller?

I forgot to mention in my original post that was one of the first things I tried - no luck there.

Unfortunately I dont own a Windows 8 license either.
I am pretty much done investing time in this problem - every configuration works except the one I need.

Still thank you for your time guys!