Win 7 - Loss of Network

[Kinesis]

I am hoping someone could at least give me some suggestion as a possible cause to my network issue and/or solution. First my setup is this:
- DLink Network Router (DIR655)
- I have a custom built PC (Asus P8Z68-V Motherboard Gen 3) with Win 7 64 Bit SP1 (latest updates applied), i7 CPU, 16 GB RAM
- iMac 2007 (no network issues, full speed connectivity)

Issue
- After playing an steam based game, I was noticing some system lag, and thought I should reboot since I hadn't restarted in a few weeks
- Following the reboot the network icone on the taskbar with the exclaimation point
- I reboot again nothing changed
- Tried different ports on the router, no change
- The indicator lights on the On Board Ethernet port on the motherboard shows solid green for the speed indicator, and blinking orange on the Activity LED.
- I checked the cord, no difference
- No issues seen with iMac
- I checked my Router Network status and the PC MAC address is listed with an assigned IP, but I am still unable to access Steam or the Internet, and the exclaimation point on the network indicator is still present.

Options to resolve that I came up with:
1. Purchase a add-in network card and see what the result
2. Purchase a new router (I think this is the last resort)
3. Use a another hard drive to re-install windows on and see if the network (on-board) still functions


Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[piasabird]

Might be some kind of problem with drivers for the nic or with Motherboard chipset drivers. Sometimes the manufacturer of the motherboard has new and improved chipset or network drivers.

 

[Kinesis]

Thanks, check, no new drivers released, and it is a sudden change, nothing recently installed (last 4 days). Have been using the PC all week and the past weekend with no issues until I rebooted.

I deleted the network deivce from the device manager and rebooted with no change.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

did you try to reinstall NIC drivers just in case?

 

[Kinesis]

I will try that first thing..

 

[Kinesis]

Solved?

Nothing worked with replacing the drivers, deleting the device and reinstalling or rebooting or cable changes.

I tried system restore to 2 days ago, success, despite windows stating that the restore failed.

Weird, but I appreciate your help!