UL50VT Network adapter reinstalling itself on login

I started a separate thread for this so as not to hijack other threads.

I just recently purchased a UL50VT from NewEgg. One issue that has come up is the Atheros Network adapter. I wiped the drive and installed a fresh copy of Win 7 Home Premium x64 (same edition that came with laptop). Windows found it and installed it without me needing to provide ASUS drivers.

The problem is that every time I restart the computer and login to Windows, Windows finds and reinstalls the network adapter. Just setting up the laptop, i'm now up to "Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet controller (NDIS 6.20) #16", with the number going up each time I restart the computer.

I tried downloading the ASUS provided driver, which it took as an updated driver, but it's still doing the same thing. I can use the network card without an issue, it's just that it's reinstalling it every time I restart the computer which isn't supposed to happen.

Model: ASUS UL50VT Laptop
Specs: Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Driver: Provider: Atheros
Date: 9/27/2010
Version v1.0.0.46

 

Interesting addendum. It will also, upon boot, show the "Installing new device" bubble and then report that it failed to setup correctly, but when going into the device manager, it shows it as being installed correctly.

 

Something is corrupted, you can try running system file check or a system restore to an earlier date. A fresh install would probably stop the problem (might have gotten a bad driver or installed incorrectly). AFAIK there's no known solution to the general problem of a device that keeps reinstalling itself, unless it's a driver bug that is fixed in a different version.