I have the latest mobo BIOS, Intel chipset, and Intel x64 proset driver. Haven't tried any other OS (since this was a fresh Win 7 x64 install). In the many threads I've read on this issue, there have been folks with XP 32bit that didn't have the issue then upgraded to Win 7 x64 and got the issue. Even folks with Linux have had the issue with the Ethernet failing to initialize from cold boot as well (although their community was pretty quick to mod Intel's drivers and fix).
All have been some form of the intel _55 chipset (P55, DH55, etc) with an onboard 8257___(82578DC, 82579V, etc.) gigabit Ethernet.
Bug in firmware?