hello,

I just built a computer on an asrock z77 extreme 4 motherboard.  I successfully installed windows7 but have an exclamation point in device manager.
I was able to extract and install XfastLAN but I still have no connectivity, and thus an exclamation point for ethernet controller.

I went right to the asrock site below and grabbed everything I could and put it on a flash drive:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme4/?cat=Download&os=Win764

maybe I am not installing the driver properly.  I basically just copied the file on the DESKTOP, extracted it there, and installed the exe (it said it was 'installed correctly'), then rebooted (which was my choice).  I now have an icon in the notification area.
it doesn't seem like this is the driver at all.  asrock gives no documentation on their site that I can see.
any guidance will be most appreciated as always.Didn't the MBoard come with a Driver CD ? ?...that's what you should run...hello patio,

yes it did.  I tried that first.  it didn't work.  I will double-check that right now.
thanks.it's FUNNY.  this time it didn't do the same thing it did before.  it auto-ran and installed google chrome, but still didn't connect to anything.
sort of ironic.
I am still checking it out though.  I have two computers running.  thanks for getting back to me so fast.Anytime...
You need both the ethernet and WLAN 1's re-installed...yep.  and it looks like I just found it after some intense searching.
I had device manager search for the drivers on the cd, but I realize it was naive to think that device manager would find and install the drivers off the cd.

there was a choice of broadcom and realtek and under realtek
there were four drivers.  vista, xp, windows 7 and windows 8, so I had to find the one for windows 7.
I will let you know when I finally get a connection.It's never a good idea to let Windows find drivers for you...go straight to the MBoard manuf. site...yep.  I was just 'being naive'.

bad news.  the drivers didn't work.  still no connection.  it's being stubborn.
I installed the lan and the wlan and rebooted.  it looked very promising, but no go.Did it ever work ? ?...how are you connected ? ?if ethernet have you tried a different cable ? ?...did you try re-starting the router and waiting 1 minute ? ?

Also i just thought ...have you gone into Control PANEL and setup the Network ? ?
It's not done automatically...I just tried swapping the cables between computers.  they're fine.

I got a message that I ignored before because I didn't think it was relevant, but maybe I was wrong.  when I repair installed the lan driver it said (again):

'the realtek network controller was not found.  if deep sleep mode is enabled please plug the cable'. 
I have never heard of deep sleep mode, so I don't know if it is enabled or where to find out if it is.
anyway.  you might know a little about this because I sure don't.I actually found some information about that error message 'deep sleep mode'.
I guess stored information blocks the network controller in some way.
here's the link:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1659725/realtek-network-controller-found-deep-sleep-mode.html

the fix is to shut the POWER down for ten minutes.Interesting....leave it to RealTek to come up with something brilliant as this... it could be just me.  it's probably right under my nose and I don't see it.I am going to have to leave until tomorrow.  I will return.
I still have the exclamation point in device manager, so until that is gone, I think the problem will remain.
thanks patio.  I hope you keep an eye on my thread.  I will do more investigating after I get home from work tomorrow.No problem...the exclamation points to a driver issue though...