Connecting Ethernet Crashes Computer

Hey there,

Since yesterday everytime I connect my ethernet cable into the port my computer locks up with 100% processor taken, and this doesn't stop. It even does it in safe mode, when I disconnect the cable all is well again. However unfortunatly I cannot use the internet because there is no cable.

I have done the following:

Trojan/Virus Scan
System Restore
Restore to Factory Settings
Updated Drivers (transferred via USB from another computer)
Ad/malware scan

and it is still not detecting anything. Cannot do "hijack this" lock because the computer crashes, no abnormal processes running at current time.

Slightly annoying because it just happened overnight, and my university is meant to have a strict firewall about anything like that getting in...

anyone have advice? The 2 lights flash on the network adapter, which indicates something is actually happening. When I disconnect and view network log via CTRL + ALT + DEL the network is indeed being used a lot.

I have Vista.