ASUS P7P55D pro problems

Hey all, i've used the said motherboard in my first build and the Ethernet port keeps failing. At first i realized it was because I hadn't installed the motherboard support CD properly so i did that and it worked for about a day... until we got a power surge... (the modem and computer are both connected via power surge boxes tho). at first i thought we had no internet so i tested my laptop and the wireless worked fine and the wired was "no internet access" but nothing at all on the computer with the motherboard. After ringing my isp (no luck) and installing a windows 7 32 bit RC cd i had sitting round then re installing the motherboard support CD... still no luck. I've been reading online and have a suspicion.... you don't think it could be that i've connected the powersupply to the motherboard with an 8 pin not 4 pin (half of it came covered on the motherboard but in the motherboard manual it said to use 8 so yeah...)??
Thanks all,
Jared

[quotemsg=1847989,2,62687]The MB manufactureer probably blanked off the other four pins because they are not connected internally...[/quote]

Never say that.

The other 4 pins were covered for the pupose of idiots. It's called idiot-proofing. You should use 8-pins, especially if overclocking, but you can use 4-pins in most builds.

The cover was put over the four extension pins so that anyone using a crappy power supply would know which holes to put their four-pin connector into. That keeps them from trying to force it into the wrong holes.

We shouldn't give advice to anyone who has an 8-pin connector other than "throw away the 4-pin cover and pretend it's not there", because telling them why its there (to unconfuse 4-pin users) only serves to confuse the 8-pin users.

If there are no unknown devices and no networking devices in device manager, the controller is either disabled in BIOS or fried. It has nothing to do with your CPU power connector.