Hi all,
For Windows 8 users, try turning off 'Fast Start-up'. This forces Windows to boot from new rather than resuming from hibernation.
I too get the issues mentioned and I believe it is a timing issue.
Restarting forces Windows to boot fresh hence why the NIC comes back online for most of us. 'Resuming / fast boot' may be reloading Windows too quickly before the NIC has a chance to power up or the NIC drivers to respond. This would also explain why it's easy to re enable the NIC by restarting its services or disabling/re-enabling.
For Windows 7 users, search Google for 'wait for network' registry key. This forces Windows to wait for the network services to be ready before fully booting. This usually helps PC's connected to a domain but may be worth trying.
Hope this is of some help!
Boyd