Solved shutdown/restart is minutes - unless I pull network cable

Just installed windows 8 on a computer I built some years back, it's an ECS PT890T-A mainboard, which has built in network support. Device manager says it's a VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter.

Shutdown or restart will hang for a few minutes. However, if I unplug (pull the network cable) then shutdown or restart will go fast, about 10-15 seconds. If I leave it plugged in and then while it's trying to shut or restart pull it out it will shut or restart in a few seconds, so it appears this device is what's hanging it up.

It says the driver is up to date and is the best one.

Anyone else have this problem and/or find a fix?

How does it behave in Safe Mode with networking?

Found it! It's windows update trying to phone home. I set it to no automatic updates and that fixed it.

This is a media computer I put together to sit next to my tv, without a mouse or keyboard. I configure it remotely. I only access it on my local lan.

I found it by using a sniffer on it (my smart switch finally paid off) and saw that during shutdown it was trying to contact windows update - actually it only got as far as doing a DNS lookup, which my router ignored as this machine is forbidden to access the internet - much safer that way.