Installation of Debian-Testing-AMD64, DVD and Netinst, Fails on ASUS Eeepc

[Marc Hurst <marc.hurst@independentgeo.com>]

Hello:

I'm trying to install Debian Testing on my ASUS Eee PC 1215B. I've tried 
installing Debian-Testing-AMD64  weekly builds (5-30-2014 and 6-9-2014) 
(DVD and netinst versions), and I've also tried 
/cdimage/daily-builds/sid_d-i/20140610-7/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso.

All versions fail in the "Detecting Network Hardware" step. Apparently 
the installer does not detect my Atheros AR8152/8158 PCI-E Fast Ethernet 
Controller. The installer gives no error messages, just a blue screen. 
Control-C brings it back to the installation menu.

I suspect that I need to install the non-free Atheros firmware. Previous 
installers have prompted me to install firmware.

The current installer did not prompt me that firmware is needed. Perhaps 
it breaks before that determination is made.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
--Marc