I am not tech-savvy, and I appreciate any help that anyone can provide.
My laptop suddenly does not connect to the internet. Our home network is fine: my son has a desktop that connects fine with the ethernet cable, and my other son's laptop connects fine with wireless.
Yesterday, my computer worked normally. Today, with ethernet cable there is no acknowledgement that the cable is even plugged into it. And the wireless reads our home network and says I am connected with "limited connectivity", however I cannot open any browsers or connect anywhere.
I have Vipre Premium protection and do a full scan every night.
I have not downloaded anything, changed anything, or done anything new or different at all for a long time.
It is an HP Pavilion dv5 Entertainment PC, Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP2.
I have run through all the troubleshooting tools on the laptop.
The Windows Network Diagnostics shows my Wireless Network Connection is enabled. When I click on the connection to diagnose it, a screen comes up that says:
"The network adapter "Wireless Network Connection" is not correctly configured to use the IP protocol". Then I have two choices:
First choice: "The Network Adapter "Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN" is experiencing driver or hardware related issues". When I click for information, I am directed to check for driver UPDATES (my drivers show they are up-to-date and working PROPERLY). However, with no internet connection I am unable to fully check for updates. HOWEVER I have always enabled automatic updates, and I always update even the optional ones, so I don't think an out-of-date driver is the problem.
Second choice: "Make sure your Internet Protocol bindings are correct". When I check the configuration settings, all items are selected, including TCP/IPv4 and TCP/IPv6, which are the two specifically mentioned.
So I'm stumped. And frustrated. And HOPING that someone can shine a light on this problem. Thank You!1. Refer here --> http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistanetworking/thread/a57877cd- 8b88-458e-b4a6-5300cf57696b
2. Microsoft Support(Reset TCP/IP,Manual method) --> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357With regards to your Second Choice:

Go back to where you checked IPv4 and IPv6 where selected, click on IPv4 and then click on Properties, in the box that appears make sure that those settings are correct, for example, if you haven't stated a specific static ip address to your laptop, then ensure that your IP addresses and your DNS servers are being obtained automatically, or if you have configured static addresses ensure these are correct, paying perticular attention to the default gateway setting (this would affect internet access without affecting the network)

Once you have checked the above then open the 'Run' box and paste the following in and then press enter:

cmd /c ipconfig /all>%temp%\$.$&notepad %temp%\$.$

This will open Notepad and will contain information specific to your TCP/IP settings, once you have run that command, copy and paste that in and that may reveal where the problem lies. (COMPARE it to your son's before hand if you want to first, just do the exact same thing on his, as you compare, the Subnet mask, Default Gateway and DNS Address will all be the same, all that should be different is your IP address.

In the meantime some things you can try to try and diagnose the problem:

1) Go into favourites and try and open one of the links that Microsoft saved in there for you (Those links will definately be correct and the site should be up and running, this will confirm if your internet is completely down or not)

2) Copy and paste the following into your address bar and see if it brings up Microsoft.com or not - 207.46.197.32

Please also let us know the results of the those.

(That's probably similar to the above but another explanation can't hurt lol)