Internet stopped working.

I need some help/advice... My internet was working fine for as long as I can remember (easily months without any problems), then I go to bed and wake up and it's decided to stop working. I share a modem & router with 3 other roommates, and typically if my internet goes down their's does too, this time I was the only one affected. In the process of troubleshooting I unplugged/reconnected everything (at which point I fried my power supply, although I've fixed that and am back with power but still no internet). I didn't installl any software or hardware from the time it was working till the time it wasn't, and I have no idea why it would just shut down on its own. The other really weird thing is I have wireless internet and there are two icons in my taskbar at the bottom right corner of my screen that indicate I'm online (one is my Netgear software, which is properly configured -- I can select my wireless network among 3 or 4 others that I also see, and my 128bit password checks out -- and the other is a Windows-y icon that shows my internet status as Green/Connected/Active)... My two thoughts are either a) my usb wireless internet receiver died, which is strange if I'm getting a connected signal but can't do anything online (and it also has pitiful numbers, usually like 3,000 bytes sent and 54 bytes received or whatever), or b) I need to mess around with my IP/router settings somehow. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions to try out? I'm pretty knowledgeable about comp stuff so go ahead and be technical Thanks in advance

Hi

ahh the world of wireless, great when it works and a pain when it doesnt..

Ok so do you use the windows wireless config thing or the cards own software to connect?

Either way it sounds like a classic case of a bad profile in either one.

First use a working PC to enter the routers setup page, and check the SSID and security settings, make a note of whether its WEP or WPA and ensure (for now) that its set to broadcast the SSID (remember to set it to not show the SSID once you have it working this prevents outsiders from finding your network, having the SSID is half the battle of hacking your network)

If you use WZC then delete all the profiles listed, the same if you use a 3rd party application.

Once you have removed the profiles, decide if your going to use the WZC or the 3rd party app,

If using the 3rd party app follow the instructions supplied with it, you will need the SSID of the network (this is not the name of the nework, the SSID is the identifier name of the wireless system), the encryption type, WEP or WPA and the password/passphrase or key)

If you use the WZC simply let it find the wireless network and click connect it will prompt for the right type of security password dependant upon what type of security is set, enter it and you should be good to go.

Regards