Linksys WRT54G connection problem

Router: Linksys WRT54G v.2
Modem: Bellsouth DSL, netopia modem (works fine with RJ45 cable)
OS: windows XP
distance from laptop to router: 3 feet
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Yesterday morning I turned the electricity off the entire house to do a repair. The laptop, that was connected to the Internet remained on, the linksys router powered off. Later when the power was back on, I went to use the laptop and could not get online. When I plugged the cable directly into the laptop from the bellsouth modem it worked fine.

Things I tried:
-~"take a look at those threads before you start a new one"
-Resetting the modem with the button.
-powering everything off, and then powering on in this order: 1) modem, 2) router, 3) laptop.
-Calling linksys

Attempt 1)
-wireless connection in bottom right screen 'tray' has 'x' over it, on hover "...not connected"
-Right clicked: on wireless icon...
-left clicked: "view available wireless networks"
-can see my network,
-click on my network to highlight my network, (Note: top right of my highlighted network says "Manual")
-click connect button
-Pop-up window says "Please wait wjile windows connects to the linksys network".....long wait, then it says...."Connected!"
-The above mentioned network that was highlighted has now changed the word "Manual" to "Disconnected", a contradiction of the above mentioned pop-up window that has just disappeered.

Attempt 2)
-wireless connection in bottom right screen 'tray' has 'x' over it, on hover "...not connected"
-Right clicked: on wireless icon...
-left clicked: repair
pop-up: ultimately says,
"Windows could not finish repairing the problem"... because it could not connect to the wireless network, contact the person who manages your network....man, now that's just ridiculous.

attempt 3)
-wireless connection in bottom right screen 'tray' has 'x' over it, on hover "...not connected"
-Right clicked: on wireless icon...
-left clicked: "open network connections"
-right clicked on applicable wireless network, left clicked on properties
-under wireless networks tab, I see my network at the house, I highlighted it and clicked properties
-network authentication is open,
-data encryption is disabled (I live in the middle of the woods).
under the general tab, everything is checked.

attempt 4)
called linksys 1800 number. They wanted 29-39$ but have a free pushbutton thing that ultimately had me change the local IP address to 192.168.2.1 in the setup tab portion of the 192.168.1.1 router page. The IP address under the status page is still 192.168.1.1 . That seemed to help some, I can now surf for about 5 minutes before I'm booted ofline again. It puts me in this vicious cycle of having to right click the wifi symbol in the system tray and left click "repair" in the pop-up (this takes another full two minutes.

The weird thing is, that even when I can surf (for just a few minutes) the icon says I am "not connected" .