Internet connected, browsers cannot connect

Hi!

I have an Acer laptop running XP. We've had this problem it for awhile but now need to fix it to use computer for work etc.

It connects fine to the wireless, in fact shows a an 'excellent' connection to our present wireless router. But our browsers (I've tried Firefox, Explorer, and Opera) keep coming up as unconnected, even though they work just fine when our computer is hooked up to the router with an ethernet cable.

I've gone through the basic program settings, control panel, firewalls, etc and can see nothing to be causing this, although I will freely admit that I might be missing something.

Any ideas? It's been annoying to have a laptop that is not portable...

Thanks in advance, D

 

I am not a Geek, just another help needy person like you, but have you tried pinging the internet from your command prompt to see if it it is just your browsers, or your whole pc, that doesn't 'see' the internet connection? (windows key+R > CMD > ping www.google.com [or other website/IP])

Also, it might help them to know what brand/model router you have.

 

Thanks I will try that as soon as I get back to that computer.

As for the router, I think it's an actiontec, however, we have tried to connect this computer to several different networks and routers in the last two years and it will show the same thing, it's connected, but no programs will connect.

I've had a few geeky friends look at it and they're stumped too. I'm wondering if I need to reload drivers and/or software for the wireless modem. Just hoping someone here would have some insight....