Laptop that used to log onto the internet, now it won't

I have an Acer laptop using Vista Home Premium. It used to log onto the internet just fine through my wireless network. Then the network crashed (it was the ISP's fault) and I had to reload firmware into my Linksys router and the CenturyLink Modem. The online tech support from Linksys was stellar. I was well out of warranty, but they did it for free anyway, even though it was not their fault. They had me pinging and changing addresses and all sorts of stuff. It took an hour and was very complex, so I don't remember what we did exactly. But all was well. The four computers that were active on the network were back together again and back on line... the fifth one, my laptop, wasn't active. It's very slow and a pain to use, so it just sits a lot. This morning I fired it up. I accessed the network just fine, but not the internet. Another player might be that I have been using DNS to keep my kids from sneaking around on proxy servers, but they've all moved out now, so I don't have to worry about that anymore. But the laptop says it can't access DNS Server 192.168.2.1. I've tried the stuff I can try that's on the laptop--repairing the connections etc., but it doesn't fix it.
Having said all that, I'm not sure the two incidents are connected, i.e., the initial ISP crash and recovery and the laptop's failure to log on through the network. Any help? I know it's not malware or spyware or etc. (have run Avast!, AntiMalwareBytes, SpyBot S&D.
Keith

 

This is probably related to your other thread. to make sure please do the following.

open command prompt (click start > run > type cmd and press enter)

type "ip config /all" (without the quotation marks) and post back the address for your DNS server and your default gateway.

Also do the same exercise on a working PC

 

OK, I did that and I also looked at the router to make sure its SSID was active.... The IP addresses didn't match. I pinged IPv4 also on both computers, and deleted my wireless network from the laptop completely. Then I rebooted it and when it came back up it was also back up on the internet. I didn't change anything, just looked at the numbers... but I'm not complaining. I've turned it off and back on a couple of times to make sure it's not just a fluke, but it's back up. I don't know what happened.
Keith

 

i suspect that your wifi settings were screwed. by deleteing the connection and reinstalling your network will re-aquire the settings. deleting the connecting solves a lot of wireless issues in my experiance.

glad you got it working. incidently no two devices on a network shord have the same ip.

 

It was the router. It's fixed for now, we'll see how long it stays fixed. I see a new router in my future. This isn't the first problem I've had with it. It's about 5 years old. I don't know how long they're supposed to last.
Keith