Linksys wireless router problem... Please Help!!!?

Question

The router is working on my desktop without a problem, but the laptop is no longer connecting. It worked fine for almost 2 years, but now it's giving me all kinds of IP address problems.
Specifically it says "Limited or no connectivity" and when I click on that it tells me "Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action cannot be completed
Renewing your IP address." All help will be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you in advance.
I've already been on the phone with tech support who told me the Dell utility is the problem, but I don't HAVE a Dell utility.

Answer 1

Okay. I'll assume XP here.
Lets do some branching.

1) the desktop is connected by cable.

2) The laptop is wireless? or the laptop is wired as well.

If the laptop is wireless, you may have a problem with the wireless on one side or the other. Lets go there first.

START - CONTROL PANEL -NETWORK CONNECTIONS
1) check to make sure your wireless is ENABLED. if it is enabled, disable it (right click --> disable). If it was not enabled, well. enable it and the problem probably goes away...
2) Your wireless connection is now disabled. Connect to the router by cable. (make sure the wired lan is enabled) Got Net? If the answer is yes, then your router is doing at least part of it's job. The problem is in the wireless.
If you still don't have net. Then all sorts of things could be wrong but the most likely culprits are:
PPPoE bridging got turned off in your modem somehow. (call your ISP on that one.)
The router's DHCP service is configured wrong or has failed.
Let's see if it will take a restore:

So with the router plugged in. poke a ball point pen in to the hole marked ":reset" on the backl of the linksys. Hold it for 20 seconds. Let go.
On the PC that is working.
Unplug the ethernet cable.
go to your network connections and make sure that your are set to obtain your IP address and DNS automatically.
Open a browser. (This is for the wrt54g a common linksys router)
enter 192.168.1.1 in the address bar.
leave the user name blank and enter the password "admin" (no quotes)
Re configure your router using the web interface. It is very straight forward.
Things to pay attention to:

Make sure your is using PPPoE if your service requires it (lots of DSL provders use this) Make sure you have your username and password for this service.

Make sure to configure your wireless security.

Make sure you are serving DHCP.

See if some of that doesn't help!