Okay, I have a wireless network with 2 desktops and a laptop. The network was working just fine for a while, and then all of a sudden when I began using my laptop on the connection, the whole house's internet would stop working the next day. Apparently something went wrong with the modem. It happened again on another internet connection, at another location. The problem is coming from my laptop, but what could it be? Is there any way to fix this? Is this even common? I have never heard about this happening before. Please help.

to BC NewKillerStar5,

That sounds like a weird problem. Can you give any more deatil about what happened to your modem and how did you fix it? (and the make and model of the modem?)

It's possible it could be due to some kind of malware on the laptop - do you have any anti-virus and anti-spyware programs installed on the laptop?

Try this basic security check:
Is your Anti-virus program current and updated? If not you can download a free anti-virus program here (US Link): AVG Free
When you have downloaded and installed it you need to go online to register it and update it. (It will probably prompt you to do this.)
Once you have installed AVG uninstall your old Anti-Virus software because you should only have one running on your system.

Do you have a range of anti-spyware installed? If not download and update all of the following:

• Ad-Aware SE from http://www.lavasoft.de/
  There is a tutorial on how to run this here: Ad-Aware Tutorial
  
  
• Spybot Search & Destroy from http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download
  There is a tutorial on how to run this here: SpyBot S&D Tutorial
  
  
• SpywareBlaster from http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
  There is a tutorial on how to run this here: SpywareBlaster Tutorial
  
  
• Ewido Security Suite complements anti-virus software by specializing in detecting Trojans, Dialers and Spyware and lots of other stuff. It is free for private use.
  Download it from here: Ewido download
  When installing it untick 'Install Background Guard' and 'Install Scan via Context Menu'.

Reboot your computer in Safe Mode and run the anti-virus scan and all the anti-spyware scans there.
If you are not sure how to boot in Safe Mode there is a tutorial here: Safe Mode

Because you probably cannot download direct to the laptop you will have to download to another PC and transfer the programs and updates manually.

Manual Update for AVG

Manual Update site:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/24/lng/us/tpl/v5

Priority updates - These are virus definition updates. 2 files listed *.bin format

Recommended updates - These are program bug fixes. 2 files listed *.bin format

Optional updates - low priority presentation changes.

How to update:
Copy the .bin file to a folder or your desktop. Start AVG Control Centre. Click Update, at the bottom of the dialog window are the buttons 'Internet' and 'Folder'. Click 'Folder', a directory tree will open asking you to point to the folder where you put the .bin file. Once you click the correct folder AVG will find it and update itself.
If you do not have the option to choose the update source because the 'do not ask this question again' box had been ticked, you can reset this in the Control Centre by clicking 'View'>'Components'>'Update Manager. In the Update Manager in the 'Properties' tab untick the 'Do not ask for the update source' box.


Manual update of AdAwareSE

Go to http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

In the menu column on the left click on 'DOWNLOADS'.
On the Download page beside 'Updates' click the link under 'Latest Definition Files:'
Save the defs.zip file to your PC. Unpack the zip file to find the defs.ref file and put it on your desktop or in a folder which you can find easily.
On the PC you wish to update use Windows Explorer to navigate to the C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware SE Personal folder.
Rename the defs.ref file there to defs.old, then copy the new defs.ref file into this folder.
Close Windows Explorer, start Ad-AwareSE and check the date of the definitions file. Ad-Aware should be up to date and ready to scan.

Manual update of Spybot S&D

Go to http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

In the menu column on the left under Home click on 'Download'.
On the Download page beneath 'Download' click the link called 'Detection Updates <date>'
Save the spybotsd_includes.exe file to your PC. Put it on your desktop or in a folder which you can find easily and then copy it to a floppy or USB Flash disk to transfer it to the PC to be updated.
On the PC to be updated copy spybotsd_includes.exe to a folder on the C: drive then double click it. It will find the installed version of Spybot S&D and automatically update it.


Ewido manual update link:

http://www.ewido.net/en/download/updates/

Signatures from the last 2-3 days ~200KB download.

Full signature database ~4.5MB download.


See if that helps

I don't have any more info on the modem, all i know is that it has been replaced by a Webstar by Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. I have McAffe, spybot s&d, and adaware, but not spyware blaster or ewidow. I'll get them and then I will scan using all of those right away and I'll see what happens. Thanks for your help and I'll post the results when I'm finished.