LOST Internet connectivity in Windows XP Pro... PLEASE HELP!

> Good evening all-
>
> I'd like to pick you brains for a few minutes about my
> fairly NEW Dell Inspiron 8200 Laptop- in particular, about
> how to repair or replace TCP/IP in Windows XP Pro...
>
> My system suddenly lost net connectivity right after I
> installed Zcloud.net's National Network Dialer... And as
> soon as I tried to use it during my recent road trip- it
> not only failed to allow me dial-up Internet access, it
> also killed my previously fully functional broadband
> connection...
>
> Uninstalling the dialer brought no improvement whatsoever,
> and for some reason, the system wouldn't let me restore it
> back to an earlier pre- Dialer date...
>
> Yesterday I spent over three hours on the phone with Dell
> Premier Tech Support, and they kept insisting the problem
> was IE 6, which I couldn't really dispute at first- except
> based on intuition as a systrem support engineer myself-
> until I found a full offline Netscape 7.1 installer on the
> net and pulled it down on my server, and burned it to CD,
> then loaded that puppy up... Guess what? The problem
> remained.
>
> No big surprise that- TRUE to form- Dell Premier Tech
> Support quit LONG before the problem was resolved,
> instead, resorting to their standard final resolution-
> telling the abused user to reload the OS and all Aps...
> again!
>
>
> I pretty much eviscerated IE 6 trying to kill before
> finding ths article on how to uninstall or repair it
> (http://windows.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?
> site=http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q293/
> 9/07.ASP) so I could try to reload it, but apparently a
> registry entry still exists somewhere because it keeps
> telling me I have the latest and greatest version and will
> NOT allow me to reload... Even after following the
> articles directions- even though it's terminally ill and
> critically wounded and requires reload before it'll ever
> work again...
>
> My Ethernet connection is setup for DHCP, and is attached
> to a Netgear Router (which is working fine) at 192.168.0.1
> with a subnet of 255.255.0.0 which seems wrong somehow
> (but my tcp/ip is rusty)... Shouldn't it be at 255.255.
> 255.0? Anyway- it's pulling an I.P. Address from
> somewhere, yet it's not a derivative of 192.168.0.1- like
> 192.168.0.2, or 192.168.0.5- which it should be at, since
> it's both hard-wired through Ethernet and has a Belkin
> (which is also working fine) Wireless card.
>
> I also have hardware and software firewalls, which have
> been completely removed from the equation... so that's not
> it either....
>
> It's just really weird- I can't even connect directly to
> the Netgear Router at http://192.168.0.1 anymore like I've
> always been able to before... Yet I can from my Win2k
> Server and my OS 9.1 G-3 Mac.
>
> I've tried to remove the router, and connect directly to
> the Netgear Cable Modem- but no joy.
>
> I also keep trying to uninstall and reinstall TCP/IP, but
> Windows XP Pro won't let me...
>
>
> I'd very much like to avoid having to do the 4th COMPLETE
> software reload of this piece of junk in the 4 months I've
> had it... But it's looking grim at the moment because I
> cannot function without Internet being accessible on this
> beast...especially since this craptop has already had the
> following hardware replaced-> RAM, motherboard, HDD,
> Video, Sound and harnesses <-Dell Premier Tech Support has
> basically shotgunned it twice now... yet it remains the
> ULTIMATE lemon laptop...
>
> Please let me know if any of you have any bright ideas.
> Thanks!