Vista - about to cry

I have a new hp desktop with Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit. I've set it up at work to a Wireless-N D-Link Router and we have an HP All in one laserjet 2840.

So the router is connected to the modem. (done) all installed works great.
Computer is connected wirelessly to the router... internet works etc.
Printer is connected to the router via cable. and Desktop can print through the router no problem on network i've created...

So i have a laptop with XP on it. i just can't get it on the network at all... i've tried everything i found in previous posts. It doesn't even acknowledge an existing network at all... I might be missing something obvious... i'm sorry... please help

Does the XP machine have a wireless card? If not, is it connected via wire to the router?

of course... it does indeed have wireless and i've even tried connecting it directly to the router via LAN cable... and i still can't locate the network or access it

Hmmm, when you go to Network connections and look at your NIC (either wired or wireless) can you check your TCP/IP settings to make sure they are not already set to look for something other than what your home network is using?

Also, have you verified that both devices are actually working in Device Manager?

Screen shots would be helpful at this point because I can't look at what you're looking at....

oh man...i don't even know what to screenshot for you... let me know which screens you want... or would be useful... this whole network bs is getting very frustrating

Just like John said, you'll want to check your TCP/IP settings. If you are using DHCP ensure that you dont have an ip address set up. From a command prompt can you type: "ipconfig /all" and post the results here.

Sorry Daisy for the late reply.

I'll post the relevant screen shots as they show on my computer, and tell you how to get to them - then you can post back with your screen shots.

First off, take a look at How to use the Snipping Tool in Vista to get an idea of how to not only make screen shots, but how to post them here.

Second, these are the screens I am looking for:

You get to this one by going to Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center and then clicking the View Status link on the right hand side of your LAN connection, and then clicking the Properties button in the bottom left of the first screen shot (If you have UAC enabled, you'll need to grant the request for elevated privileges by clicking the Continue button).




You get to this one by clicking on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then clicking the Properties button underneath on the right (If you have UAC enabled, you'll need to grant the request for elevated privileges by clicking the Continue button).




You get this one by clicking the Alternate Configuration tab at the top.