Vista - Internet problems

I just recently got a new computer and had troubles setting up the internet. For some reason, the Vista machine was having trouble recognizing the internet and refused to work. With my old and now dead machine that ran XP, it was just plug in and it worked great.

The internet works extremely sporadically and is about as reliable as a jail cell made out of tissue paper. The internet will crash and lead to the wonderful statement of "Limited or No Connectivity" and now I can't even connect to my broadband because it asks for my ISP Password and Username. This is something I do not have and no other computer that we have at the house has ever asked for such a thing.

I have searched and read all the forums pertaining to this problem but starting/resetting my internet or router did nothing and nor did playing with Internet Protocol Settings. The internet was working decently for a few weeks and than decided that it needed a password and username for me to connect after the power to the house was cut for a few minutes.

To help us diagnose it next time it says litlle or no connectivity typr this

searh>cmd>ipconfig /flush, then ipconfig /renew

let us know the results

Ok, now my internet is just trying to make me angry...

After about 30 hours of ranting, pleading, and nearly throwing my machine out of the window, it now suddenly works.

The only thing that I did was plug my computer into a separate internet provider box (telecommute to work, so we have a separate box in the room adjacent to the computer) and it still refused to work. I plugged it back into the original box, and turned it off. I turned it on and it now works.

It happened before, but I didn't think that plugging it into a different box would be a remedy. If/when it goes down again, I'll do the cmd prompt. I just hope I don't need to get an old priest and a young priest...

Best of luck.
-Eddie