wireless broadband issue.

I'm having a trouble mentioned in a previous thread.
the dependency service or group failed to start
I'm making this thread a. because the methods offered in that thread don't appear to have worked for me, b. because I'm completely unfamiliar with broadband and wireless technology.
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in the tray I see the icon attempting to connect when the desktop has loaded, as usual, but then it tells me 'no connections are available'

on network and sharing center, under the "View your basic network information and set up connections" heading, it says "unknown", where it used to show the network map before this problem happened, and underneath that it says "The dependency service or group failed to start".

troubleshooting says it does not detect a problem, and offers no assistance.

I'm currently on an XP machine where the modem (DSL-302G) and wireless router (TL-WR340G) are all plugged in (i.e., not accessing the internet wirelessly), so I know I have access, and the laptop (which uses Win7) should have access, if only things were configured correctly.
(for a couple months or so it had been working--it is only in the last week the laptop seems to not be configured correctly to access the internet, and I don't know of any changes that would have taken place to cause the problem)

on the XP machine, the netsh winsock reset catalog command was accepted, but I was told netsh int ip reset reset.log hit has invalid syntax. I then restarted both this PC and the laptop.

I ran chkdsk on the Win7 laptop ("Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations"), then attempted the netsh winsock reset catalog command, but this is what CMD [running as administrator] stated:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>netsh winsock reset catalog
Initialization Function InitHelperDll in NSHHTTP.DLL failed to start with error
code 10107
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\Windows\system32>

here is the IPConfig /all info, if that is of any use:

C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : User-HP
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 5C-AC-4C-90-CD-B0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 60-EB-69-65-1D-53
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{8B7F2631-93A5-4F50-9BA1-C3DC241F015D}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{B63157DA-711D-4A07-97EC-452EA140461F}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Windows\system32>

could the trouble have been caused by an improper shutdown?
the laptop now loads VERY slowly--it spends a lot of time on the Windows 'Welcome' screen (the blue screen with the animated loading circle icon, not the black pulsing Windows icon screen), then the screen goes black for an unnerving length of time before the task bar finally loads, then desktop, and finally the Windows sound is heard.
Once that occurs, in the tray a padlock icon appears temporarily (I can't seem to mouse-over and make it remain there long enough to write the entire message) with a message about the "System Event Notification" service not working. After this is when it tries to connect and then tells me there are no connections.

also, I've attempted to load in safe mode after a restart (elsewhere someone suggested a 'repair' option, and asked if the person had problems getting into Safe Mode). Restarting, the laptop goes practically straight to the black Windows screen to the blue Welcome screen, showing me no CMD prompt looking system screen and not presenting such a screen from which to choose a Safe Mode option. I pushed F8 frequently, it doesn't appear that there was ever an opportunity for it to bring up Safe Mode.

does anyone know what I should try or what the cause might be?

it sounds like it may be the same problem as this thread (as this problem only began when the earthquake occurred a week ago)
https://www.sevenforums.com/network-s...s-networks.htm
(not sure why the above link is now defaulting to the forum index)

what's this 'wireless adaptor' one of the respondants speaks of? (is that the modem-looking thing itself, or something inside the computer I'm trying to use wireless on?)

investigating into what 2xg suggested in the thread mentioned in the initial post, I've acquired a few error codes, if those help...

2xg said:

From the troublesome computer verify that all your network services are Started from Control Panel=> Admin Tools=> Services:
• COM+ Event System (for WZC issues)
• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Wireless Zero Configuration ( XP wireless configurations only)
• WLAN AutoConfig ( Vista wireless configurations only)
• Workstation

DHCP & WLAN are indefinitely listed as "starting" not "started"

there was no "Wireless..." anything listed

Computer Browser started successfully

and three items failed to start:

DNS Client - error 10107 ('a system call has failed')
Network Location Awareness - code: 1073781502* and said to review system event log for details--Event Viewer failed, saying 'unavailable...verify that the service is running' (which obviously it isn't)).
WLAN AutoConfig - error 1747, 'authentication service unknown'

(this remained the case after attempting the DNSFlush bat the sticky thread in this forum advises to use)

also, if this helps narrow down the source of the problem any: I tried hooking up the laptop locally rather than wirelessly, since the wired connection is fine for the desktop computer, but this didn't work, so maybe the problem isn't with the wireless hardware or config?

*(apparently this isn't related to Microsoft? (in case it's relevant: the laptop is a Compaq, the Network Adapters (both listed in Device Manager as working properly) are a Realtek PCIe FE family controller, and an AR9285 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Adapter)