Odd connection problem

Well, I have been having trouble connecting onto the internet with my laptop since today. It says there is limited connectivity but it worked fine yesterday. I think I tried all the remedies for small problems such as restarting the computer, pulling plug and putting it back in, using windows repair, turning off firewalls and whatnot but nothing is working. The other desktop on the same network is fine though. I thought it could be the Ethernet cable but when I used a new one, it still doesn't work. Using a different switch on the router doesn't help either. I haven't tried wireless since there is no wireless network in my house but could it be that my ethernet socket is broken?

The router still lights up when I connect my laptop to it and my the ethernet socket lights up as well so I'm not so sure. I'm sure I didn't mess around any settings or whatever but that is probably the most likely case. I'm using vista home by the way.

I'll appreciate any advice, thanks.

I'm experiencing a very similar problem that started about a month ago. I've tried all the basic stuff like you have (checking wires, resetting everything, etc) and have now gone to the extent of a reformat (didn't fix anything) and have even just installed a new ethernet card which doesn't work either. virus scans show nothing as well.