Wireless help! I have a Netopia DSL modem for my desktop that is also set for wireless but my laptop can't connect?

I am inferring that your DSL modem has a wireless access point built into it (My cable modem and Wifi access point are separate). If that's the case, you probably have some security to set up on the access point and the notebook computer. This is either WEP or WPA (recommended), which are both encryption protocols that are designed to keep unauthorized users from freeriding on your connection.

You will need to go into the setup program for the access point and find out what the security key is, then set that up on your notebook. You should have some kind of indicator in the notification area (next to the clock) at the bottom of your screen, that will tell you if you have a signal to the access point, and how good it is. If you have that, then you are probably OK with authentification to the access point, but you may not be good to go on your provider's network.

Goto the Start menu, open up the Run box, and type in CMD. This will give you a list of all of the connections on your computer that are currently active. If you see things in the list, it means you have connectivity to something but not necessarily the Internet.

Will give you the IP addresses of everything you have connectivity to. This will be a group of 4 numbers separated by periods(.). You can ignore anything that begins with the number 127, that's your machine.

If you see something that starts with 192.168, you have some connectivity to the access point and/or the other computers in your house. If you are good there, contact your service provider and see if they can tell you what you need to do to get on line. You may need to authenticate the computer itself to your ISP before they will let you access the Internet.