Unable to Connect to Internet

[Tomray]

Hello, got a problem I can’t figure out. I am unable to access the Internet. This happened right after I ran CCleaner and then defraged the hard drive. Here is some info. The desktop (Windows Vista) and the laptop (Windows XP) connect to the router with an Ethernet cable. The laptop can connect to the Internet fine. I switched cables and got the same thing so I ruled out the cables. On the desktop, I did an ipconfig /all and got the following:
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address: 169.254.24.48 (Preferred)
Subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway:
I tried this: Netsh winsock reset and turned off computer. Turned it back on and got same problem.
In Device Manager the Network card says it is working. I can also ping it (127.0.0.1) without any problems.
DHCP and Autoconfiguration are enabled. I also noticed NetBIOS over tcpip is enabled if that helps.
I don’t want to assign a static IP address because it was working before.
Anyone have any ideas? I also turned off modem, then router, then desktop. Turned modem on, then router, then desktop, no luck.
Tomray

[jdc2000]

A 169.254.xx.xx IP address indicates that the PC has not received a proper IP address from the DHCP server. You might check to see that the service that requests an IP address is running.

[Tomray]

I went into services and noticed that the DHCP client started automatically. Is there another service I should at? For grins, I stopped and started the DHCP client, rebooted, and no luck. I also disabled IP Autoconfiguration address in the registry, rebooted, and that didn't work. I changed it back though. I also disabled IPv6, no luck. This is driving me crazy! I am beginning to think its something within the operating system. Any ideas? Thanks for responding JDC.

[frebo]

why dont you try a system restore to before you ran the cleaner and see if that works.

[Broni]

Go Start>Start Search, type in:
cmd
Click OK.

In Command Prompt window, type in following commands, and hit Enter after each one:
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Restart computer.

[jenae]

Hi, this is vista you ran the right command :-"Netsh winsock reset"... UAC would have prevented it . Go to start|run| accessories| command prompt|right click on command prompt and run as administrator. Do the same for this command as well if the first does not fix it:- Type:-" netsh int ip reset" (without the quotes)at the Command Prompt press enter
Restart the computer.

[Tomray]

Ran a full scan with an antivirus & two antispywares and it did not find anything.

Did the following at cmd: sfc /scannow and it did not find anything wrong.
Since I wasn’t getting anywhere, I decided to take frebo’s advice and do a system restore to five days ago and that did the trick. I didn't see jenae's response until now but I would have tried that. What did I learn? Anytime that I’m about to add a new program or make any kind of adjustment, I will manually create a restore point first.
Thank you all for responding.
Tomray

[frebo]

glad you got it fixed