Question : I'm connected to the internet, but I can't get to web pages?

My old laptop (we'll call it #1 for this question's sake) stopped connecting to the internet last week.  I've tried everything to get reconnected but nothing gets me to the web.  When I boot, it temporarily connects and starts to download MS Updates but then stops when the connection is lost.

Yesterday I was going to access one of my other computers at another house via LogMeIn and noticed that computer #1 was "online and ready to connect".  I was slightly amazed given the fact it has not been able to surf the web, but now I can connect via the internet to it?  So I did, and it worked.  I was remotely connected to computer #1 using computer #2 and they were both on the same network.  I thought that's why I can access it (because they're on the same network) so I remoted in to computer #3 (on a different network) and tried to remote in to #1.

It worked.  And I'm baffled as to why #1 won't surf the web, but can be remotely accessed via LogMeIn and the internet.  I've changed from the automatically selected DNS address it receives to a free DNS address and that doesn't work.

Can anyone tell me why I can be connected to the internet, but can't surf?  Thanks.

Answer : I'm connected to the internet, but I can't get to web pages?

Well here is how you can rule out dns via tcp issues.  If you get into a dos prompt and ping 4.2.2.1 you can make sure you have connectivity.  If you telnet to port 53 of 4.2.2.1 you can make sure your machine can do dns lookups.  If you are connecting on and off have you looked in the event viewer to see if there are IP conflicts or any errors in "system" that could be causing this problem?