Cannot connect through wired LAN anymore

I've been connecting to the Internet at home through a Netgear wireless router for approximately 9 months now. Before that I connected directly from my Inspiron 600m's Ethernet card (Broadcom 570x Gigabit Integrated Controller) to my Speedstream 5100 DSL modem.

The wifi connection works beautifully, but I occasionally need to bypass my wireless router and connect "old school" to my DSL modem so that I can utilize my university's VPN client to access my office computer via Remote Desktop. (something about a conflict between the encryption on my wifi and the VPN ... not relevant here)

Up to now this "bypass" has worked just fine, but suddenly I find that when I try to connect directly from my Ethernet to the DSL Modem, it cannot successfully acquire an IP address. It just sits there with the "connecting" icon in the system tray, and I am unable to connect to the Internet. I have tried the usual "repair" and "disable/enable" options in the Network Connections menu of Windows (I'm operating XP), to no avail.

Here is what the ipconfig shows when I am connected through my wireless:

Windows IP Configuration Host

Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : GREG_LAPTOP
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . :
Hybrid IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-C6-DD-EA
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, January 13, 2008 8:37:35 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, January 13, 2008 10:05:03 PM

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 570x Gigabit Integrated Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-43-3D-68-A2


Here is what it shows when I disconnect my wireless and try to plug in directly through my Ethernet:

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : GREG_LAPTOP
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-C6-DD-EA

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 570x Gigabit Integrated Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-43-3D-68-A2
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 128.248.2.50 128.248.7.50 128.248.171.50

I'm puzzled as to why it would suddenly stop working. Any help would be most appreciated.

thanks
greg