Wireless router isn't being recognized by my laptop anymore for no reason, how do I repair this?

[qinazaza]

I have a sony vaio laptop operating on Vista. I have never had a problem connecting to the internet before. Suddenly I logged onto my laptop this evening and the internet won't connect, but it was just hours before. I called my internet service provider and they talked me through setting and said that it was a problem with my wireless router and to contact them. I have a LINKSYS router. I called LINKSYS and they want to charge me $50 just to talk me through some options, with no promise it will work. The wireless internet is working on my parents laptop. I dont download anything, I am the only one who uses my laptop and I have not touched or changed any settings, but the message beside my network says "settings do not match", and now it won't recognize the LINKSYS network at all (conveniently RIGHT after I called LINKSYS). Can anyone offer any advice? please....