Suddenly my laptop is only connecting to the family network through my sling box, unable to locate the internet or the "default gateway" as Windows Live trouble shoot called it..

Can someone give me some advice on how to solve this problem, it happened before and was solved by turning the router off, then back on 10 seconds later. It failed miserably this time...

Not an expert at this kinda stuff, but if I were in your situation, I'd call the company and ask for help there...

For me, they usually get the job done.

If I do that it could be months before I actually get it back, possibly only to hear theres nothing that can be done

I hacked the network thanks to google for help and got into my wireless :3