Not connecting to internet- gateway is invalid

[MJMC]

I unplugged the modem & router earlier today. When I turned it back on it wouldn't connect to the internet. Netgear genie says the DSL is fine (as does Century Link). I've rebooted the modem both manually & thru the genie. I've re input my isp user name & password. I have connected directly and thru my airport wireless router. I don't know what else to try. Any ideas would be most appreciated. I'm a novice here and very frustrated. Thanks! The error message reads: verifying there is an existed server interface.
Verified service successfully.
Verifying interface ...
Interface is up.
Testing wireless radio state.
Wirmess radio is turned on.
Testing the gateway.
The gateway is invalid.
Cannot test DNS
Fix adapter: en0 failed.
Rebooting the router.
Testing the gateway.
Test failed.

[MJMC · Accepted solution]

Thanks so much.  With a little help, I finally got it to work.  No idea why it stopped.  

And thanks for the heads up on the model # - I thought I'd put that in.  

[VE6CGX]

Ran ipconfig and see the result? DNS  is usually probided by ISP as a default but you can change it if you want to. Tried to ping the gateway?

[MJMC]

thanks for the response VE6CGX. When I say novice, I mean true novice. I don't really understand what you said there. 1)how do I run ipconfig? do I even want to change the DNS? 2)how do I ping the gateway 3)what will that tell me?

Thanks!

[michaelkenward]

When you have a combination of a modem and router the order in which you start things is important. Here's what Netgear says:

Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:

• Turn off and unplug the modem.
• Turn off the modem router and computers.
• Plug in the modem and turn it on. Wait 2 minutes.
• Turn on the modem router and wait 2 minutes.
• Turn on the computers.

You may have to reset the router to make it forget what it discovered if you started things in the wrong order.

You might get better advice if you told people what Netgear hardware you have.

[MJMC · Accepted solution]

Thanks so much.  With a little help, I finally got it to work.  No idea why it stopped.  

And thanks for the heads up on the model # - I thought I'd put that in.  

[michaelkenward]

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@MJMC wrote:

And thanks for the heads up on the model # - I thought I'd put that in.  

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Maybe you did, but the Netgear forum does not share that information with the rest of us.

I thought they had fixed that. Apparently not.