[Felix The Assassin]

Ok. Good on your accounts, and spyware / virus check. You say the orange light has always been steady? What name brand modem is this? Model number to if you have it.
Most/Some modem troubleshooting guides resemble this:

Power: this lights steadily green when the cable modem is powered up.

Link Status: this light flashes green while the cable modem is acquiring a connection, and lights steadily green when the connection has been acquired successfully. See the Surfboard notes above for details of the acquisition process.

Data Rate: this light flashes when the cable modem is receiving or transmitting data. For early firmware versions, the resting state of this light is off. For later firmware versions, the resting state of this light is off when there is no link to the PC (check your cables and drivers), and steadily lit when there is a working connection.

Multifunction: use unknown at time of writing.

Status: this two-colour LED lights as follows:
Blinking short off, long orange Power-on self-test in progress - Steady orange Power-on self-test failed -
Blinking short off, short orange Searching for downstream channel - Blinking long orange, short green Acquisition negotiations in progress - Blinking short off, short green Denied permission to go online - Steady green Online and operational

In your documentation you should have a static IP address for your ROUTER manufacturer, from here you should also have registered your router etc. Also here, you will find your personal space on the WWW your IP and MAC address In addition you can do all kinds of hardware setting adjustments etc. Be warned, only mess with what you have tolerance for, and always write it down and recheck your writing before making any adjustments. You should find a place to Refresh your account, Re-boot your router, along with a place to update router firmware etc. Attempt the update, which may entail a re-boot, then follow with a re-boot if not already complete. 'Normally' if you can communicate with the router, the malfunction then solely lies within the modem. But... Furthermore, you have another totally your space on the WWW, and that is very similar to your router, but in fact is from your modem. Repeat same procedure once you have the documentation, or your IP address. To answer your what if: Go to ~network connections~I don't know how many you have, but you should have one that identifies itself as connected to the networking controller, or card or whatever you might have. If you look under details in XP, or Properties for others, you will see your IP Address a series by 3# followed by . In addition you will see your subnet. Left click this connection and review tab for 'support', here you will find your 'default gateway' type it into a browser as you read it and hit go. You should now be connected to your Router. Check here that it has the same submask as from your connection details. Start process. If you have an additional connection, that might be to your modem, check for IP address/default gateway there as well. Ensure that your Router is set for 'Assigned By DHCP' checked, if your are running a submask from your modem. Once you locate your modem site, ensure it allows for a DHCP gateway. The standard here is way to liberal, and allows for no set standard. What should work may not, but you should be able to find the basics, and start. Also, do a 'google' on your modem, you might find more and better info there. For security you will not find your modem gateway from your router, this is a second level protection to your PC.