I'm still eager to find out the connection status of the laptop whilst it's having trouble connecting to the internet. I've attached a small file that should bring up the command prompt regardless of any restrictions the system may have. If your concerned about running a file of its type, heres some simple instructions to recreate it yourself:
http://www.wikihow.com/Quickly-Copy-a-Usable-Command-Prompt-at-School
Make sure to copy, or screen shot the results so we help diagnose your problem better.