DescentBB

i have a laptop that will not acknowledge a network connection, it just sticks on "Identifying"

Disable and then re-enable the connection (or run a repair). Check the system time and make sure it is set properly. Reboot the router (or whatever is supplying DHCP). Make sure the system is attempting to get an IP via DHCP rather than a static IP. Uninstall the connection and then reinstall (from device manger, so the driver gets refreshed/reset to defaults). If its wifi, make sure the password (if any) is correct and the network isn't filtering by mac address. If it is wired, check the cables and connections.

did all that......... even went into a Administrator Elevated CMD prompt and used netsh commands to reset the winsocks, ipv4 and v6 protocols.

Bad Hardware maybe?

Perhaps, if it does it on a different network. You could always torrent a linux live CD ISO and boot from that, if it can connect to the network then its a software problem, but if it also experiences the same issue, more likely hardware.

I've seen that with an old Vista laptop of mine that had an old wifi card which wouldn't do WPA-2. It would get stuck trying to identify the authentication type.

the thing is, it WILL connect to the network, but wont allow Internet. it stays stuck on the "Identifying" and doesnt allow any access other than Local.

Manually create wifi connection, vista is attempting to admin the router during it's negotiation... Linksys router per chance?

will try that tomorrow

didnt get the chance to try, but saw your edit bubba, no its a U-Verse router