Computer Repairman - Will Work for Free

I've been playing computer repairman for the last couple of days. One of my friends was complaining that his computer was running really slow and had a bunch of garbage popping up all of the time. I suggested that a full rebuild might improve things and he decided it was a good idea. So, I've spent the last two evenings helping him back-up and rebuild his machine. For the most part it went okay. We got the OS back up and running with all of the appropriate drivers. One of the ancillary things he wanted fixed (playing DVDs) got fixed and I have loaned him a boat-load of software/games to play with. I wasn't using them so I figured, "what the hey?" The only thing we didn't get setup was his wireless network. He's got a wireless router already setup that he's hard-wired into but he wanted to get the wireless portion working so that he could use his laptop with it. For some reason the computer won't see the router to configure it even though it appears to be running through it. I traced the cables through his rat's nest tangle as best I could and it seems like the computer is physically connected through it. But the computer has an IP address that makes it look like it's not using the router at all. Most home routers are configured to use similar subnets and this one is not using any IP subnet that looks familiar. Plus, when I run the router setup software (which we shouldn't really need) it fails on the detecting-the-router step. But the computer connects to the internet just fine. It's very bizarre. I told the guy that we needed to verify the physical connections beyond a doubt. The two options were to bypass his rat's nest tangle with new wires (which he didn't have) or de-tangle the cable mess. He kind of opted for the second option and I left him for the night to de-tangle on his own. I kind of draw the line at figuring out someone's cabling issues. I have my own rat's nest at home to deal with and I don't want to deal with someone else's. I haven't heard back from him yet, but I also haven't seen him since then. I'll follow-up with him at church on Sunday and make certain he knows I'm still willing to help him once the cabling mess is sorted out. Fun, fun, fun!