And confirming that you set your laptop to be within the IP range of the router, like 192.168.0.2, and have ethernet cable fron router LAN port, not WAN. Then with one of the common, major browsers (IE, Firefox), try and access 192.168.0.1.
These may seem like overly simple instructions, but making sure.
I'm thinking that, even if you get it working, the damage would make it less than trustworthy.