Okay, the Realtek nic works on the laptop, but the built-in Intel wireless nic also won't connect to my router. It's doing the same thing, constantly trying to acquire an IP address. I know there's nothing wrong with the wireless though because my gf's laptop is connected as well as my work laptop. Not sure what's going on but it's obviously just local to this laptop.
UPDATE: Weird, my gf's laptop can no longer connect but my work laptop is still connected.
btw, using WPA2 and AES. Another weird thing is that when I was connecting with my work laptop, it was asking for my device passkey which is "located or printed on the device". Sure enough, there was an 8-digit number that I typed in and worked. However, typing that key in on the other laptops doesn't work.