Help! Gateways won't create internet VPN

Long story but I want to include all of the facts.

I have two Gateway computers and one HP computer at home. All three connect to the internet through a Linksys wireless router. The Gateway laptop has a built in wireless adapter. Both desktops Gateway and HP use Linksys USB adapters.
Between two and three weeks ago both Gateways lost internet access through the wireless. I don’t know if it happened at the exact same time but it was pretty close.
On both Gateways I went into the device manager which told me that there was a problem with the wireless adapters. I cabled both computers directly to the router so the computers could update/repair the drivers. This was successful. Both computers can now access the internet wirelessly through their respective adapters.

My problem now is that when I try to create a VPN to connect to work, both computers refuse to create them as internet VPNs. Both will create them as dial-up connections. I have tried different ways to create the VPN. I have clicked the button that says never dial a connection. I have disabled the dial-up modems. Both machines continue to create only a dial-up connection.

I can’t tell if it is a Windows issue or a Gateway issue. I keep coming back to Gateway because that is the common link. The HP shows none of the same symptoms. (The HP desktop and the Gateway desktop are running XP media center and the Gateway laptop is running XP home.)

I emailed back and forth with Gateway support. They keep sending me to a MS web page on how to set up a VPN and it is not their issue, they can’t help me any more.

Any ideas? Where else can I go? Reload Windows? (what will stop the same thing from happening again if we don’t know what caused it?)

Thanks

Joe K