Xbox Live Problem (Cannot connect to xbox live)?

I just got a 12 month xbox live subscription, so this afternoon I plugged in my xbox to the router directly with a ethernet cable. I have done this before, me and a friend system link every once in a while when he comes over, never had a problem.

Anyways, I go do a network check to see if everything is up and running. It connects to the Network, and the Internet, but xbox live does not connect.

the little bar below the xbox live symbol loads half full, then all of a sudden a error pops up stating that xbox live could not connect.

to make this short, i tried various solutions, and all of them did not work. I tried restarting the router, restarting the modem, switching the ethernet cables, port forwarding (i think it was port 3074) disabling my firewall and so on. the only thing i can think of is to connect my xbox into my modem, but my modem is in my sticky, damp, rotting basement, and i dont feel like unplugging it an moving it upstairs cause my parents would slap me silly

any suggestions?