trouble with netgear 54mbps wireless router

My friend bought a Netgear 54mbps wireless router wgr614 v7 for me and I tried to install it today. I put in the cd and followed the instructions, but it would not get me through! Then I tried the manual connection, but still no internet… I noticed that something that should not have been happening was occuring: the wireless light on the netgear was on, when it should not have been on. Do you guys have any advice on what I should do?