Ok, thanks heaps for this. here is my routing tables list after the problem has occured (ie I have no connection).
192.168.10.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.10.2
default via 192.168.10.1 dev eth0
broadcast 127.255.255.255 dev lo table 255 proto kernel scope link src 127.0.0.1
broadcast 192.168.10.255 dev eth0 table 255 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.10.2
local 192.168.10.2 dev eth0 table 255 proto kernel scope host src 192.168.10.2
broadcast 192.168.10.0 dev eth0 table 255 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.10.2
broadcast 127.0.0.0 dev lo table 255 proto kernel scope link src 127.0.0.1
local 127.0.0.1 dev lo table 255 proto kernel scope host src 127.0.0.1
local 127.0.0.0/8 dev lo table 255 proto kernel scope host src 127.0.0.1
local ::1 via :: dev lo proto none metric 0 mtu 16436 advmss 16376 hoplimit 4294967295
local fe80::208:a1ff:fe03:f114 via :: dev lo proto none metric 0 mtu 16436 advmss 16376 hoplimit 4294967295
fe80::/64 dev eth0 metric 256 expires 2133422sec mtu 1500 advmss 1440 hoplimit 4294967295
ff00::/8 dev eth0 metric 256 expires 2133422sec mtu 1500 advmss 1440 hoplimit 4294967295
unreachable default dev lo proto none metric -1 error -101 hoplimit 255
Here is the ouput of 'ip route get 72.14.207.99' (google's ip)
72.14.207.99 via 192.168.10.1 dev eth0 src 192.168.10.2
cache mtu 1500 advmss 1460 hoplimit 64
And now, the output of 'arp -n'
Address HWtype HWaddress Flags Mask Iface
192.168.10.1 (incomplete) eth0
Hope this helps. Thanks again.