I seem to have finally got my connection sorted out, and now LimeWire is showing it can receive direct connections and the firewall / router icon has disappeared. In addition the bug report example in LW - Options - Bug report is now showing as "Received incoming this session: True" which means uploading should now be fine.

I don't know if you got the problem sorted out. If not, this is what I did (the instructions in the above link were correct except for one important thing - the IP address to input!)

This is for BT Voyager 205 ADSL router, it may be the same for other BT Voyager routers too...

Before enabling port forwarding via the BT Router Manager, in LimeWire go to Tools - Options - Advanced. Click on Advanced - Firewall Config. Once in there change Router Config from the default "Use UPnP" to Manual Port Forward. Then ensure that the port number in that box matches the Listening Port "Listen on Port" number. i have them both as the old LimeWire default, 6346.

Click Apply - OK and then close LimeWire.

then the router...

1. Open the Router Manager
2. Click on Advanced then advanced once more and enter User name and password (the default for both is admin)
3. Click on IP Routing
4. On the NAT Options drop down choice, select NAT Virtual Server / DMZ
5. Click Add
6. A box headed NAT Rule Information will appear.

Enter as follows

Leave Rule Flavor as "Virtual Server"

Rule ID: Enter any number, the lower the number the higher the priority the rule will be applied. As I had no other rules there I entered "1" (without the """" of course!)

Protocol: leave as "Any"

LAN IP Address: this is where the instructions at the link above went wrong - they say to enter the PUBLIC IP address. In fact it should be the PRIVATE address of your computer. Mine is 192.168.1.3, so that is what I entered. To find your Private IP address, click on Start on your computer - then click on the Run box. Type "cmd" (without the """" again) then in the box that displays type "ipconfig" (again without the """"!). Your IP address should now display - it may be the same as mine, 192.168.1.3. Enter the IP address into the boxes back at the Router Manager Nat Rule Add box

Destination Port: leave as "Any other port" then type the LW port number (mine is 6346)

Local Port: exactly as above, mine is again 6346

Click on "Apply", then when the confirmation box appears (Nat Rule Added Successfully), click Close. Then when back at the main Add A Rule page click the red Save button, then again at the confirmation screen click Close.

Close the Router Manager

Start up LimeWire and you should notice the firewall icon has gone (give it a second or two, mine initially still shows the wall on the globe but then changes). Click on Direct Connect at the bottom of the Search screen and you should now see your IP number rather than a message saying you can't receive direct connections.

Phew! I hope this wasn't TOO confusing. Incidentally, if you don't have the Router Manager icon on your computer any more, you can get to the router by typing (usually) 192.168.1.1 in your browser.