Bob, See my answers below...



Kdsimms

I have been reading your problem with an amount of mild disbelief that you could be having so much problem but this "things" are sent to test us.

I'd like to ask a few questions which I hope you can answer.

1) You said that your wired desktop works with Limewire but your wireless desktop does not, apart from the modem connection what is the difference between the two desktops?

The hardwired box is running Windows XP Media Center. The wireless one XP Pro.
Both have McAfee Virus/Firewall and SpySweeper.


Unless you say something different, I shall presume that you are using both desktops to access the internet via your (single multi-user) modem.

Yes


2) You said that your modem has UPnP enabled, that's how LW on your desktop can work without port forwarding, therefore have you initialised UPnP on you wireless desktop? Simply because I don't believe it is currently turned on in XP by default, unlike the bad old days.

UPnP is enabled. I can reach my router via the wireless PC and make port adjustments. But to make sure I had it enabled, I looked it up and I *think* you may be on to something.

My Windows Firewall is off. You go to the Exceptions tab, UPnP Framework is enabled. If you hit the edit button, TCP port is 2869 and the UDP port is 1900. Could this be the source of my problem, with ports not matching?


3) Have you enabled WEP or WPA encryption on your modem? Although it should not make a difference (and I would never recommend the following to a novice) I suggest you turn off encryption, enable UPnP on WinXP Pro, LW and your modem and then see what happens. But don't leave your modem in this state for too long because you effectively have no security.

Yes, WPA security is on.


4) You also say the you don't see the "brick wall in front of the globe", so it is likely that you do not have a "firewall" problem. Do you get an error message when LW cannot connect to the internet?

That's incorrect. I indicated earlier that LW detects a firewall, even tho McAfee and the router firewalls are off.


One other thing occurs to me, I recall that some Comcast members have in the past said that your ISP sometimes "bandwidth shape" (aka throttle) P2P connections, this might be something worth looking into.

I don't even know how to investigate that angle. But I doubt that is the problem, since the hardwired has no bandwidth issues. And I have throttled back LW on uploads also.


Hope my suggestions can help throw some light on your predicament.

I think they might have with the UPnP enable question.

UK Bob

Thanks Bob. I will be visiting your country in September and touring around on the back of a Harley with two of my buddies.

I look forward to your ideas on the UPnP port issue.

Ken
USA