How do you connect? Firewall and routers need to allow gnutella on at least port 6346 and can inhibit connections.

Sometimes a new install conflicts with old preferences, so finding and deleting those

If you have a lot of files to share, then the first time those files are prepared for sharing can take a while and is fairly processor intensive (check the beside the red/green dot for progress).

If this doesn't help, post back with more info like OS and LW version you use, your connection speed/type to the internet, and how many files you share.

Cheers