I recently had problems with connecting to the Limewire/Gnutella netwok. I followed advice submitted by forum users, deleting .limewire directory, have even reloaded software a couple times. My solution to this problem is to open task manager (CTRL - ALT - DELETE) and shut down the programme javaw.exe which loads upon start up. Then open Limewire (double click on desktop icon)
For me, this loads the Limewire programme and connects first time each time I have tried.
Hope this may help others with connection problems.