I dont know what the problem is
 

I used to be able to connect to limewire but now i cannot. My computer is currently running windows XP with SP2 and. My router is a Linksys wrt54gp2. My internet provider is Atlantic Broadband. I have not made any changes to my connection that I am aware of so i have no clue why i cant connect anymore. Also i have updated to the latest version of limewire. Please help me if you think you may know the solution or cause to my problem.

Have you read through this?
Connection problems? Check here first!

Do this test & see if it works
http://www3.limewire.com:6346

There are a few hints that Atlantic may be using traffic shaping for p2p but nothing to say that they're actually blocking. Have you tried using any other p2p apps & if so, do they connect? You could try changing to a higher port
Alternative Ports
If you're using port forwarding, you'll have to change that for the new port number. You'll also have to change port numbers within your software firewall configuration;)

Yeah I've read through the connection problems stuff and I've run the test and it works. I have messed around with different port numbers but I dont know how i can be sure that everything is configured correctly.

As long as your listening port, connection port & port allowed within your software firewall are the same then you should be ok. You can check your firewall configuration here
Firewall setup

If you have port forwarding set up, check that the right port number's selected within options > advanced > firewall config. Also go back through your router's setup pages & make sure that you've configured things properly & saved any changes (I have to do a 'save & reboot' of my modem to save p/f changes).

Earlier I tried setting all ports to the default 6346 following the Firewall settup instructions. I was unsure whether i should select UPnP or port forward (I tried doing both).
I looked into it and it turns out that Atlantic is using traffic shapping. If that is the problem then what exactly can I do to fix it? Also I looked at my router setting and observed that UPnP was disabled so i enabled it and rebooted my router but I still cannot connect to limewire.

Did you set up port forwarding within your router, or did you just check the button within LW's firewall config? Did you set up a static IP address first? If not, your port forwarding won't work. There are very good instructions below
http://www.portforward.com/english/r...2/Limewire.htm

If your ISP's traffic shaping, it doesn't necessarily mean that you can't connect... means that your bandwidth will be shaped & so your download speed will suffer but many people are still able to connect ok. Try going through the portforward.com instructions (if you already haven't) & just choose a higher port instead of the default 6346 (even though it's not blocked). Going to a higher port is about the only thing that may make a difference if an ISP's shaping. You could check with Atlantic & find out whether they only apply shaping at certain times... some ISPs only do this during their "peak" hours.

Ok that was helpful advice. I followed the portforward.com instuctions and that seemed to go pretty well. Also I sellected a higher port number but I am still unable to connect. I think I will try calling atlantic broadband tomorrow to see if they can help. I feel like I have everything set up correctly now so i have no clue what else to do.

You do still have your LW set to connect at startup, don't you (tools > options > connections)? Have you tried the old faithful file > connect?
Just in case, for some reason, your preferences have not stuck:)

Yes It is set to connect at startup and I have tried file>connect

Also the Firewall Icon is displayed in the bottom lefthand corner even when i dissable the firewall. Does that mean anything?

Yeah sorry, just that sometimes preferences do strange things. Let us know how things go with your ISP.

:confused: yeah I have one other PC at my house with limewire and it stopped connecting too. I havent tried messing with the settings on that one at all yet. Also I know of one other friend of mine who has Atlantic and he was unable to connect either last time i checked.

Found this on Google, as I said before it's about shaping rather than blocking but maybe things have changed in the last few months. This is from March this year:
http://www.atlanticbb-sucks.com/

It's definitely worth calling them & finding out if they've started blocking. If you could post what they say back here, it will help out other Atlantic users who are having problems!

I called Atlantic and they told me that they are not blocking but they are definately limiting p2p sharing on their network because it was slowing down their service. I asked if that would prevent me from being able to connect to p2p networks and he told me that it may or may not depending on what times of the day I am online. I still do not know if this is the reason why I cannot connect or if it is something else.

Attn: UMDFiddler: I am also with atlantic broadband and the bearshare downloads are over an hour long...if i can even open bearshare...i recently switched from bell south dsl and had no problems then...am wondering if you found away around the traffic shaping with atl bb???? god i hate to go back to bell south, but this is rediculous!!!!!

No I have not found a way arround atlantic bb traffic shaping. Im not even entirely sure that traffic shaping is the problem though i cant think of anything else since i have tried everything to fix it so for now i have given up on using any p2p networks. I would swich ISPs but I dont think i have any other good options. Were you able to connect to Gnutella when you had atlantic bb?

Yes I have connected, but lately not hardly. I just found this article which may explain my bearshare problems http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/nationa...share.html...i am now going to download limewire but have no hopes...am pretty sure it is Atl bb messing with the traffic shaping for p2p ports. Also found out that we don't have a stable IP address so can't create a static address...which I think might have allowed the use of proxies....will keep you updated if you will do the same...

Sure i will let you know if i learn anything new and if you figure out any tricks to get arround this traffic shaping let me know.