i just noticed that in my firewall advanced settings the port stealthing option is checked. It says, "this options ensures that blocked and inactive ports do not respond to connection attempts." Should i uncheck this option????

First off, I don't know the Norton firewall & I really don't understand much about port stealthing but I think you can leave it checked...you'll open whatever ports you need within your firewall anyway.
Someone else here probably knows more about this & can add to the thread if my advice isn't right in this instance

'Use UPnP' should be checked if you're using a modem/router with UPnP enabled. If you're going to try port forwarding, you'll have to check the 'Manual port forward' button & add the port number you've forwarded in the box.

When you've chosen a new listening port number, change it within the firewall config page, within your Norton firewall & also use this same number when port forwarding within your modem. Same number in the manual port forward box too.

I decided not to setup portfowarding right now because Limewire says that in most cases it can work aroung firewalls, and Norton firewall is a pretty popular software. I do not have my Windows XP firewall on and under the Norton firewall options "use UPnP" is checked. As stated earlier I am using Motorola SBG900 modem, Could this be whats possibly blocking LW? And, is there any way LW (or some other source) can tell me exactly where the firewall is coming from? If so, where do I find this info to correct it?

oh yea and i only have one green bar under network connection.

I will follow any instructions given to help LW connect--even the portfowarding one providing it is absolutly neccessary. Because I read that if I had to restart my computer for some reason the new static IP address may be reset and then I would have to start all over again, Is that true?
I have like several different new questions on this thread. Sorry that they're not all in one message, but right after I send the message I'll think of a new point to make/ask. thanx a mill. RLC