Ok, here's the deal. I'm an expert at this things we call computers, especially with the whole internet field. But, for the ****ing life of me I cant connect to ANY software that would let me download music. Not Limewire, Frostwire, KaZaA, WinMX, Bearshare, ect. Nothing. I get the infamous '... was unable to initialize and start. This is usually due to a firewall program blocking .. access to the internet or loophole connections on the local machine. Please allow .. to access to the internet and restart .. '

Ya, k, bullshit. I went as far as DELETING all anti virus software. Everything that would pertain to viruses and extra firewalls. All that good stuff. Allowed 6346 in both TCP and UDP. Allowed the programs in my Windows Firewall. Even turned off the firewall to try to connect. I uninstalled all Java and components, uninstalled the program itself, and reinstalled. N O T H I N G. Same box pops up as if its taunting me. I dont understand. At one point when I pressed connect my computer was completely unprotected, unfirewalled, completely open, and yet still, nothing. I have no router. Just cable, wall - box - computer. This makes no sense. Someone please frickin help me.

Here's a simple question for you:

Does your ISP "Bandwidth Shape" your your Internet connection?

Mmm.. what do you mean?

I've been lurking about, waiting to see if someone was finally going to offer up a solution that I haven't already tried multiple times, but to no avail...

2 days ago, LW was working just fine. Yesterday and today, while LW starts just fine, it won't connect, shows that I'm firewalled even when I have all forms of I'net protection disabled and none of the solutions offered here have solved the mystery.

The only thing that has changed between now and 2 days ago is that I downloaded a MS .net framework update, and being that .net framework can affect runtime environments, could this recent update be our problem?

Thanks in advance,

Taylor

...if your ISP measures and controls their subscribers' bandwidth usage.

I thought of this earlier as well, however, I'm able to connect to the I'net and even download and/or stream large files, so I think I can safely rule this out as a possibility on my end.

Might be something to look into as far as your ISP goes, though.

No, I've had this ISP for 6 years, and I've been running LimeWire for almost two. This problem just arose about a week ago. I used LW on a daily basis, collected about 140,000 songs, no problem. Now? Poof.

A lot of ISPs (possibly the majority), all over the world, have introduced "Bandwidth Shaping" onto their Internet networks, what this does is severely restrict to flow of P2P communication while letting browser traffic through untouched.

In some cases LW will see this restriction as a firewall, so while you are possibly pulling your hair out (I'm bald so have no more hair to loose) wondering what firewall LW is claiiming to be blocked by, you may find that the problem is cause by your ISP.

Now a word of caution, most ISPs will not admit that they have imposed anti-P2P measures on their networks or even tell their own help desks staff. So you may have to approach the questioning of your ISP in a somewhat indirect manner.



UK Bob

Sounds like we're in the same boat then...

Anyone else having a similar issue?

And BTW, when I say I've tried everything offered as a solution in this forum, I mean I've tried EVERYTHING. I've searched the archived posts in hopes of finding some info I was overlooking to no avail.

Igotem, have you recently installed any Microsoft updates, involving .net in particular?

The town I'm from runs mainly off an ISP called Armstrong, meaning everyone I know has Armstrong. Everyones LW works in the area, but mine. So scratch that, too!

Umm, well I have automatic updates on.. so I'm guessing if it was installed I wouldn't know..