WRT54's have buggy firmware, so yes port forwarding is best option.
Only one software firewall should be active. They conflict otherwise and result in less security, not more. So choose between Norton & McAfee.
Try turning all of momentarily & see if it connects, if it does then it's something with your settings that is at fault.
Norton FW needs to have the firewall rule deleted and replaced each time you update LW or Norton.

Cox is not as innocent as they pretend to be.

Make sure you use a different connection and listening port to the other LW your wife uses. That is very important.

If your router is port forwarded, then your LW firewall setting should be also set to manual port forward.
But you say your router is set to UPnP when you port forwarded. ?

LOTR, I read your next thread after mine and you mentioned Cox.net is not as innocent as they seem. I have Comcast.net, any thoughts on that? I still think there is a firewall on this computer I cannot find. I put in the "search" field "firewall." Any other suggestions. We have Symantic Antivirus but I cannot find a firewall setting on that but I am going to try to look deeper into that, but I am not really super=computer saavy, so am trying my best. Thanks! Debbie

1. OS version? (eg: Windows 98) If using Windows Vista, please tell us whether you have an Administrator user account. Windows ME
2. What firewalls you have? Microsoft windows
3. How much ram? don't know how to answer that, not certain where to find it. sorry.
4. Hard Disk space available? 47 Gb
5. Connection type? (eg: dialup, broadband, cable, etc.) Cable
6. Modem & router brand name & model numbers? Linksys WRT54G
7. Where are you trying to connect from (house, appartment complex, school, student accomodation, work, etc.)? House
8. What version of LimeWire (LW) & Java do you have? (Go to LW's menu Help>About LW...) Will show both LW & Java version. LW 4.16.6, Java 1.5.0_06
9. Who is your ISP (Internet Service Provider)? Comcast
10. Do this simple test for us. Using your browser go here: http://www3.limewire.com:6346/ The page should say 'Your test worked!'. What happens when you go there? test worked
11. Are you sharing the connection with other computers or p2p sharing programs? If yes, please give details of set up. not sharing
12. Is this a your 1st try at LW or is this a new problem with an experienced user. Have used LW about 2 1/2 years, new problem.
13. Do you see a brick wall in front of the blue world icon at the bottom of LW's interface? _ click here to see Sample image yes
14. For those using a modem/router, how is your modem/router set up...are you port forwarding or is UPnP enabled? I don't know how to see if we are port forwarding, I have LW set up on UPnP tho and changed port to 65000 as well as changing it on Windows firewall.
15. What security programs are you using (antivirus etc)? Some people might not be aware that their security suite includes a firewall Symantec, and I wonder if there is something in there that is causing this.
16. What country are you living in? US

I did all these tests and kept opening LW to see if the wall was still there. When I saw the wall, I got frustrated, closed LW, and went back to work on another solution. Wellllllllll, I decided to actually try a search with the wall icon in the corner. Duh! It worked.

I dunno what the wall/globe icon means. Maybe it means that LW is firewalling crap out of its own searches, but after I did the deletion of the preferences folder and the switching of the gnutella.net folder, I still saw the wall/globe icon, but the "bars" were back, so I tried and search and "bam!"

Soooo, maybe try a search if you still have the wall/globe and see if it works.

As far as ISP's, the cox service guy told me that comcast is limiting p2p or stopping it all together and that cox is moving in that direction. He was pretty candid to say that cox doesn't like LW but that cox is so disorganized as a corporation that it seems unlikely they will actually do anything unless it becomes a problem and that their servers are so big that is unlikely.

Okay. Now, for the REAL COMPUTER GENIUSES OUT THERE, why is it that every single time I click a link for anything in the gnutellaforums, my computer locks up, and I have to alt/ctrl/del? When I click on the link from my email or from one of the posts, it tries to connect in another tab, then locks up. What's the deal?

Thanks,
T

Taywill, I right and left clicked on the wall icon several times yesterday. I get a few things pop up when I right click on the wall icon, but nothing allows me to do a search. How were you able to do a search? Thanks, Deb