LimeWire (almost) always currently connecting to the network
 

I've been having a problem with Limewire fairly recently, so I signed up here figuring that one of you guys (or girls) could help me out. A while ago, Limewire has been having trouble connecting. The world icon would be brick-walled & Limewire would always be "currently connecting to the network". On certain occasions, I would get lucky & the world would not be brick-walled, allowing me to connect normally, but I need to know what's going wrong.

As per the forum regulations, here are my system details:

1. OS version? = Windows XP
2. What firewalls you have? = Windows & AVG
3. How much RAM? = 256 MB
4. Hard Disk space available? = 7.01 GB
5. Connection type? = Cable
6. Modem & router brand name & model numbers? = Webstar Modem, Linksys WRT54GS Router
7. Where are you trying to connect from = house
8. What version of LimeWire (LW) & Java do you have? LW V 4.18, Java V 1.6
9. Who is your ISP (Internet Service Provider)? = Cox
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? = The test worked
11. Are you sharing the connection with other computers or p2p sharing programs? If yes, please give details of set up. = The router & modem are being shared with 3 computers & 2 Xbox 360s
12. Is this your 1st try at LW or is this a new problem with an experienced user. = This is a fairly recent problem
13. Do you see a brick wall in front of the blue world icon at the bottom of LW's interface? = Most of the time, 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
15. What security programs are you using (antivirus etc)? = AVG Antivirus & Spybot Search & Destroy
16. What country are you living in? = USA
17. Has anything in your setup changed recently? Have you updated your version of LW or Java? Have you added any new software or new hardware? Have you updated any software? Have you moved house, changed internet plan or ISP etc etc? = I updated to version 4.18 a while ago, had the disk drive checked for errors recently, and that’s all I can think of.
If I got anything wrong, just let me know.

Hi Warlord and Welcome to the Gnutella Forums.

There could be several reasons that you're not connecting.

Cox Cable is Very Anti-P2P and this may be the reason that you are able to connect Sometimes.

You can try Forwarding a port for each of the computers that are connected to your Router. See Link Below for Instructions. Set up Static IP First.

Port Forwarding for the Linksys WRT54GS
Hope this is a start. :)

They haven't been thwarting me in the past, so I'm unsure if my cable provider is the problem. However, I'll give the port-forward thing a shot. Thanks for the advice.

OK, I think it worked. Thanks!

UPDATE: A while after this fix, it stopped working again. I gave up for a while, but recently, we got a new modem, so I tried to connect again, but I'm having the same problem. The only details that have changed are:

4. Hard Disk space available? = 4.31 GB
6. Modem & router brand name & model numbers? = Webstar Modem, Netgear WGT624 v4 Router

Everything else is the same, except Java 1.6 may have been updated (specifically, it's 1.6.0_11, but I'm not sure if it's been updated from the first time I posted).

Any help would be appreciated.

Have you tried port forwarding for the Netgear, or are you using UPnP? In LW go tools > options > advanced > firewall. Tick the box to use UPnP > apply > ok.
Now log into your router by typing 192.168.0.1 into the address bar of your browser. Default username is admin, password is password. Have a look in the sidebar for a UPnP option (below Static Routes in the Advanced section). Click on UPnP & make sure that it's enabled (ticked). If you have to tick the box, click Apply afterwards.

If using UPnP is no good, try port forwarding. I can't find instructions for v4 but these should be the same: Port Forwarding for the Netgear WGT624v3

Choose a high listening port for LW. Try 65000, or any ports in the range of 49152 - 65535. When you change LW's listening port number, remember to click Apply to save the change.
LW's listening port, port in the 'manual port forward' box & port forwarded within the router setup all have to be the same number;)

* Before doing the port forwarding, I must emphasise, you must first set up a static ip as the very first step. Static ip for Window$ XP instructions (click on blue link). Then do paragraph 2 given by Birdy. :)

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately, I'm still being firewalled. I think it's because:

1. I messed up the last step of the Port Forwarding process for my modem.
2. I did the port forwarding before setting up a static IP.
3. Someone has hacked the network & is preventing me from getting on.
4. Updating AVG must have caused the firewall to make no exception for Limewire.

Any other ideas?

Are you using AVG's firewall & the Windows firewall together? Two software firewalls running at once won't give you better protection - the firewalls will clash with each other & neither one will work properly. Turn off the XP firewall & then make sure your AVG firewall is allowing LW.

Double check all the info that you entered when setting up your static IP. Go back through the steps again & make sure that you write down all the info that you need from the command prompt (when you type in ipconfig/all). Once you're sure that all the info's been entered correctly then move on to the port forwarding. If you did the port forwarding first, don't worry - set up the static IP address & then when you log into your router, you can remove the original port forwarding rules. There should be a box that you can tick, next to the rules, to delete them. Then just do them again;)

When you set up port forwarding, your starting port & ending port need to be the same number as LW's listening port. And the server IP address will be the static IP address that you set up. Make sure to click Apply at the end.