okay so a i always install limewire then uninstall it after i've used it for a few weeks and it works absolutely fine. but yesterday i downloaded the free version like i have done many times in the past but it won't connect at all. when i try searching it says that search results wont be shown cos limewire is still loading. no connection bars light up. not sure what to do. have restarted my laptop numerous times and have uninstalled then reinstalled several times too but no luck.

please help! x x x


Questions
1. OS version? Windows XP
2. firewalls? just windows firewall which has limewire listed as an exception - also tried turning firewall off altogether but still no joy.
3. How much ram? / 4. Hard Disk space available? not sure of this question so i'll just say this: 256MB DDR2 533MHz (PC2-4200) SODIMM - 40GB 4200RPM Notebook hard drive
5. Connection type? broadband
6. Modem/router? BT broadband router
7. Where are you trying to connect from? home - wireless connection on laptop
8. version of LimeWire & Java do you have? 5.1.2 free version
9. Who is your ISP provider? BT
10. Do this simple test for us. The page should say 'Your test worked!'. says the test worked
11. Are you sharing the connection with other computers? connection shared with home pc
12. Is this a your 1st try at LW or is this a new problem? new problem
13. Do you see a brick wall in front of the blue world icon at the bottom of LW's interface? nope

also may i add: when i go into advanced tools in limewire it says that my port is unstable? tried changing port to 6000 but it has had no effect.

any help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks!

The problem might be in the BT router. I do believe BT host instructions how to port forward the device.

oh .. found other instructions. (1) Setting up a Static ip address for Windows XP (this must be done before step 2.)

(2) Port Forwarding for the BT Home Hub

Port unstable: LW is behind a NAT or firewall and has tried to discover its external address and port, but different peers have reported different ports, which may indicate that the NAT/firewall device isn't suitable for accepting incoming connections.

You should be aware, like most ISP's in UK nowadays, BT shapes p2p bandwidth during various times of day using a special filter.

ok thanks for the advice. since its 3am im gonna try and do it tomorrow. but the thing thats bugging me is that about a month ago i installed the same version of limewire and it worked perfectly! then i un-installed it but since then nothing has changed with regard to my laptop settings or bt broadband settings so i dont see why theres a problem now. any idea why?


thanks again.

x

Perhaps the UPnP support for your router is not reliable. This is an issue with some models of routers. UPnP opens a NAT closed port temporarily when a program requests it.

Other things that might be affecting it. Many incomplete files & shares when LW is opening can affect the communication between LW & the router when using UPnP. And since LW 5 is slower opening than LW 4, LW 5 is more affected by shares & incomplete files than LW 4 was. Unfortunately LW 5 does not have the option to not connect automatically when opening the program. With LW 4 you had that option which would stop the flood of attempted connections with incomplete files at the same time LW was attempting to connect.

Birdy is more experienced dealing with LW 5 connection problems than I am.