*Very* Complex connection problem.
 

Hello everyone. I'm not an amateur computer user and most of the time I can solve almost any problem that my pc has with patience and google/forum searches. But now, this problem really has me all screwd up, I haven't been able to download anything from Limewire for quite a while now. I will Thoroughly describe the problem and the things I've tried. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Essentially, my problem is the following: When I open Limewire it says "turbo-charged connection", but when I try to search for something, Limewire takes approximately 5 minutes to display search results. And when it does, it displays them all at once. Weird ain't it? And that's not all, once it finally displays the results, the connection goes back to "connecting..." and anything I try to download displays as "stalled". This is really weird because this thing happened overnight, as I downloaded stuff everyday and one day out of the blue, this problem popped up. At first, I thought "dayum! maybe it's because this artist I'm searching isn't popular". So I typed "M*chael J*cks*n" just to try, but the problem was there too.

Things I've tried: Repeatedly Re-installing Limewire. Disabling my Firewall and Antivirus. Connecting directly to the internet. Installing previous versions of Limewire. (I have LW5, but have also tried with LW4 without luck). I have even tried with other P2P software like: Frostwire, E-Mule, Ares, and the same problem happens. I have tried connecting not only from my house, but also from school and my aunt's house. I have 4mbps connection at home, so there's no way it's because of slow internet connection.

-= System Details =-
1.) OS version: Windows Vista Business 32bit
2.) Firewalls: ESET Smart Security (Antivirus + Personal Firewall). Windows Firewall and Windows Defender are Disabled.
3.) RAM: 2GB
4.) Hard Disk Space Availiable: 40GB
5.) Connection type: Wireless, but I've tried wired. (Wired through router and wired directly through modem)
6.) Router Brand/Model: I don't recall because I'm not in my house atm, but it is not that because as I've previously stated, I've also tried connecting directly through the modem.
7.) Connecting from: The 3 places I mentioned.
8.) LW/Java versions: Limewire 5.3.6 PRO + Java 1.6.0_17
9.) ISP: The 3 places where I've tried all have different ISP's, plus, I had prevously been able to download stuff from my aunt's house, and also from my school as well as my house, so it isn't a problem about the ISP.
10.) When I do the test, it says "test worked".
11.) Sharing connection. I'm not sure how the setup is at school, but I can definitely say that I'm not sharing it in my house nor my aunt's house.
12.) I can definiteley say this is a new problem to an experienced user, been around with LW since a long time now.
13.) Firewall icon: Now this is kinda strange. Sometimes it says I'm leaf node and not behind a firewall. Sometimes it says I'm behind a firewall and support firewall transfers, and other times it says I'm behind a firewall and don't support firewall transfers.
14.) I have never port-forwarded any router for limewire and it has always worked anyways. This option is discardable as I said I've tried connecting directly through modem before.
15.) Security: ESET Smart Security. Though I have also tried disabling the personal firewall.
16.) I've tried 2 different countries and 3 different ISP's, I really don't think this is an ISP/country problem really.
17.) I'm not really sure if I changed anything. The thing is I have been living with this problem for a while now.

Well, in conclusion, I think that most likely this has something to do with my PC's configuration, because I have been using the same antivirus since before the problem appeared. Also I had the same Limewire configurations since before the problem appeared. So did I have the router configurations. Really guys, ANY kind of help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance.

Have you tried deleting your LW preferences? Perhaps disabling advanced tools in preference settings? If LW 5 Will Not Connect :)

Yeah I've tried :( Sry, forgot to mention that.

Mystery Problem
 

Hi Chipmunk

I am not going to say I have the answer because, as you are an experienced PC user, you would have tried most things already but I am going to take a shot at a couple of ideas.

Although you say that you don't think that this is an ISP/Country problem but have you thought that ISPs in your area may have been forced by the authorities to adopt anti-P2P measures.

Here is Europe the various governments are forcing ISPs to install anti-P2P equipment, at the behest of the record and film industry lobbies. And, I understand, the same thing is happening in the US on a much faster timescale.

To be honest, I cannot think of another problem, other than a universal clamp down on P2P traffic, that could affect you, your aunt and your school all at the same time.



UK Bob

Really sorry, I forgot to mention that I have a desktop PC running Windows XP at home and in that computer Limewire runs perfectly. Also, other friends running Vista can download normally at school or my house.
If anyone else has another idea, please share it. If I can't get a solution I'll have to format this thing and I'd really prefer not to! >.< *cry*