I had the same problem with limewire when I first installed. Guarddog has Gnutella configured for limewire goto:

Kmenu>Internet>Security>Guarddog then
click on protocol tab on top and a list will be revealed on the right.

Click the + for file transfer ( you should see Gnutella-File Sharing Network) uncheck and click apply

Now open limewire and recheck Gnutella, this should set the protocols needed and allow it to connect...This is how I fixed it..I hope it helps...

You should not need to uninstall Java- I had a clean install of SimplyMepis month ago

FSULinuxteam