Back to the connections issue. If your OSX firewall is turned off & then you should not be seeing a brick wall. That's if your Linksys UPnP is working properly. BTW in UPnP mode, the router may decide to change the listening port itself. THe other option I can think of is port forwarding.

Is it possible to by-pass the linksys device ... do you have any other connection devices? Just to check whether Linksys is the issue here.

How old is your Linksys device? Have you checked for firmware upgrades?

I can hardly believe this, but last night I put an old version of limewire 4.0.4 pro, I think it was onto my external hard drive and it worked!! No probs. I was so excited I down loaded for awhile using it attached to my old powerbook and at the same time worked on my movie problem on my iMac.
So..... nothing can be wrong with the router, surely.
To answer your questions. I have had this router for about 2 years, and I have voip node phone connected to it, had some trouble when I set that up about 6 months ago, but once I upgraded the firmware all was well.
When you say by-pass the linksys device do you mean go dial up?
So where do I stand now. I can't use limewire on either my powerbook or iMac. Should I delete what I have and try to install this old copy I have on a cd, I must have put it there for safe keeping. I found it by mistake when I was looking for slick to reinstall for imovie.
Maybe you want to give me the flick now that I have LW running on something. BUT I really would like it to work on the iMac. Have you any other suggestions at all. I have taken screen shots of all my settings on the external and am about to check the ones on my iMac.
Thanks for your time and your help.
Bad luck an Aussie didn't win yesterday, not that I take any notice, couldn't help but find out the result on the news!!!

Go to Limewire->Preferences and click on the Bug Reports selection. There, click for an example and scroll down to the part where it says: Recieved incoming this session. If it says true then Limewire does not have a problem from a Firewall. If it says false, then Firewall(s) are blocking the connection which will affect you at least indirectly.

Detail: Example

-- listing session information --
Current thread: AWT-EventQueue-0
Active Threads: 38
Uptime: 29:14
Is Connected: true
Number of Ultrapeer -> Ultrapeer Connections: 0
Number of Ultrapeer -> Leaf Connections: 0
Number of Leaf -> Ultrapeer Connections: 6
Number of Old Connections: 0
Acting as Ultrapeer: false
Acting as Shielded Leaf: true
Number of Active Uploads: 1
Number of Queued Uploads: 0
Number of Active Managed Downloads: 2
Number of Active HTTP Downloaders: 2
Number of Waiting Downloads: 2
Received incoming this session: false
Number of Shared Files: 81
Guess Capable: false

Good to see you have "some" uploads even if they need to try to "force" their way thru any firewalls. Ideally this should say "true" & when so will also make some improvements to your results.

The reason 4.0 can connect easily is because it doesn't have the condition of "must be properly firewall configured" to be able to connect. But that theme in general is not good for the network because imagine another hundred thousand or many more saying they can connect but only very rarely upload. That would mean minimal search results or connetibility for everybody.

I haven't put this version on my iMac yet, but I plan to, and if it works I might stick to it, even though I would like to get the new Limewire Pro. I might get it and not be able to use it. Last time I did a clean install I only put on my mac what I used continually, forgot about LW until I needed it.

LW 4.0.4 Pro is on my iMac but won't connect. Down the bottom LH corner it has red walls, says
Quality Connecting
Sharing 27 files
In the top bar by the coloured buttons it says Limewire: enabling Open information sharing (disconnectd /no files available)
Under file I have connected grayed out but I get a message telling me to connect under file.
I have checked the ports firewalls etc, but I am going to go over your emails once again incase I missed something.
Thank you

If connect is greyed out, then select disconnect, wait a minute, then try the file menu again. Rather than use LW 4.0.4 may I suggest LW 4.8.1 which I can send you. It's a much better version & before the firewall requirement test came in (4.9 introduced that.)