well i fixed it. sberlin was right on the money. It was caused by old java. I had checked early for a newer version on the site but it kept telling me I had the most recent version, which was incorrect, and would not let me download anything so I figured it was right. I had just noticed by accident that the newest version was not what I had. so after uninstalling both limewire and java and then reinstalling the latest java first and limewire second it worked. Sorry to waste your peoples time.