the only firewall i have is the router,and the port im using with limewire is forwarded (im also using a no default port to ensure my isp is not blocking it)
i also ran this test
http://www.freeridesouth.com/craig/socketdrv.html
and it verified that the port im using with limewire is correctly opened.
i also use azureus (torrents), kazaa lite, winmx, etc, and have 0 problems sharing with these programs
and i am using windows xp sp1 (no firewall on the connection, or sp2 firewall. im 150% a firewall is not the culprit here)
i will try the test you said and report back.