All the connection problems that you have been experiencing since the release of LimeWire 2.0.2 are a consequence of the UltraPeer (supernode) feature set, that was officially released in this version. IMHO something is wrong with the code that is deciding which LW users can be ultrapeers. These ultrapeers do _not_ appear to maintain a decent number of external connections to gnutella, and the users contained within the ultrapeer suffer accordingly.

Your Questions:

Q: Why is there only one host available in the connections window?
A: This is normal. This is the ultrapeer code at work. The idea is that this ultrapeer will encompass your connection, as well as any other users connected to itself. It will only pass query respones to files that you have back to the network, and will pass back to you the results of any queries you make. The way this system was implemented, all of this is done with ONE ultrapeer, thus the one host on the connections window.

Q: Why can't I find the number of files that I used to?
A: Many people - including myself - have noticed this problem. As a cable modem user I previously had 6 hosts active at any one time, and a search for 'South Park'(Video) would get between 150 to 250 results. Now it gets 30 with LW2.0.2. The reason? Bad UltraPeer Connection. VERY Bad Ultrapeer Connection.

Theoretically the ultrapeer should have a number of connections_TO THE GNUTELLA NETWORK greater than the traditional number held by even a cable-modem user(6), perhaps 10 to 12(?). It should therefore be able to return many more results than one would expect. Unfortunately, something is wrong with the Ultrapeer code (it would seem), and the UltraPeers are not getting a good enough number of connections. Someone in a previous post mentioned "I only get good search results when I search for Britney Spears". Scary, huh? That probably means that they've connected to a VERY sheltered ultrapeer.

Q: How does one qualify to be an UltraPeer?
A: I went through LW's public CVS and found:
o Your operating system must not be:
Win 98, 95, ME, or Classic Mac.
o You must have an average upload/download bandwidth of at least 10KBps.
o You must not be a modem user (recent).

I don't see anything wrong with this logic, except perhaps the 10KBps average. (higher?) We'll see what happens....

Q: I purchased the PRO version, what can I do?
A: LW has shown itself to be very concerned about their client, as well the gnutella network itself. LimeWire is staffed by many good people. It is VERY likely that they will fix this problem within the next week or two. Just hold on to your PRO account info and you will likely get a nice new shiny update very soon.

Q: What can I do in the mean time?
A: There are a number of links on this board to LimeWire 1.7c, 1.8c, etc. Use one of those.... they DO NOT have ultrapeer code contained within them, and should be fine. No swarmed downloads either.... = |


If I'm completely wrong or I've made incorrect assumptions, I would appreciate it if one of LW's dev's could clarify. ; )

Cheers!