Exactlly the same happened to me.LW used to work fine,but suddenly it became extremely difficult to connect.It all went wrong after I downloaded the new version (now I know:"If it's no broke,don't fix it"!)I tried the same tricks as you,with the same result:red bars.My favourite toy is broken,I am going to try other software or network.It's just whimsical,and I can't bear it anymore...