Hi, Birdie:
thanks for the prompt reply.
My system is: Gateway Multimedia PC with 1.5GB RAM, 700 GB main drive with 500+GB free, 2.19GHz AMD 64 bit cpu, Windows XP ServicePack3.
I access the internet via a local ISP using 384KBps DSL and a Uniden WRN2004 wireless router (the pc is hard-connected).

I was not using the windows firewall originally but Limewire reported one anyway. Probably the router? I enabled the windows firewall and it automatically set up an exception for limewire. I followed the instructions for setting up the router to allow transmissions through port 6436, then set up limewire to listen and send on that port.

no clue what to do next. I am using Limewire Pro ver 4.9.30 and Java 1.6.0_11.
I get no "messages" from LW. it just stis there saying "starting connection"...

Still no love. and Limewire still says it sees a firewall.

Any ideas?
incidentally, Limewire does not recognize me as a valid user though I paid for the software and does not have a record of my username and email that they had when I bought it. I am reluctant to upgrade if it won't work.