Where are you getting 1.8? When you say you reinstall 1.8, are you doing it from the same installer, or did you re-download it from the limewire site?

What happens when you reinstall limewire 1.8? Does it make a new .lax file? Does the reintalled program work? What happens if you replace the old one with the new one?

Can you rename the file?

Have you tried installing a newer version of limewire?

A lw. developer should post some help eventually.