Okay, so I know it seems beaten to death to keep it up with the questions about not being able to connect--but then again, this is the forum for connection problems so here I go. But keep in mind I'm a virgin to these forums, so don't stone me if I say something idiotic. Like aforementioned by many people, Limewire just seemed to stop connecting a few days ago for me. Actually, for some strange reason, Limewire works around 4:00 am then stops working around 9:00 am. I thought that my problem lay in having a firewall, but forcing my IP makes no difference. Also, as I said, Limewire was working fine up until a few days ago, so my college probably doesn't care. I've downloaded probably every version of Limewire, so I doubt that my problem lies in which version I use. I know I may seem a bit ravenous. However, since I'm a Mac user (pouts), this is essentially my only option. I have an decrepid 333 MHz iMac (about 3 years old) with a G3 processor. Don't laugh. I'm on a school network connection, but I don't think that has anything to do with my problem. I don't think someone would just randomly block Limewire (or would they?). Any Mac users here that can attest? No...? Boy, tough crowd. Is there any special rule that I don't know about that prevents Limewire from working? For instance, someone told me that one must share at least 3 files for Limewire to work. I share over 300 files--at least that's what the screen says even though I'm not connected--for days at a time and I can't download anything for myself. I have no problem with sharing; I just wish I could get something myself. Also, is there any way I can change my firewall settings outside of Limewire, like downloading any sort of application? Now that I have told you my jeremiad, I humbly ask for someone's assistance. Please? I'll give you punch and cookies! By the way, I don't know if it's selfish to start an entirely new thread for this, so if it is, my humblest apologies.

I do not mean this to be offensive. If you are on a school network and suddenly cannot connect to gnutella AND you are not in anyway involved in the network management of your school network resources--it is a HIGH probablility that your connection to gnutella has been effectively cut off through some types of filtering efforts by your schools IT department as most schools are cracking down on this type of network usage. I would advise you to do the following:

Verify with your friends who may or may not be using their computer for filesharing and find out if they are having any connection problems.

Secondly read your computer use polocies to see if this type of traffic is ok with with your IT department OR if you are possitive that it is not a problem contact your local IT department and ask them to help you out.

I'm confident that they will be glad to offer assistance in resolving the matter.

Hope this helps.

http://www.leeware.com

Thanks for the help, but that is where the problem is. Sometimes it works fine and sometimes it takes about 2 hours to connect, whereas I used to be able to connect immediately. I've searched around for information, and I have yet to find anything about the network blocking Gnutella. I wanted to know if there was something else I could do. Have you heard about the rule that one must share a certain number of files to be able to connect? Are there requirements for being able to connect? Is there a certain version that is better than others? Sorry to be so tiresome.

You say that LimeWire only works from 4 to 9 a.m., which sounds like off-peak hours to me. Your school's connection doesn't give out much peer-to-peer bandwidth for most of the day but when the activity is low you get the remaining bandwidth to connect with LimeWire.

Keep in mind a lot of schools have invested in a new technology which allows them to throttle bandwidth to p2p type applications.

So it is correct to assume that they might not block access but throttle the bandwith allocated to such services as to discourage use.

Regarding the freeloader setting - I don't think that this is affecting your abilitiy to connect to gnutella as other factors seem to be evident of causing you connection problems.

Hope this helps.

http://www.leeware.com

(It is I again) So, is that probably why I can get about 5 connections, but none of them have any hosts? All of my connections are either 127.0.0.1 or 127.0.0.1:6346 with a bandwith of 0.002/0.002 KB/s, but I can't get any hosts until a certain time. (By the way, thanks for the help. I'm beginning to understand this file sharing stuff.)

Probably,

127.0.0.0 is a local loopback connection - essentially it is a connection to your own machine. You are not connecting at all.

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LeeWare Development
http://www.leeware.com