i have tried everything that others have tried or listed in order to get limewire to connect and nothing is working. i have dsl and have changed all that i know to change, please help. i am operating on windows xp spack2

Funny when people say they've tried "everything" b/c there's lots of posts about this topic stretching back some years.

* Did you configure your firewall so it allows LW full access (advisable not to have 2 active firewalls b/c they can interfere with each other); Firewall configuration instructions (click on link)

* Do this simple test for us. Using your browser go here: http://www3.limewire.com:6346/ The page should say 'Your test worked!'. What happens when you go there?

Can you give us a total desciption of your set up:
1. Do you share your connection & if yes is it a network or shared router? Does anybody else on the same connection use LW?
2. What firewalls you have?
3. How much ram?
4. Hard Disk space available?
5. Connection type? (eg: dialup, broadband, cable, etc.)
6. Modem & router brand name & model numbers?
7. Where are you trying to connect from (home, school, work, etc.)?
8. What version of Limewire (LW) & Java do you have? (Go to LW's menu Help>About LW...) Will show both LW & Java version.
9. Who is your isp provider?
10. Is this a your 1st try at LW or is this a new problem with an experienced user.

If you can't reach that page for the port test it means that port is blocked for you. This will probably be due to either your modem/router not having UPnP capabilities or isp provider blocking this port or other softw blocking.

Without knowing the answers to the above questions it's difficult to offer specific advice. You could try another port. Go to LW's menu Tools>Options>Advanced>Firewalls & change the listening port from 6346 to another like 3500, 80, 20282, or 443. Press apply after making the change. Then go to File>Disconnect & wait a minute & then File>Connect. Give it at least 15 mins to try to connect. Do this for each of the port no.'s I listed.

If it still doesn't work, then it looks like a modem/router NAT firewall issue & you'll need to do port forwarding (open a port.) http://portforward.com/routers.htm The steps there are 1st to set up a static ip (very important to do this 1st & do it properly!) Then forward a port such as 6346. Then within LW: Manual port forward instructions & sample image & 2 posts after that.

i have the UPnP checked. i will try the other ports first to see if that will work. if not then i will have to try the other things you mentioned.

I am aware there's a few modems/routers on the market that claim to use UPnP but it doesn't work properly. I cannot remember which ones.

still nothing. in the bottom of the lwire program it has the bars and when u place the cursor over it all it has is connecting to network, but nothing, now for some reason the firewall is showing there is a firewall being detected and ihavent messed with those since yesterday when they were showing none detected

Well some modems/routers you need to reboot after a port forwarding. I don't know about your brand though. I needed to port forward my device. After the port forwarding, if you chose to forward port 6346 then do that port test again & see what happens. It might also be an idea to close LW & re-open it.