Thanks again, Lord of the Rings for your reply.

I think we have set up properly (our port 6346 configs look ok.) Look for the AHA below... it explains a possible bug in LimeWire?

What's DC? OH, Direct Connect...

Both my friend and I use the standard PacBell / SBC Yahoo! DSL / home networking service... Most DSL home networks use DHCP and NAT, not static IP, right? (That's what the standard, popular SBC Yahoo! DSL home networking package offers... DHCP and NAT...) That can work, yes??? How do we get LimeWire PRO Direct Connect to work here???


The 2Wire (tm) DSL box:

We've each set up our 2Wire DSL modem / WiFi / NAT Router / Firewall box supplied by the ISP (SBC) to forward from a public IP addr (like 67.124.60.__) outside the firewall to a PC (at 172.16.1.__) inside the firewall, via TCP port 6346 forwarding. Does that sound OK?

I'm doing normal LimeWire searches and downloads AOK, I'm seeing incoming searches AOK, I'm seeing public uploads completing AOK... Right now -- I'm seeing connections with five ultrapeers AOK -- but... there should be MORE than five with LimeWire PRO, yes??? SOMETIMES, after more than six hours, I've seen like six or more ultrapeers...)

Whenever I reboot my 2Wire box, I'd expect my IP address will change. Otherwise, it seems stable, but I'm not sure how long the DHCP lease time is... probably a few days. Our 2Wire DSL modem/ NAT router's config takes care of mapping port 6346 from the Public IP addr to the Private IP addr automatically, even after a reboot of the 2Wire box.

This seems to be a standard, typical home DSL setup, right? IF SO... why are we having LimeWire problems with DIRECT CONNECT and host chat? What's the secret config to make this work?

SITUATION:

When I setup for DIRECT CONNECT with his host via his public IP addr, it always succeeds. (Both ways, vice versa.) We can each see the list of files on the other host.

When we try to do a LimeWire host chat, or BROWSE, it fails.

When I try using LimeWire DC to download anything from his host, it fails. (Awaiting sources...)

But, one time last nite, he was able to DL one small file from my host, then a minute later, trying with a larger file, the DL failed... AWAITING SOURCES... Weird???

AHA!!! LimeWire uses his public IP addr (64.168.20.__:6346) when searching his host via DC -- BUT, when trying to CHAT, or BROWSE, {or DL?} LimeWire is using his PRIVATE IP addr (172.16.1.__:6346) AHA!!! -- Could THAT be causing all these problems... hmmm... a LimeWire BUG???

If it's not a bug in LW, then what's the solution? I could try contacting the second level support for 2Wire (my DSL modem/ NAT router/ firewall box) and see what they say about all this, now that we have some more info to give them... I do not think the ISP support will help us solve any P2P issues...

Any other suggestions? Is this a LimeWire bug, or a config issue?

Does anyone here know how to config a 2WIRE (tm) DSL box that uses DHCP/NAT for LimeWire Direct Connect? I thought I had done everything right... I'll attach my screen shots from my 2Wire config... if that may help?

IS THERE ANY SETUP CHECKLIST for a DHCP/NAT firewall config???