About a fortnight ago I was using Limewire without any problems whatsoever. However, when I attempted to download a file in the last few days, I can search without problem but when I attempt to download the file gives the message:

Connecting...

then:

Need more sources

Then nothing.

This problem suddenly occurred on both my Powerbook and my G4 and I have changed the preferences on neither of them. It is the same using both my router at home and at my friend's house using a USB modem - both previously worked fine.

I have taken on board postings about fake files and tried downloading files with less than 10 sources but without any success.

I have disabled all firewalls - even though Limewire shows that there is not a firewall problem.

My suspiscion is that as my ISP (Orange - formerly Wanadoo and Freeserve) is the only common factor between my connection at home and at my friend's house, perhaps they are blocking Limewire/Gnutella traffic.

Any ideas?

Flamesong

Try this:

http://www3.limewire.com:6346/

You will soon find out if your P2P connection is being blocked by your ISP.


UK Bob

Thanks for the tip, Bob.

Yes, the link works, so as you suggest it means that the port is not being blocked. I have checked all my preferences and can't see any port conflicts and the application doesn't seem to detect any.

Is there any other way that Limewire/Gnutella data can be blocked?

Try downlding a magnet link as a trial: http://www.magnetmix.com/video.shtml

If the same thing happens then it does seem to point to your isp.

Now I'm confused!

Yes, sure enough, Limewire is downloading from the link you provided, LOTR.

What does this suggest? Perhaps that there are more fake files out there than I imagined? I can't specify what I was downloading due to forum rules but with the file being of a highish profile subject matter there is a strong possibility that it might be fake.

It looks like it yes. Is it video or audio or other type of file? If it's video then try using Bitzi to see if there's reports about it to see if it is genuine; How to use Bitzi Web Lookup; also more about video tips here Movie download issues

BTW I don't know if you've experienced this as it only seems to happen in OSX, but if you attempt to downld a fake file, it goes to connecting for ages & then self-cancels. That happens to me but I'm not sure about other osx users.

Also control-click (or right-click if you have the mighty mouse) at the top of the search results column heading & choose to show Vendor/Version. You can do this for the downld & upload windows also. This will show which gnutella client program it is that's hosting the file. RAZA (Shareaza) is reknown for being difficult to connect to.