I bought LimeWire Pro on 21 November, and I have submitted two requests through the web site for support. I received the copies of my requests, but after that, no follow-up whatsoever about the requests.

Are the folks at LimeWire no longer answering requests for technical support? Isn't that supposed to be included with LimeWire Pro? Why are they not getting back to me? Are requests from the web site making it to the proper place? WHAT'S GOING ON???!!!!

The helpers on this forum are volunteers & don't work for LW, so we have nothing to do with the 'official' Pro support

If you're having a problem with your LW, you can ask for help here

Grrrr! Drat!

I signed up for and tried to post on the "LimeWire Forums," but I guess in navigating around from LimeWire Forums I got dumped back onto the Gnutella forums. There's even a LimeWire logo at the upper left of this page as I type this!

That's pretty misleading.

Sorry about that folks.

I am having a problem with my LimeWire though. I can't get the direct connect feature to work, and I've turned off my firewall in the Mac, turned on port forwarding on my AirPort Express, and I've read every document referred to by every thread on here having to do with direct connect (mostly about dealing with firewalls and doing port forwarding) and I've done everything they say. It still doesn't work.

That's why I think I need my pro support.

Sorry again about the inappropriate post.

If you give your system details & details of whatever fixes you've tried, one of the Mac users here can probably help you more.
System details - help us to help you -> Provide these details when you post!!!(click on link)

Alright birdy, if you think so, I'll give it a shot. I was just afraid that I'd spend all that time writing the stuff up only to be redirected to the same threads I've seen people referred to over and over that didn't help with my case.

I have tried to make a direct connection with a friend of mine, with him trying to connect to me and with me trying to connect with him, but nothing works. We keep getting an error that says: "could not browse host."

It is important to note that I have no problem connecting with LimeWire otherwise. I can upload and download files just fine with the normal search and download method. The problem I am having is only related to connecting with the direct connect feature.

I am running the Mac OS 10.4.11, and he is running 10.5.1.

On my computer, the OS firewall is turned OFF in System Preferences>Sharing>Firewall. Even though it is turned off, I have items listed and checked in the scrolling allowed services window for "Limewire" (TCP port 6346, UDP port 6346) and "Gnutella" (TCP port 16858, UDP port 16858). Again though, the firewall is turned OFF on my computer.

In LimeWire, however, the earth-behind-the-brick-wall icon IS present in the lower left of the window.

On his computer, he allows certain services, although LimeWire is not explicitly listed. He is able to connect with LimeWire and do searches, as well as upload and download files. That is, he is able to use LimeWire normally, just not with the direct connect feature. He is using Mac OS 10.5.1 with LimeWire 4.12.11.

I am using an AirPort Express wireless base station (v 6.3), and on it, I have NAT Port Mapping Protocol enabled, and I have ports 16858, 24237 and 6346 forwarding, all related to LimeWire, found in threads I've read or the preferences in one of our computers.

I have read the various threads that come up when searching for connection problems, and the sticky threads that are pointed to therein, mostly relating to firewalls, port forwarding and problems making just the basic connection with LimeWire. It bears repeating that I do not have problems connecting with LimeWire in the usual way, and I have set up port forwarding and my firewall is not turned on. My problem is specifically with the direct connection method.

And now, to answer the specific "details" questions about my setup...

1. OS version? (eg: Windows 98)

Mac 10.4.11

2. What firewalls you have?

The Mac OS has one built-in, but it is turned OFF, and the AirPort Express has port forwarding set up and enabled.

3. How much ram?

1 GB

4. Hard Disk space available?

varies, 5GB to 15 GB

5. Connection type? (eg: dialup, broadband, cable, etc.)

Cable Modem with 4 MB

6. Modem & router brand name & model numbers?

cable modem is a Motorola SB5101 (Surfboard), wireless router is an Apple AirPort Express

7. Where are you trying to connect from (house, appartment complex, school, student accomodation, work, etc.)?

apartment

8. What version of LimeWire (LW) & Java do you have? (Go to LW's menu Help>About LW...) Will show both LW & Java version.

LimeWire: 4.14.10, Java: 1.5.0_7

9. Who is your ISP (Internet Service Provider)?

Megared (Megacable)

10. 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?

It says, "Your Test worked!"

11. Are you sharing the connection with other computers or p2p sharing programs? If yes, please give details of set up.

yes, sharing with two other computers, but no other traffic going on when attempts were made to use DIRECT CONNECTION

12. Is this a your 1st try at LW or is this a new problem with an experienced user.

I have used LimeWire for years. I can connect just fine by the usual method, just not with DIRECT CONNECTION

13. Do you see a brick wall in front of the blue world icon at the bottom of LW's interface? _ click here to see Sample image

yes

14. For those using a modem/router, how is your modem/router set up...are you port forwarding or is UPnP enabled?

port forwarding: yes, UPnP: OS X supports Bonjour, a competing technology

15. What security programs are you using (antivirus etc)? Some people might not be aware that their security suite includes a firewall

only the Mac OS, and it is turned OFF

16. What country are you living in? Sometimes there are ISPs with the same name in more than one country (eg Clearwire in the USA & also in Ireland).

Mexico

Thank you in advance for any and all help you might be willing to offer!

I'll move this into the Mac OS X support section, stief or LOTR should see it there & can hopefully help you out more (being Mac users).

Until a Mac user gets back to you: just make sure that there's no firewall provided as part of your ISP's service (some ISPs do provide an extra firewall).

Also, having chat enabled within LW's options (see link below for how to access options) is pretty helpful for direct connecting.
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/160912-post3.html
Although you're going to have to deal with the firewall issue as well! Bear in mind too, even if you do eliminate your firewall issue, the person you're trying to direct connect with will have to make sure that they aren't firewalled either...unless both of you see the clear blue globe (no brick wall), direct connect won't work.

Thanks!

Okay, I'll accept that, but I don't understand why it would not work if you have port forwarding properly set up.

Thanks Birdy

btw, the brick wall on newer LW's is no longer reliable. I've reported that problem already, and am awaiting a fix. However, Direct Connect still works, no matter what the icon indicates, so Chris's problem is puzzling.

Chris--PM me and I'll help set up a DC test.

Hello steif:

Thank you! I really appreciate your taking the time to help me try and figure this out.

I will send you a private message and we can go from there.

Hi stief,
That's weird, because I've never been able to DC to somebody if they're firewalled (get the 'cannot browse host' dialog box). I just tried with a friend, changed my listening port so that I was firewalled & then she couldn't DC to me...got the 'cannot browse' error I just assumed it was the same for everyone