This connetion problem has been around for a long time. I'm running an iMac 500 with 192 Meg of Ram and have had these connection problems with versions 1.6 b and d. Intial connection would be made but the longer i'm on line the less host i have before eventually i just can't connect anynore without a certain ammount of fiddiling with the connecions tab.
I hoped this problem would be fixed with 1.7 but it looks like i'm still stuck with Aimster!

I'm connecting nearly everytime now with 1.7 beta No VM (the 3.6 Mb download that assumes you have MRJ 2.2.5). I'm using OS 8.6 on several Macs.

1. Start fresh by deleting everything in your Incomplete folder.

2. Startup with minimal extensions necessary to access internet (at least temporarily to troubleshoot LimeWire). Also, for testing puposes, run no other programs.

3. Patiently wait for LimeWire to make connections. I noticed in the the latest LimeWire beta that it is can be very slow to start connections, but once connections start to click in, they increase exponentially.

4. The "funny radio button" type behavior comes and goes, typically the longer I'm connected. I've noticed the longer I wait to click the mouse or make any actions within the program, the less funny business happens. That is, resist rapid commands, clicks, and movement.

This LimeWire crew is very hot with java, but java implementation is very persnicity on the Mac. I'm surprised at how well LimeWire works on so many platforms.

After 4 days of being unable to connect it suddenly decided to work normally today. Hope it stays up.

i restarted LimeWire 1.7. Being that I have a modem, the connection failes about twice a day, thats when i restart LimeWire. Just quit the app, i try to let others finish their downloads first. Then restart it. no sweat.

When I have had problems with other programs, i have found that doing an install with all extensions and control panels OFF has solved the problems. I also agree that removing the files from incomplete helps for some reason. I use a G4 400 OS9.0.4 448Mb RAM: 100 allocated to LimeWire.