My Gnucleus V2020 worked perfectly,until a fresh install. Same version now suddenly does'nt work,same on my girlfriends computer with new install.
Strangely Gnucleus worked perfectly on my new install by dragging it from an SATA drive (original 2020 version)onto the new install until another problem forced me to re-install a 2nd time. Now it just recycles at 50% cache but never connects.
Does anyone think that it might be a sly Windows update block?
Or is there a simple answer to this pain in the %. ?

If you have windows XP SP2 perhaps this might help: MS & 3rd party patches

Try deleting your Gnucleus preferences & see if that makes a difference to it opening.

Tried installing the MS-kb884020 patch but nothing.You said, try deleting the preferences, but i've left everything default this time (new install x4). So am unsure exactly what u mean.Gnucleus (2020) worked perfectly for me with all the updates until recently on the original install.Strangely when i made a new install of the same version it would'nt work,so I resurrected my my old install thru the magic of SATA,& it worked perfectly.Inevitably a different problem occurred & I lost that 2020 version.
With this many posts with the same problem,I think something smells in the state of ....,&maybe it's got something to do with Norton or more likely Microsoft.

Are all you of guys having problems finding nodes to connect to within in the network? Thats why Gnucleus doesn't connect ona fresh install.

Fresh Nodes

I ended up reinstalling xp completely.My XP includes SP1,then chipset drivers & modem.Straight after I installed Gnucleus & it worked perfectly.Then installed SP2 (nothing else) & it began the timed out crap again (the small icon for search on the Gnucleus front page always being blacked out is usually a good first indicator).I ticked the exceptions box for Gnucleus in the firewall page,still nothing.So it is definitely an update Microsoft has slyed in after sp1,because even after removing sp2, it still refuses to connect.
Someone who understands registries well, could probably pick the changes to it, quicker than me,as whatever the spanner is,it remains after sp2 is removed regardless.
A clue for those people who are good at troubleshooting though,after my last xp reinstall,incl sp2 & all MS updates, that stopped Gnucleus working.
Because I swapped drives(SATA),I was able to drag & drop my original working version of Gnucleus over to the newly installed XP drive that had a new non-working version on it.Both were the same Gnuc versions & I did not do anything to the firewall.It began working perfectly again. So what the?

To add a bit more,I dont use any other network programs etc either.
Microsoft would be under tremendous pressure from the powers that would ( or want to) be,to stop programs like Gnucleus from working.No conspiracy just a fact.If you count just the numbers of people that cant install windows or configure firewalls etc,a simple update block would stop millions from being able to file share. For awhile anyway,then throw another one into the mix!

Did you try the patches I suggested above for SP2? Some people find one or the other is better.

Oh ... something else about SP2, it resets the firewall back to default. You'll need to get into the control panel & recheck the settings. That might be a big part of your problem. Not to mention the less allowable simultaneous connections. The patches will increase those. Check them out.

Tried the patches,exception is still checked but nothing.I'd be willing to bet that, the people who have Gnuc working currently,the majority, have'nt done a complete reinstall for at least 6-8 months.Because,I have'nt done anything different to what I have done in the past when re-installing, except before it worked without a hitch.Particularly on two diff machines in my household!

Did you try the nodes I posted?

Sorry,but I'm not that familiar with connecting to nodes or ultra peer etc,but when I reinstalled again & again I took notice of what I installed each time.After installing all the basic drivers etc(chipset,ethernet)bare minimum.Gnucleus 2020 worked better than ever.As soon as I installed sp2 it started timing out.Back to bare min again it worked perfect but as soon as I installed ATI drivers(which forces u to install .net 1 or else)(maybe time to change back to Nvidia) it started timing out again.
Like an equation when 2&2=5, it is easy to see what might be causing it, but difficult to find the answer!