maybe a firewall problem. maybe not????

hello.
i have recently rearranged my living room which meant that i had to unplug all of my computer bits, printer modem speakers etc. i have done this many times before and never had any problems. until now...(insert eerie music here)

when i try to use the p2p prog that i use (limewire), i am told that it cant connect and suggests that either my firewall is blocking it or that i have a loopback connection. i dont even know what a loopback connection is. i have checked my firewall, mcaffee, and it has full access permissions. i have windows firewall turned off. so i downloaded winmx to see if limewire was just being stroppy but winmx will not connect either, although there are no error messages. i can connect to the internet fine. please help!!
i am on aol (ugh) broadband btw. windows xp sp2.

Are you behind a router? If so, try disabling McAfee altogether and see if you can connect. That will confirm one way or another if it is the firewall. I don't know that I'd advise trying that if you aren't behind a router though - it doesn't take long to get hit with a nasty these days.

im not behind a router. unless my modem counts. i disabled mcaffee and tried limewire. i got exactly the same error message. it was working fine before i moved my pc to the other side of the room. i did however change the lead that connects my modem to my wall socket from a 1 meter length to a 5 meter one. it is a broadband lead and this lead worked fine where i used to live. cant think of anything else thats changed.