P2P program can't form outgoing connections

Forgive my vagueness, but it's very late and I'm really frustrated at
all this. I've been working on it for days and don't seem to be getting
much from the Azureus support forum or the bittorrent newsgroup.

Mandrake Linux 10.1
QWEST DSL (256/1.5MB) modem via Linksys BEFW11S4 (wired)
Firewall is iptables configured via guarddog
Java j2re1.4.2_01 and-or jre1.5.0_02
Azureus 2.3.0.2 (from 2.2.0.2)

I had ver. 2.2.0.2 installed with j2re1.4.2_01 and was getting poor
download rates. Someone suggested I upgrade to get better rates.

I installed jre1.5.0_02 concurrently with j2re1.4.2_01 and installed
Azureus 2.3.0.2. At this point I can see seeds and peers, but can't
connect with any of them either upload or download.

I have changed the default port, forwarded that port range on the
Linksys router and the modem, as well as opened the range on the
firewall. At this point I have the firewall completely down.

The firewall-NAT test results in an "Unable to test" message. No
suggestion that there are active torrents, just "Unable to test" period.

I have four or five torrents I'm trying to download and two that I'm
seeding. Nothing is going in or out. I have oodles of peers and seeds on
parentheses, but am not connecting to any of them. Trackers read "OK".

I show numerous seeds and peers, none connected to my client. Log
entries show connections attempted then aborted on timeout after 30 seconds:

[0:37:11] Failed to establish outgoing connection
[195.250.178.219:12639 []] : Connection attempt aborted: timed out after
30sec
[0:37:11] Connection Ended with 195.250.178.219:12639 []
[0:37:11] Failed to establish outgoing connection [203.173.154.155:8356
[]] : Connection attempt aborted: timed out after 30sec
[0:37:11] Connection Ended with 203.173.154.155:8356 []
[0:37:11] Failed to establish outgoing connection [71.105.146.63:9099
[]] : Connection attempt aborted: timed out after 30sec
[0:37:11] Connection Ended with 71.105.146.63:9099 []
[0:37:11] Failed to establish outgoing connection [69.177.116.48:6881
[]] : Connection attempt aborted: timed out after 30sec
[0:37:11] Connection Ended with 69.177.116.48:6881 []
[0:37:11] Creating outgoing connection to 69.41.14.33:6881 []
[0:37:11] Creating outgoing connection to 207.172.204.195:6881 []
[0:37:11] Creating outgoing connection to 67.169.201.33:53140 []
[0:37:11] Creating outgoing connection to 142.162.189.115:6881 []
[0:37:11] Piece #41 failed re-check.
[0:37:12] Tracker Client is sending an update Request
[0:37:12] Tracker Client is Requesting :
http://unrealtorrents.com/announce.p...1&key=91ux5bpr
[0:37:14] Failed to establish outgoing connection [83.109.170.7:6881
[]] : Connection attempt aborted: timed out after 30sec

Can anybody tell me how I can determine what is preventing these
connections?

Thanks.
--
Mark E. Adams, 2004 -- drop the "dot" to email me.
http://adamslan.shyper.com

CONSIDER: ===========---------,,,,,,,,,............. . . . . .
.... A booming voice says, "Wrong, cretin!", and you notice that you
have turned into a pile of dust.