Hi Homealone,
This also sounds like a port problem, in 99% of cases of users being on primary with no search results or chat room list results its a blocked port.
I would suggest that you make sure these are open, and matching in the following areas.
WinMX
If you installed or made changes this can revert your settings back to 'Unable'. Go to Settings > Incoming TCP.. make sure its set to 'Listen On Port..... <insert Port of your choice or use default 6699>
Settings> IN/OUT UDP > Make sure its set to 'Send and Receive on Port....<Insert different port of your choice or 6257>
XP Firewall
If your using the XP Firewall its impotant to all the same ports in it, for both TCP and UDP. If you are not using the XP Firewall be sure its still set to 'Disabled', some updates and software changes can cause XP to reset this to 'Enable'.
Instructions on configuring the ports here:
https://www.winmxworld.com/tutorials/firewall.htmlNorton Internet Security
Be sure that not only is WinMX allowed in the Firewall portion but also in the Worm Protection, which operates much like a firewall also.
Go to Options > Internet Worm Protection > Control Programs. Here you will see an options to Add WinMX to an allowed list and give it 'Permit All' access.
The Linksys router
Some folks have had luck setting this to a range of ports and BOTH as the protocol.
WinMX....6257 to 6699....BOTH....192.168.0.xx...Enable
Most routers however require the usualy two seperate rules be set like so..
WinMX...6699 to 6699....TCP....192.168.0.xx...Enable
WinMX...6257 to 6257....UDP....192.168.0.xx...Enable
If yours is set properly now, set the above software up then if your still having problems try the next method in the router.
If your still having problem after this try making a secondary connection to see if that gets you normal results.
Let me know what you find