Windows 10
express vpn
firewall defender (on)

This morning I woke up to see that Tixati (v2.62) has Status "Unconfirmed" in my home screen.

Nothing was added, nothing removed software-wise and no matter what port I use, it always says "socket error waiting for reply:  

Timed out (50434) no matter what port I use.
UPNP mapped UDP port xxxxx on gateway xxx.xxx.x.x (not sure if those needed to be listed so I'm omitting).

Funny thing is in another torrent program w/ exact same settings everything is good to go, upload/download works (green check mark) all works.

But not Tixati (v2.62).

I have reset stupid cable modem to factory default, reset windows defender to factory default, rebooted computer numerous times.

Ive been banging my head against the wall on this one and can't seem to pinpoint the problem.  is it my vpn (expressvpn), router, windows 10 software?

I've searched numerous sites, history files everything and I'm drawing up a blank.

I've turned everything off/on, turned off windows defender, reset router to defaults, no port forwarding or anything.

I've turned off express vpn and attempted to download linux software torrent (no other files are seeding/downloading at this time) and still have the same problem.  The other torrent program, works fine.

any suggestions?

Response to previous:

If you are using a VPN and recently upgraded (I see express vpn was mentioned), try completely removing the vpn app and re-install vice upgrading.

I've had problems with express vpn specifically the Windows TAP Adapter.

For unknown reasons Express VPN upgrade of their app sometimes causes major issues with TAP Adapter.  Just uninstall that app and reinstall and log in as usual.