First, if you turn firestarter off that will not open ports. Ports are
closed until open for security purposes. And Im not entirely sure why
you are losing connection once the firewall starts unless it has to do
with the usb connection.

5. On the Port Scan tab of Network Tools, put in first your ip address
from the step just before this and this will tell you what ports are
open. Next do it with 127.0.0.1. You'll probably have a few more.

The above is from my last email.
Do that first without starting firestarter.
Im not sure if it will produce different results or not when FS is
turned on. But then try it again with it on. Post back on what ports are
open each time.

After that run netstat -l -t and then lsof -i and post back what each of
these show.