Have you tried adding:
server=1
listen=1
Into your conf file?
rpcuser=user
rpcpassword=rpcpass
port=44557
rpcport=44556
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
daemon=1
listen=1
server=1
addnode=162.243.84.18
addnode=23.249.161.106
addnode=88.151.74.11
addnode=192.227.251.74
Is what I have...