Ok this has gone far enough [Archive] - Zophar's Message Domain

mrfreeze

08-09-2004, 07:51 AM

I'm finally going to ask for help on this issue.

For about a month now, I have been having this problem. When downloading on bit torrent, my internet connection keeps cutting in and out. At first it was only doing it for a small period of time say once an hour or so and would go right back on. Lately it has been freezing up the whole computer and causing me to have to restart. I am wary to call Comcast about it, due to the nature of the problem involving me downloading games and movies, so I am hoping that someone here may have a solution. (Besides the obvious "Don't download games and movies anymore" since this occurs when I try to get abandonware games from the home of the underdogs as well). I believe all the wires are hooked in tightly, since this only occurs when bit torrent is running. Thanks for any help you may be able to offer.

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Kuikorosu

08-09-2004, 08:38 AM

(These are pretty obvious steps, but I'm putting them down anyhow, don't think I'm insulting your intelligence or anything)

Does your ISP require you to use their proprietary software in conjunction with your internet connection, ala MSN explorer or AOL frontend? That could be causing the problem if their software is particularily buggy. If it's not, then check for the obvious...spyware and viruses come to mind. Any errant programs running in the background?

Any IRQ conflicts between the network card and any other devices in the machine? (I'm assuming this is broadband) Have you tried moving the network card to a different slot?

All windows patches and updates installed?

That's all I can think of. The last resort would be to reinstall Windows XP from scratch, but that sucks and you'd probably be better off finding more complex solutions from the other people here. <img src=smilies/thumb.gif>

:edit: What bittorrent client are you using, anyhow? Maybe try switching.

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Name: Kuik
Level: 40BLM/21RDM/19RNG/15THF/10NIN/8WHM
Nation: Windurst
Server: Fenrir
Linkshell: CursorSolarisEdited by Kuikorosu on 08/09/04 04:39 AM.

mrfreeze

08-09-2004, 08:41 AM

> :edit: What bittorrent client are you using, anyhow? Maybe
> try switching.
>
Using Bit tornado, and its always worked ok before. And I have comcast cable access and am running mozilla firefox so I don't think that is the problem. And since I would have no clue what I was doing, fiddling around with the inside of the computer is out of the question. Thanks for the suggestions though!

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Kuikorosu

08-09-2004, 08:42 AM

> Using Bit tornado, and its always worked ok before. And I
> have comcast cable access and am running mozilla firefox so
> I don't think that is the problem. And since I would have
> no clue what I was doing, fiddling around with the inside of
> the computer is out of the question. Thanks for the
> suggestions though!

Give http://pingpong-abc.sourceforge.net/ABC</A> a try. I haven't had any problems with it yet. Might help you out.

<hr>
Name: Kuik
Level: 40BLM/21RDM/19RNG/15THF/10NIN/8WHM
Nation: Windurst
Server: Fenrir
Linkshell: CursorSolaris

Audigy

08-09-2004, 01:59 PM

Also try running a surface scan on the hard drive you're downloading to. I started running into 'random' reboot problems while downloading stuff from BT a while back ... turns out my 160GB hard drive was toast. Luckily it was still covered under warranty and I sent it away to Maxtor for a new one...

...but yeah, consider hard drive issues. Torrents commonly keep many download threads open simultaneously, causing lots of happy read/write action on the hard drive... if there are problems there, the system will usually vomit. (especially if you're running FAT32 as a filesystem, which I hope you're not, unless you're running Win98 or something.)

Also... try a different ethernet card just for the heck of it -- when you say the connection is "cutting in and out" will it report "network cable disconnected" or something, or will the network card completely vanish from Device Manager, or what?

--

http://www.oddigy.com
beadsprites and PSFs, oh my!

Kijutsu

08-09-2004, 10:33 PM

> I'm finally going to ask for help on this issue.

Wait.. let me guess.. you have a LinkSys modem correct?

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mrfreeze

08-10-2004, 02:04 AM

> > I'm finally going to ask for help on this issue.
>
> Wait.. let me guess.. you have a LinkSys modem correct?
>
-_- how would i check that? You should know I'm more or less computer illiterate.

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Ethereal

08-10-2004, 04:40 AM

Bittorrent is a piece of software that WILL find problems with your system. If you have a piece of crap network card, bittorrent will kill it. Same goes for a router, and ESPECIALLY wireless connections. Bittorrent can open literally hundreds of connections at any one time.

Freeze, contact me on either IRC, MSN, or AIM, and I'll troubleshoot you through it. However, it may not be a solvable problem. Either way, could you do this?

1) Specify OS, CPU, RAM.
2) Do you have a DSL/Cable router somewhere sharing the connection?

If in XP/2k:
Right-Click on My Computer, Select Properties
Hardware Tab, Click "Device Manager"
Under "Network Adapters", what do you see?

If in 98:
Open Control Panel
Open Networking/Network Connections
What do you see with Adapter Icons by it?

mrfreeze

08-10-2004, 07:16 AM

>
> 1) Specify OS, CPU, RAM.
> 2) Do you have a DSL/Cable router somewhere sharing the
> connection?

> If in XP/2k:
> Right-Click on My Computer, Select Properties
> Hardware Tab, Click "Device Manager"
> Under "Network Adapters", what do you see?

I am running Windows XP and I see I394 net adaptor and nvidia nforce mcp networking adaptor. I wil be on irc in the Elazuls Pad and Zophar chat rooms most of this evening/morning.

Oh, and what is your aim s/n in case I don't catch you tonight?

<image src=http://imageshack.us/files/donsig2.gif>Edited by mrfreeze on 08/10/04 03:41 AM.

Kijutsu

08-10-2004, 06:20 PM

> -_- how would i check that? You should know I'm more or
> less computer illiterate.

Does the little cable modem box say LINKSYS on it and is it BLUE?

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mrfreeze

08-11-2004, 04:03 AM

> Does the little cable modem box say LINKSYS on it and is it
> BLUE?
>
Nope. It is gray and says surfboard sb3100 cable modem.

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Ethereal

08-11-2004, 04:44 AM

I thought I replied earlier. There goes my memory :P

Anyway, I have the same on-board network card chipset as you, so unless the chipset on board is buggy, that's not the problem.

Freeze, I seriously forget, who's your ISP?

And again, is the computer DIRECTLY connected to the Surfboard, or is there a router in between?

AIM: d3athangl | ICQ: 14200087 | MSN: d3jp@hotmail.com

mrfreeze

08-11-2004, 06:17 AM

> Freeze, I seriously forget, who's your ISP?

> And again, is the computer DIRECTLY connected to the
> Surfboard, or is there a router in between?

> AIM: d3athangl | ICQ: 14200087 | MSN: d3jp@hotmail.com
>
Holy crap, didn't you used to lurk in the Cherryroms chat room? Anyway Comcast is my provider, and I don't believe there is a router between the connection.
*edit* just to be sure I am correct on this, how would I tell if it is going through a router? Like I said above, I am mostly completely illiterate when it comes to hardware.
<image src=http://imageshack.us/files/donsig2.gif>Edited by mrfreeze on 08/11/04 02:31 AM.

SirDaShadow

08-11-2004, 05:07 PM

> there is a router between the connection.
> *edit* just to be sure I am correct on this, how would I
> tell if it is going through a router? Like I said above, I

Simply make sure the "ethernet" or "thick phone" cable that goes from the computer goes directly into your Motorola SB modem.

I'm not familiar with Bit Tornado, but I would try to install Azureus instead of that. I didn't have a good experience with Bit Tornado, and Azureus is really neat.

Only thing I would suggest is change the "ports". Think of a port as a TV channel...the web uses "Channel" 80, ftp uses 21, etc. By moving them in your Bittorrent client settings (any range higher than 32000 for example, maximum is 65000) you eliminate the possibility that comcast is monitoring those ports.

Also REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF "CONNECTIONS" in your bit torrent client settings. I know how to do this in azureus but dunno anything about B.Tornado. That alone could be the source of your freeze ups, mine did that too until I found out 400 connections were made to my poor XP box (snif snif). Try to reduce that to about 100, depending on how fast your computer is (mine can sustain 120 without problems, and lo and behold I have a 1.2ghz (1200 MHZ) duron)

mrfreeze

08-11-2004, 08:07 PM

> Also REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF "CONNECTIONS" in your bit torrent
> client settings. I know how to do this in azureus but dunno
anything about B.Tornado. That alone could be the source of
> your freeze ups, mine did that too until I found out 400
> connections were made to my poor XP box (snif snif). Try to
> reduce that to about 100, depending on how fast your
> computer is (mine can sustain 120 without problems, and lo
> and behold I have a 1.2ghz (1200 MHZ) duron)
>
Had it set for dial up connections, which means i was only connecting to about 3 people and the upload speed was very slow. That was in order to keep comcasat from breathing down my neck. Thanks for the help though.

And no, no router that I can see.

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Kijutsu

08-12-2004, 12:53 AM

> Nope. It is gray and says surfboard sb3100 cable modem.

It's a known issue with the firmware of this modem (firmware == software built into the modem). It also affects my cable modem which is a LinkSys.. I've emailed comcast and they are now aware of this problem after I raised the biggest fuss known to man about it. And no, I didn't tell them I use BitTorrent, I told them I was downloading a free linux OS ISO from gentoo.org and told them it was over 650 meg in size. :D

*EDIT*
GOD DAMN SQUID ERRORS >.<

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mrfreeze

08-12-2004, 02:10 AM

> It's a known issue with the firmware of this modem (firmware
> == software built into the modem). It also affects my cable
> modem which is a LinkSys.. I've emailed comcast and they are
now aware of this problem after I raised the biggest fuss
> known to man about it. And no, I didn't tell them I use
> BitTorrent, I told them I was downloading a free linux OS
> ISO from gentoo.org and told them it was over 650 meg in
> size. :D
>
>
So there is nothing I can do to rectify the problem short of buying a new cable modem eh? Ah well, I will just use DC from now on.

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Ethereal

08-12-2004, 02:17 AM

> Holy crap, didn't you used to lurk in the Cherryroms chat
> room?

Lurk? Lurk? What do you mean LURK. Dude. I WAS the chatroom :D

Anyway, yeah, it's me. I'm back to a much older pseudonym.

I think I'll go visit again one of these days.

mrfreeze

08-12-2004, 03:53 AM

> Lurk? Lurk? What do you mean LURK. Dude. I WAS the chatroom
> :D

> Anyway, yeah, it's me. I'm back to a much older pseudonym.

> I think I'll go visit again one of these days.
>
I still remember once I couldn't get Betrayal at Krondor running on my version of Dos so you suggested I install an older version. Then I wound up formatting the whole computer and ending up with pure Dos and no windows :P. God the memories.

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Kijutsu

08-12-2004, 08:34 PM

> So there is nothing I can do to rectify the problem short of
> buying a new cable modem eh? Ah well, I will just use DC
> from now on.

yes there is something you can do. call comcast and tell them their hardware/software is shit and they need to be fixed/upgraded so that it is capable of downloading more than 150 meg before locking up and having to power down the modem to get a good connection again.

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