"Offline (timed out)" for all my torrents after about 30min

[lonkny]

I have been running uTorrent 1.6 for quite some time now with little issue. Using Look'n'Stop for s/w firewall (works great and was recommended for use with uTorrent).

When I first open uTorrent, the trackers/DHT update normally and my Tracker Status reads "Working" for all torrents. However, after about 30-40 minutes, the tracker status cannot Update. It reads "Updating..." for a while and eventually changes to "Offline (Timed Out)"... if I add a new torrent after this issue begins to occur, it will read 0 seeds indefinitely (although Peers will update normally), even though I know there are seeds on the torrent - I must exit uTorrent and reopen it to see the Seeds on these newly added Torrents.

I typically have about 5 torrents downloading and 10 seeding at any given time. I am not max'ing out my Internet connection by any means (3mbps/768kbps VZ DSL). I'm not sure what the problem is.

My Global max connections is 450,

Max # of connected peers per torrent is 100,

net.max_halfopen is set to 8

TCPIP XP patch is not installed

Has anyone seen this issue? I have tried other firewalls in the past, but Look'n'Stop is the first one that doesn't cause my Router to crash every couple hours... Outpost, Kaspersky, etc. all used to make my router crap out every couple hours when I had torrents dl/ul so I am very happy with Look'n'Stop in that it has made things much more stable (and is reliable and easy to use). I recommend giving it a try if you are looking for a good, low impact software firewall.

If anyone has experienced this issue or has any suggestions for me, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

LonkNY

[Ultima]

Hm, check my signature for other suggestions.

[Switeck]

Is µTorrent actually sustaining the upload speed max you told it to use?

If not, you are probably overloading your connection.

Also, you are running too many torrents at once if over 2/3's are actually active (>1 KB/sec download OR upload). You're probably averaging less than 2 KB/sec upload speed per upload slot, maybe even well below 1 KB/sec...so anyone actually downloading from you is likely seeing horrible speeds typical of a overloaded connection.

[lonkny]

What do you mean by "is µTorrent actually sustaining the upload speed max"? If you mean is µTorrent consistently uploading at my max configured upload speed, then yes. My Internet connection's upload speed is 768kbps (96KBps) so I have µTorrent set at 85KBps upload rate. My bandwidth meter is showing an upload rate of about 90KBps while µTorrent is showing about 75KBps.

[Ultima]

Yeesh, that's cutting it close =o Try selecting xx/640k in the Speed Guide to see if you fare better.

[lonkny]

Ultima,

I tried a few of the suggestions in your "Internet Interruption | Slow Speeds" FAQ, particularly lowering Global Max Connections, lowering net.max_halfopen to 4, and disabling resolving peers, and so far so good! So thanks! I am reversing each one by one to pin down which setting change did the trick and will let you know for future reference.

Thanks again.

[Switeck]

lonkny said:"If you mean is µTorrent consistently uploading at my max configured upload speed, then yes."

Yes. Quite a few people have used speed guide and used their download speed value for the drop-down box...or set their upload speed too high manually. If µTorrent isn't actually reaching those speeds...then upload speed max needs to be reduced.

In your case, as you said, it's reaching the set values just fine. ...however it's close to your line's max and may cause lag and occassional overloads when coupled with other activities.

[lonkny]

Thanks for your input... I will try lowering my max upload speed to something a bit more conservative. So far things have been good since making the above changes - I have changed back the Global Max Connections to 450 and things still seem OK, so I am guessing that lowering net.max_halfopen to 4 was the setting that did the trick for me. I will set back to 8 to see if the issue starts occurring again.

Thanks again.

[Lardzor]

This is typical behavior if you used a program called "EventID4226patch.exe" to increase the number of half-open connections available to Windows XP. If you use "Microsoft Update", sometimes one of the updates will reset the number of half-open connections back to 10. 10 has been the default ever since "Service Pack 2" when Microsoft decided that having much more would allow virus's to spread too quickly on systems that are infected.

Here is a link to the website where you can get "EventID4226Patch.exe" again if you wish to increase your available half-open connections again.

http://www.lvllord.de/?lang=en&url=downloads

I hope this helps explain things.

Regards;

Lardzor.

[MARTiNiS]

i have the SAME problem...

upload doesnt count on the tracker right?

and i have used this EventID4226Patch.exe before

gonna try this now if it works...

thank you

[jewelisheaven]

the lvllord patch doesn't resolve preexisting problems. it is ONLY useful when you have a working connection/setup AND you are overloading the imposed tcpip.sys limit.

Checking to see WHY the offline problem happens is more pertinent than making tcpip.sys higher. Especially since during troubleshooting of the How-To it's recommended to LOWER the setting even below the 8 halfopen default threshold.

[Lardzor]

@Jewel is heaven:

I could lower my half-open connections setting in uTorrent, but I prefer faster downloads, not slower.

I just used MS Update and had this same problem. That's how I found this post. When I figured out the solution (the half-open connections limit was reset back to 10), and since I have used the EventID patcher in the past, I used it again to increase the limit to what I had it set to before. This solved the problem immediately. Since his description of a working version of uTorrent suddenly telling him all his trackers are offline mirrored my symptoms, I volunteered the solution that worked for me.

I have the half-open connections option in my version of uTorrent set to 250, and it works perfectly.

This actually has happened to me before after using MS-update, but it was a while ago, so I didn't remember the solution immediately.

BTW, Increasing the half-open connections limit in TCPIP.SYS (or lowering it in uTorrent settings), IS checking to see why the offline problem happens through a process of elimination. Isn't it better to go with a known solution for a problem that fits the symptoms, then to scour the Event Viewer System Log or running HijackThis or AntiSpyware programs or anti-virus software or whatever else you can think up?

Regards;

Lardzor.

[DreadWingKnight]

I could lower my half-open connections setting in uTorrent, but I prefer faster downloads, not slower.

The halfopen count affects a torrent's speeds for all of about 25-30 SECONDS.

I have the half-open connections option in my version of uTorrent set to 250, and it works perfectly.

Having it set this high is how to kill marginal hardware in one easy step.

[Switeck]

"I could lower my half-open connections setting in uTorrent, but I prefer faster downloads, not slower."

And yet a high half-open connection rate *WILL* be very detrimental to upload and possibly download speeds. This is because creating new connections (especially the encrypted handshake process) isn't bandwidth-free. So attempting to make LOTS of new connections at once cuts into the available bandwidth for uploading+downloading on existing connections. It is also more likely to be noticed by an ISP's monitoring hardware that seeks to throttle BitTorrent traffic.

There is a fine balance between quick ramp-up speeds given by semi-high half open connection rate and the extra costs of too-high half open connection rate. Beyond 40 half open max, there is probably no gains at all except for extreme connections and/or LOTS of active torrents that report lots of dead sources each.

It's worth noting that not being firewalled in uTorrent (getting the green light at bottom) is far more effective at getting high download+upload speeds than using a high half open rate. Incoming connections do not count against the half open connection rate limit, which you can't get if uTorrent is firewalled.

[athenaesword]

switeck, from what i gather then the optimal is below 40? what number of half open connections would you propose then for a 8000kbps down/384kbps up connection?

dreadwingknight, are you saying that changing the maxhalfopen connections limit only alters utorrent speeds for 30 seconds? after that it doesn't matter and would be the same whether it was 40 or 8?

[jewelisheaven]

The same as for any xx/384 connection. Download is incidental and variable. Halfopen count affects INITIAL speed in that you connect to more peers as you start a torrent. After you start it, and peers know about you and you know about peers, speeds are as they will be. You will notice a difference only when cycling peers probably after the first 5 minute disconnect peer interval.

[athenaesword]

so will more max half open connections improve download speeds overall instead of the default settings? or issit a minute difference

[jewelisheaven]

Half Open connections help in INITIALLY getting speeds by making you connect to more peers faster. So if it takes you 100 peers on one torrent (hopefully you're only using one torrent simultaneously)... the default of 8 means you will take 12 seconds to make 100 connection attempts. With a higher than normal setting (requiring patching tcpip.sys) of 20 you will make those same 100 attempts in 5 seconds.

[athenaesword]

ah okay. that was well explained thank you jewel

[Switeck]

And if you're having connectivity troubles due to too many connections at once, half open set to 20 will hose your line roughly 3 times faster than having it set to 8...assuming the problem is linear.

However if the failed attempts time out just fine on their own after a short period of time, a half open value of 4 might be fine...8 might slowly cause problems...and 20 might lock the connection in under 5 minutes flat.

[athenaesword]

okay i kinda lost you at the end. what dya mean the failed attempts time out just fine? so basically how do i test for which value to put?

[jewelisheaven]

You leave halfopen at default unless you know what you're doing. If you choose to INCREASE it be sure you know what/when you perform windows updates, because they regularly reset the tcpip.sys. DECREASING it may help if you have lower quality hardware or are on a less-reliable internet connection like wireless satellite etc

[Switeck]

A failed connection attempt is when your computer tries to connect to a random ip address...and nothing responds on the other end. Eventually, your computer has to DROP the connection attempt. Windows does this automatically, but may not do it fast enough if uTorrent is making LOTS of connection attempts at once.

You could check under administrative tools in control panel to see if Windows XP/Vista is reporting too many half open connections at once errors. If it is, uTorrent's half open value is *DEFINITELY* set too high.

[athenaesword]

i'm to look under event viewer? i have a couple of tcpip warnings that go: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts.

hasn't happened at all in the past 24 hours though. currently it's set to 8 and i think it works fine. i've had a problem with utorrent speeds fluctuating dramatically over the last couple of days though. too distinct patterns in the graphs to be random. i don't think it's isp related. someone suggested it might be the harddisk having write problems. was wondering wha tyou guys thought

[Switeck]

These graphs are either the results of very weak torrents, where 1 seed is "spurting" a complete piece out slower than the peers can propagate it, or very bad clients (older BitComet clients in particular) are creating very slow piece propagation, and/or the results of hostile clients (and subsequent high hash failure rate)...or hostile ISPs, either the ones you're connecting to...or the one you're on. Or lastly the large ISP that your smaller ISP connects through.

The very bursty upload graph (the 3rd and last picture) shows signs of being unable to reach and sustain the set max upload speed. This is probably due to being on a hostile ISP, but may be due to uploading to a peer on a hostile ISP. ...Or it may be due to a very overloaded computer on either end, possibly as the result of virus activity or download/upload activity outside of the BitTorrent client that's saturating that line's speeds.