Always says "Offline (timed out)".

[Redwill]

My PC is the only machine on the network that can't use utorrent properly. When I try to start a torrent, it says "Updating" for a minute or two, then "Offline (timed out)" and sits at 0 -- it's done this for weeks. It happens on every tracker, I've tried a dozen, including torrents that immediately worked on other machines. Other PCs in my house work fine, and this one never used to have a problem.

No unusual processes are running -- I checked what every single one was for -- and no spyware or viruses are detected by any of the apps I used. I don't run a software firewall and I turned off my antivirus and antispyware software.

I've forwarded the port, the same as I always have. No change. I've updated my router's firmware and factory-reset it, no change. I've called my ISP, they've said nothing is wrong. I really have absolutely no idea what the problem could be, but it's driving me nuts.

I'd really appreciate any advice or suggestions anyone can offer.

[jewelisheaven]

Generally speaking this is due to overloaded connections. This can be due to half-open settings, QoS programs, and hardware instability. (Reading through Ultima's How-To (linked below) may give you ideas you haven't tried yet)

If you checked your HiJackThis log already, would you mind pasting the DLLs (Ctrl-D) list from Process Explorer?

Can you include hardware information/type (there are reports of x64 and dual-core problems).

[Redwill]

Here is the list of DLLs.

I haven't checked HijackThis, but I'll go grab it now.

I'm running a Core2Duo (2.13GHz) with 2GB RAM, and the system's been perfectly stable (never bluescreening or anything).

Edit: HijackThis didn't say anything unusual, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to check for.

[jewelisheaven]

Please open a command prompt and (from the root) dir/s UnlockerHook.dll

... It shouldn't be in there.

Edit: What is UnlockerAssistant ?

[Redwill]

UnlockerHook.dll belongs to UnlockerAssisant, which is an app I installed. It lets you forcefully delete files that are being used by Windows -- I haven't used it in ages.

[jewelisheaven]

In that case... I guess it can be in there, as I don't think that would interfere with tracker communications.

There are some funny quirks reported by users with dual cores... if you could humor me and try a torrent from http://distribution.openoffice.org/p2p/ to see if that also reports as offline under your current setup...

The next step (if it is still performing like that) would be to reduce your Ctrl-G settings to minimal levels... 10 per torrent, 30 total, 1 upload slot and try to let it run again...

Do you have DHT enabled so that you can still get peers from that if your tracker communications aren't working?

[Redwill]

That OpenOffice torrent times out, just like the others. I had DHT disabled, but enabling it doesn't change anything.

Reducing my limits to 30 connections / 10 per torrent / 1 upload slot doesn't change it, either .

[jewelisheaven]

Since you have other computers on your LAN, the changes to your router wouldn't affect a single computer.

I still say Unlocker shouldn't be there, but I can understand it. If you try uninstalling it to see if that is the problem... Also NetLimiter could have some firewall component.

How did you get WPF onto XP SP2?

[Redwill]

EDIT: When I killed Netlimiter they started working again. Then they stopped and it happened again, but now they work. I think it's because Netlimiter keeps restarting, it has an unkillable process called nlsvc.exe that process-explorer and taskman can't kill. >.<

[jewelisheaven]

If it's netlimiter, you should be able to uninstall the program, maybe?

LOL I don't know. I would recommend checking their site and contact them about the problem, or search in their "advanced" options... to see if you can make an exception for the port uT uses.. or the EXE itself. :/

Sorry it took so long to figure it out.

[Redwill]

Well I uninstalled it and it's gone, but now things are timing out again. But I swear it fixed itself when I killed Netlimiter. Argh, maybe the gods are toying with me.

[ajones81]

Can you check your router settings once again to see if the port's forwarded correctly? (Check with Ctrl+G.) Also, does the router have a firewall?

Unlocker shouldn't be a problem - I use it all the time.

[Redwill]

Yes, it has a firewall, but I've disabled it and re-enabled it and that didn't affect it.

Right now it says the port isn't forwarded (even though it is: it passed the test a few hours ago and I haven't touched anything since).

[Adi]

Redwill I have the same EXACT problem

the trackers goes offline (Timed out). I used all other torrent applications and still the same.

btw, what is your motherboard chipset (is it Nvidia or intel)?

[Redwill]

Intel Broadwater P965. But it's worked for the last 3-5 months :-|

[jewelisheaven]

Strange as tralc meat :'(. OK, can you try the systematic troubleshooting you tried before, again, without netlimiter installed? Are you using any other software which may have features for internet "protection", packet filtering, or other QoS work.

[Redwill]

Tried it all again without netlimiter installed. It all works fine about 50% of the time, the other 50% of the time, utorrent behaves as described in my first post. There's no pattern, the times seem to be random.

I have no other internet-related software installed.

[jewelisheaven]

Well bully. So at least it's behaving better though right?

Would you mind pasting a picture of your Ctrl-G Speed Guide settings please.

Also have you modified either of the Ctrl-P -> Advanced bt.connect_speed OR net.max_halfopen? (Default values do not show *)

[Redwill]

Neither of those values show an asterisk.

[jewelisheaven]

Errr, WHOA! hehe, I'm pretty sure the first problem lies with the unlimited upload. What does a speed test report your line capable of? It really SHOULD NOT be set higher than the recommended unless you already have a working connection and want a better upload experience.

The max active torrents and max active downloads aren't really a problem unless you're TRYING to run anything more than 20 torrents... but for people who use the Queueing system regularly they would be aghast at such settings.

Changing the drop-down to reflect your upload "xx/1Mbit" for example would re-adjust the max global upload available. See if that first off fixes the problem. Second thing to try would be to lower the default per torrent and global connection values under Ctrl-P -> BitTorrent to values you currently have.. 20 per torrent is a nice place to start if the connection is still being overloaded.

Merry Christmas for those, and a Happy Festivus for the rest of us!! :cool:

[Redwill]

Yeah, I had my upload speed set at 12 kB/s (I can do 22) earlier this month and it sadly didn't affect anything, as my upload reads 0 all the time anyway :-\.

Did you pin your father?

[jewelisheaven]

errr, that's a colloquialism I couldn't find anywhere I'll take it to mean did I have a good christmas with my family, the answer is yes, and thank you for asking (Oh i hope you didn't think i come from the UK because i said bully :X I like their phrases.. and accents so I try to incorporate some into my lingo) I hope you enjoyed yours with all of yours as well.

Just to be clear, when running Process Explorer or HiJackThis now, do the NetLimiter service or process show up? I'm not saying it didn't listen to you telling it to remove itself.. but if removing part of it made the problem better even 25% of the time I'd be apt to finger that as the culprit.

Also, just to be sure would you paste the HJT log please

[Redwill]

Actually the "pin your father" bit was a joke about Festivus ("Until you pin your father, festivus is not over!").

Here's my HiJackThis log: http://pastebin.ca/832525

As you can see, there's a Netlimiter service still around, but I can't seem to kill it. It doesn't have a process that shows up in ProcessExplorer, and I can't get into my Services list in Admin Tools.

[jewelisheaven]

Wait wait, you know about Festivus!!! Then you can answer this question .. i get stuck with George's quote "A merry christmas to those... and a festivus for the rest of us", what is after those?!? Its been driving me crazy, heh

OK, if you notice in process explorer, there is an extra tab that shows up for services.. highlight the service process, double click, and you can stop the service from there. Have you tried start->run->cmd->services.msc (or remove cmd and do it direct) As far as uninstalling the service, if removing netlimiter didn't do that, I really can't recommend their software. Sloppy cleanup is BAD JUJU. Of course you can report this to them and see if they respond

Thanks for the HJT, unfortunately nothing red-flags except that service Perhaps someone else may see something I don't at this late hour.

[Redwill]

I don't think George ever says that. When Frank walks into the bagel shop Kramer works at, Kramer asks "this new holiday of yours--" and Frank says "it's a festivus for the rest of us!"

I disabled the netlimiter service and rebooted, but there's no change .