Periodic loss of Peers

[madimk]

My problem, as stated in the subject, is periodic loss of download/upload speed that happens when every few minutes uTorrent losses almost all of the seeds and peers.

Internet Connection: DSL, 6Mbit connection, 600+ kbit downlaod / 50+ kbit upload

uTorrent 1.8.0 setup (current):

xx/640k - using speed guide

upload speed was reduced from 60k to 30k in order to improve web browsing during download period.

I have tried adjusting settings manually to reduce the number of global connections and connections per-torrent (keeping total connection per-torrent for all active torrent less than the number of global connections). but nothing seems to keep uTorrent from dropping almost all seeds and peers on a regular bases, as seen in the image below.

The same problem was with 1.7.x version, that's the reason for the upgrade to the beta.

This also started to happen only after I upgraded my DSL speed from 3Mbit line to a 6Mbit line. go figure ...

any advice?

P.S. ohh yeah i already followed all the guides by Ultima, so that didn't help either.

[GTHK]

Your image link, is broken. What ISP are you using? What Internet security software?

[madimk]

I've fixed the image link, it should work now, thanks for pointing it out to me.

I have AT&T Yahoo DSL and I am not running any security software.

I have a D-Link DGL-4300 gaming router (this thing is a monster), so I have no need for a software based firewall.

[GTHK]

I've heard of D-Links having problems, I don't know about that model though. Can you try bypassing it as a test?

[madimk]

As per your request, i connected computer directly to the modem, let uTorrent run for half an hour and unfortunately got the same results.

Could this problem be related to some caching problem? It occurs so periodically, I wonder how many things could cause something like this.

[GTHK]

Assuming your using a real modem, no router built into it, then I'm thinking ISP. Try this guide.

[madimk]

Yeah, that was the one of the first things I did, was to go through that guide, found some interesting info but nothing that helped me.

To address your concern about the modem, it does have a built in router but that has been disabled at least a few years ago.

[GTHK]

Just disabled? Did you set it to bridge mode? Bridge mode and firewalls disabled is very important. If you're using PPPoE/PPPoA based ISP the guide in my signature should be helpful.

[madimk]

I guess we mean the same thing by bridge mode and turning HomePortal 1000HW strictly into a modem by disabling its routing capabilities.

I used to download and max out my connection at about 300k and after upgrading my connection I was hoping to get close to 600k, but uTorrent almost never has time to reach the max as it will start losing peers and seeds every few minutes.

Previously my settings were 300 global connection with 3 active torrents with 100 connections per torrent.

Now i have it set at 400 global connections, 4 active torrents with 90 connections per torrent.

I am really at lose as to the cause of this problem.

P.S. I really appreciate your help so far, GTHK.

[jewelisheaven]

Follow Ultima's troubleshooting guide. http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=15992

Especially the part about turning off unnecessary features AND lowering your connections AND forcing encryption and not allowing unencrypted connections.... TBQH I'd be happy if I could hit those download speeds, even if I got interrupted every 20 minutes. It's either the hardware or the ISP. If it's not hardware it's the automated countermeasures your ISP uses to enforce their "network management". Lower your settings until it doesn't happen

[Switeck]

"but nothing seems to keep uTorrent from dropping almost all seeds and peers on a regular bases, as seen in the image below."

Such behavior sounds highly like something the ISP is doing.

Any bottlenecks you're likely having with your networking hardware or software is likely not as predictable...they'd fail more randomly, based on load rather than consistent time periods.

Try extremely low values for max connections and half open connections. Disable DHT, Resolve IPs, Local Peer Discovery, UPnP, and incoming legacy connections. Set outgoing encryption to forced. Then try playing with upload speed max.

So long as you're getting at least 1 peer to upload to per 3 KiloBYTES/sec of upload speed you're giving out, at least upload speed will likely be maxed. This may be difficult, as on many torrents there may be few BitTorrent clients with encryption enabled.

[GTHK]

Additionally, non-routing and bridging are different.

[madimk]

Well, someday if you decide you have extra free time, may be you could explain he differences to me, b/c I didn't even learn about bridging during my Networking class at University.

On a positive side, one of the things Switeck suggested might have worked. After disabling all DHT, Local Peer Discovery, Peer Exchange, UPnP, and NAT-PMP port mapping, as well as reducing total number of connection from 400 to 200 hundred and running two active torrent with 100 connection each, I was successful at downloading at full speed (600k) without losing any peers, for a period of two hours.

That all the time it took to download a ubuntu dvd.

Since then i have re-enabled DHT and set outgoing encryption to Enabled. I also increased global connections to 500 and set 6 active torrents with 80 connections each, so far no problems.

So, for now case closed.

p.s. I am still curious though as to what the cause of my problem was, so I will try to do some more testing to see if I can recreate the symptoms.

p.s.s. GTHK, as I remember there was just a check box, someplace in the configuration of the modem to Enable Routing, so I just unchecked, thus removing that functionality from the device.

[GTHK]

Glad to hear it worked out. Anyway, I was thinking you meant NAT, but having "Enable Routing"? Sounds weird.. WAIT! It's a routing daemon, it causes your router to communicate with other routers to share routing tables, useful for multi-router setups.

Transparent bridging refers to a form of bridging "transparent" to the end systems using it, in the sense that the end systems operate as if the bridge isn't there in the way that matters: