Torrents causing connection problems

[daiver]

Is it possible for some torrents to cause Internet connection problems? I downloaded 2 torrents yesterday from a known tracker and when I open them, my Internet connection starts lagging. Websites take forever to load or timeout, etc.

Whenever I stop them, everything goes back to normal.

I have 12K upload speed and have it capped to 5K, which also limits my download speed to around 30K, far from my speed limit. I try to reset the router, the modem, etc. Nothing seems to work but stop those torrents and even after I stop them, it takes a while for the connection to become normal again.

I tried using Azureus to download them with the same result, so this is not a uTorrent problem but I ask here because I get the feeling you guys know what you're talking about.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Switeck]

What settings are you using in uTorrent, as shown by Speed Guide (CTRL+G)?

Try the 1st and 2nd links in my signature.

[daiver]

I've had the same settings for months and only now with these specific torrents I'm having trouble. I'm pretty sure they're the default settings but can't confirm since I'm not at my house right now.

[Switeck]

I'm going to assume the settings are bad until given what they are, since most people use settings often 10x what their connection is good for.

[daiver]

I have default settings:

Connections: 50

Upload slots: 4

Connections (global): 400

Max Active Torrents: 8

Max Active Downloads: 5

These settings worked just fine and torrents worked in a way comparable to direct downloading at full speed.

The only thing that has changed was the addition of two new torrent files for download.

[jewelisheaven]

Yeah, we've been wanting to change that default value... look at Switeck's 2nd link.

What is your upload limit (how much do you upload consistently according to the speed guide? The link should be horizontal and not have many peaks and valleys over 5, 30 seconds)

[daiver]

Ok, even if these settings were a bit over the hill, how can you explain that I've used them for over a year, with huge queue and download lists and just now I'm having problems with two specific torrents?

Is there anything on the tracker's side that can be causing this?

[Firon]

Turn off DHT, lower net.max_halfopen to 8 or less, raise your upload cap to 6.

Also, routers fail, so yours might be starting to fail, assuming no other changes. But try the above before assuming that.

[Switeck]

It can also be the nature of the torrents you've done in the past. If most were old+slow and had few seeds+peers, uTorrent might never approach 400 connections at once which hoses your networking somewhere.

Instead of just changing upload speed max to 6 KiloBYTES/second, also use Speed Guide (CTRL+G) and choose the xx/96k setting...and then lower upload speed max to 6 KiloBYTES/second.

[daiver]

Thanks, will try these measures when I get home again.

Edit:

Well, I've been fiddling with it and I have bad results.

It's weird because I have another torrent that I added after this started happening and it is downloading OK and does not lag my connection. However, when I start downloading the other one, the problem reappears.

This is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me with bittorrent.

Anyway, DHT has nothing to do with it as I've tested it throughly.