Trackers timed out. Connection/setting problem.

[withheld]

The problem I am having here is that all my trackers are timed out. I know they aren't offline because the torrent sites showed them as online and working. All my trackers come from different sites too. (None of them are working currently for some reason) Yea, I am having a red download and upload flag for the past hours.

This happens quite frequently and on other times it works just fine and the green tick will be there. Now it's just shows zero for my upload and download rate and no incoming connection. (DHT is at more than 200 since I switched on my machine I think)

I am using a linksys wireless connection and I've forwarded my uTorrent port to my internal IP address. My internal IP address changes within a certain range when I reset my router so I usually update my IP under the port forward if it changes.

Currently my settings are:

uTorrent 1.8 settings:

Enabled: UPnP port mapping, NAT-PMP port mapping, DHT Network, DHT for new torrents, Local Peer Discovery, Peer Exchange

Disabled: Limit local peer bandwidth

Added to Windows Firewall Exception

Protocol Encryption Outing: Enabled (Allow incoming legacy connections UNchecked)

Not using Proxy Server

Under router's Port Range Forward Settings:

App name: Utor2 (My laptop is using Utor1)

Protocol: Both (TCP, UDP)

Router is WRT54G, firmware v3.03.6-multicast

More information:

Connection Type: xx/256k

No software firewall

Can't remember if TCP/IP is patched but utorrent currently at default settings of 8 half-open connections.

ISP: starhub

Is there anything wrong with these settings? These used to work fine when I started using uTorrent with a healthy download:upload speed ratio.

Or could it be a problem with my router? The trackers were timed out before I changed the port forward settings and still timed out despite updating them after I changed the settings.

Update: A minute after I finished typing this, the yellow sign turned green. But tracker status are still timed out. It's yellow again now. Checked a torrent tracker site, tracker is apparantly healthy but not here.

Thanks in advance!

[thelittlefire]

So the only message in Tracker Status is "Tracker Offline (timeout)"? Is it possible your ISP started blocking tracker communications? Does the same symptom manifest in the testing torrents ( http://slackware.com/torrents/ for instance)

[Switeck]

Your ISP (Maxonline in Singapore) is almost hopeless. They throttle almost all outgoing traffic and cripple BitTorrent traffic in particuar.

A higher encryption setting might help...marginally.

[withheld]

I never knew my ISP throttles. Been suspecting problems with my settings all along. Oh well, another reason to change my ISP.

What do you mean by higher encryption setting? I am quite desperate to increase my download speed even if its only marginally.

Thanks. And yea, the same symptoms occurs for testing torrents occasionally.

[thelittlefire]

Follow the sticky http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=15992 , reduce settings, turn off LPD, DHT, reduce net.max_halfopen , change encryption -> FORCED and dis-allow legacy connections.

[Switeck]

http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Avoid_traffic_shaping#Escalation_of_the_crypto_settings

Azureus encryption level 3 is equivalent to µTorrent's "Enable" for outgoing encryption with "Allow legacy incoming connections" unchecked

Azureus encryption level 4 is equivalent to µTorrent's "Forced" for outgoing encryption with "Allow legacy incoming connections" unchecked

Azureus encryption level 5 doesn't really have an equivalent in µTorrent. uTorrent's DHT can be disabled and uTorrent can be firewalled by a router, preventing your computer from "seeing" incoming connections.