Green check: I think I'm going to just give up here pretty soon...

[sombreroman]

Alright, here's the deal: It seems that it is completely impossible for me to get a consistent green check. I used to have a consistent check, but then my hard drive crashed and had to reset everything and what not (THIS has something to do with my issues in my opinion, though I realize it shouldn't really have any effects). I can still upload and download, but I'm not able to connect to a lot of peers, which really hurts my ability to share. I've forwarded my ports time and time again, I've tweaked the UPnP, NAT-PMP, and DHT settings over and over with no combination solving the issue. I've checked to see if my ISP is throttling my bandwidth or blocking my ports, but they're not. I've patched my half-connections and searched hundreds of forum threads, but still nothing seems to work. I almost always have the yellow triangle. I get green checks every now and then, but they only last for a maximum of around 90 seconds. It's really getting quite frustrating. I have no firewalls set up on my machine to block uTorrent, but something seems to be doing just that, because I just can't get it. If that's just the way it has to be then so be it, but I would really like to seek help one last time before I resign to my fate of not being connectible. I have Windows XP SP3, a Linksys WRT54G v8 router, Comcast is my ISP, I currently have UPnP disabled, DHT and NAT-PMP enabled, I've patched the half-connection limit, and forwarded my port on the router first then entered that port into uTorrent and I've speed tested to idealize my settings. If any other information is needed I can post it.

Something interesting I noticed is my machine didn't come with a Windows Firewall. Every time I tried to start it up I get a message reading "Error 1075: The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion." I can't remember if I read somewhere that this was a sign of a bad install of the Windows XP OS. If someone could confirm whether or not this is true, that could solve all my problems... maybe.

I also ran a test at this site:

http://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2

which gave me these results:

"Your Internet port 139 does not appear to exist!

One or more ports on this system are operating in FULL STEALTH MODE! Standard Internet behavior requires port connection attempts to be answered with a success or refusal response. Therefore, only an attempt to connect to a nonexistent computer results in no response of either kind. But YOUR computer has DELIBERATELY CHOSEN NOT TO RESPOND which represents advanced computer and port stealthing capabilities. A machine configured in this fashion is well hardened to Internet NetBIOS attack and intrusion.

Unable to connect with NetBIOS to your computer.

All attempts to get any information from your computer have FAILED. (This is very uncommon for a Windows networking-based PC.) Relative to vulnerabilities from Windows networking, this computer appears to be VERY SECURE since it is NOT exposing ANY of its internal NetBIOS networking protocol over the Internet."

This does not bode well for my recovery in my opinion. Please uTorrent community, you are my last hope for connectivity and happy sharing time for all of my peers.

Thanks!

[Switeck]

What's uTorrent's 6 basic settings (or connection type) as shown by Speed Guide (CTRL+G)?

If set too high, they can cause intermittent firewall-like conditions.

[parade-o]

I have issues similar to the OP, also consistent for the past several months at least. (No hardware crash associated with the problem here, by the way.) My understanding is that it cannot be a port forwarding problem (please correct if I'm wrong), as I'm using cable and currently no router. (Also because every attempt at turning off UPnP to use port forwarding failed to improve the situation.) Would adding a router and enabling port forwarding help?! I also checked my speed and whether Comcast was throttling my BT traffic with these cool German guys' web utilities, and that's not the problem either. Is the problem XP SP2? I hesitate to fiddle with the TCP/IP "security measure" at least until I've added a router to my system for a little extra security, but is that the most likely fix?

After browsing around I did find somebody's suggested settings to "optimize" traffic, which did seem to get me the green check a little bit more often but still rarely. These settings are reflected in the Speed Guide:

Upload limit: 186kB/s; upload slots: 8

connections (per torrent): 300; connections (global): 100

max active torrents: 6; max active downloads: 5

(Which is to say, please don't look for a reason to dismissively tell me I haven't provided the right info, just calmly tell me what you need to help with the diagnosis...This is probably why the OP is on the verge of giving up! It's not that everyone does this, it's just a very common net-wide problem on threads like this that I've found up 'til now. Obviously the solution is to be specific, but we don't all know how to be specific enough for you gurus out there! )

Oh, and sombrero?...That port 139 stuff sounds nasty, no clue there, but I honestly think you're better off if your machine lacks that Windows firewall POS.

[Switeck]

Adding a router may only make things worse...networking gets more complex and you already have problem/s.

You've probably got a software firewall running that's blocking uTorrent.

Possibly Windows firewall, a firewall in your antivirus/antispyware software, or even a virus/trojan!

Your settings may be too high unless you're absolutely sure you're paying for the more expensive and faster line from ComCast.

[parade-o]

Thanks for the reply. You're right, the added complication is definitely part of my reluctance to add pieces to the picture. Settings are appropriate based on that dude's (some guy named Switeck??) tables and my actual speed results, and I'm >95% sure it's not a firewall, but the virus possibility had occurred to me, and is rather troubling. A bit more hunting got me a rather more useful idea.

Get TCPview from www.sysinternals.com

Use it while µTorrent is shut down!

That will tell you if/what is using all the connections on a Win XP box.

Who could that have been?

[Switeck]

Do note that ComCast's "SpeedBoost" feature will make many online speed tests return FAR higher values than you can sustain even for 5 minutes.

Yes, I post alot.

[sombreroman]

Hey guys, OP here. Thanks for taking my problem up and helping me out. I really appreciate the fact that you would take your time to help, you guys rock!! I think I've finally managed to get my torrents under control, and I'm getting a consistent green check, and positives on my ports. I had to tweak some of the windows services through the administrative options on the control panel (which I would only recommend as an absolute last resort unless you know what they do, because I sure don't). Thanks again!