µTorrent Downs our Network

[Jasung Aqualung]

Hey folks. Like some others, I'm also having an issue with connectivity with the net while µTorrent is up. I've tried some suggestions that I've found with limited success.

Edit: Simplified introduction, system's data removed, post rewrite, and suggestions for others regarding connectivity. All of these suggestions were found within the FAQs or were provided by the moderators or administrators of the µTorrent forums gathered from other threads, except for one which is noted.

This is no way all encompassing nor guaranteed to resolve your own situation of connectivity, if you also have that issue. They may not be helpful whatsoever to you. These are just other *suggestions* that you may have either overlooked or just something to consider. Please note, if you perform any of these actions, then the risk is entirely on you. In summary, it's just something -else- you may want to look into. But I hope it helps as we need to help each other around here.

Let's briefly look at a couple of basic items.

Did you:

---Setup a Static IP?

---Port Forward?

---Allow µTorrent to get pass your firewall?

The Suggestions for µTorrent (in no particular order):

1 - Try disabling UPnP Port Mapping and/or NAT-PMP Port Mapping. They're located under Connections.

2 - Try adjusting your numbers under Bandwidth and Queueing (sic). Drop them low.

3 - Under BitTorrent, try different settings. For instance, try disabling DHT, Local Peer Discovery, and/or Bandwidth Management. Try Bandwidth Management first, however.

4 - In Advanced, change net.max_halfopen to four or less and change peer.lazy_bitfield to false.

5 - Resolve IPs under the Peers Tab. Right-click on one from your list to see the menu.

6 - Downgrade to an earlier version of µTorrent. This one is NOT endorsed by the moderators of the µTorrent forums and I suspect they are not allowed to. You won't find it here and you're on your own.

Just a note regarding the downgrade suggestion. Other members have said that downgrading does help with connectivity and in speeds -for them- when compared to the current version. However, I did not nor say anything about it one why or another--it's just what others have said. They say it works. For clarification, I'm using the current stable version 2.0 Build 18296. ***For the mods: I checked the forum rules and the sticky thread regarding downgrades and as I understand it, it is okay for members to suggest it. It not, then I apologize. Feel free to remove suggestion six from the post if it is deemed necessary. I'm just trying to look out for other folks.***

Well, I hope that helps, but if not there's a lot of us that feels the same pain. Good luck!

[DreadWingKnight]

Does the problem happen with ZoneAlarm uninstalled temporarily (Not only is it a bad piece of software, but with a router it's actually completely useless)?

What version of uTorrent?

Is there a secondary firewall in your router? (stateful packet inspection)

[Firon]

Plug your computer directly into the modem and see if the crashing goes away.

[Jasung Aqualung]

µTorrent's version is 2.0.

Really? With the router ZoneAlarm is completely useless? It seems to work fine like when I tell it to stop traffic and whatnot. I wanted to keep it, but I'll give it a shot uninstalling it and see what happens.

Windows firewall is checked as disabled from ZoneAlarm and in µTorrent. I haven't installed Norton's firewall since I was using ZoneAlarm. Oh, and I do not know what and have no idea how to do a "stateful packet inspection".

By the way, that was a lightning fast reply. Well, let me try uninstalling. Will be back after reboot.

Edit: Reponse to Firon's post: This computer has a cable running directly from the tower to the modem. Is that what you mean?

Edit #2: Yup, still kills it. The only thing in µTorrent's list were three files and all in the seeding state. Reset the modem again and had to shut down the program. ZA is still uninstalled at this moment.

Edit #3: ZA is still uninstalled. µTorrent got updated just now (today's date is 23rd of Feb.). Still kills our connection. It's version is now 2.0 Build 18296 (Stable). I've followed other recent threads that were similar and they're at a similar state as I am as well. And tick-for-tack, I assume others are following this. So, um, help? Thanks.

Edit #4: I've disabled "Local Peer Discovery" since, as far as I can tell, doesn't help any and the program might be better off for me if it isn't on. Well, I suppose we are in a state of limbo until further suggestions are provided or somehow I fix it myself. If I do happen to fix it, I'll let it be known here and hopefully the solution provided helps someone else.

Until then, I have a favor to ask of you, dear reader, would you mind posting a reply to this thread so that it gets bumped and not get buried and forgotten? The forums here works a little differently than others typically found on the web. Editing doesn't make things "new".

Respectively, I'm still looking for solutions or other suggestions. I've seen the ZA suggestion before and it is currently uninstalled, but I still do not see why that would affect µTorrent in any way. Just hit "Allow" and µTorrent won't be blocked by the firewall.

Just as an observation with the program from this end, it seems that a torrent with large number of seeds and/or large numbers of peers is actually bad and could cause the network to fail. We have to be very careful with such torrents.

Anyone else have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks for looking so far and thanks in advance if you posted a reply.