uTorrent works but makes me lose Internet access for other programs

[milleron]

I'm new to uTorrent. I just downloaded a DVD ISO, and uTorrent worked OK. The maximum download speeds I obtained were around 50-60 KB/s. The upload speeds exceeded download speeds about 90% of the time. My final ratio was 1.17.

While uTorrent continued to work OK, I noticed that browsers and mail clients were working VERY sluggishly in spite of the fact that uTorrent was using only about 25% of my bandwidth. After an hour or two, browsers and mail clients couldn't access the Internet at all, but uTorrent worked fine for the 29 hours it took to download the files.

I searched the forum for threads on my router, a Netgear WGR614 v6, and I found a few tips, but no reference to this problem of losing access through all types of clients other than uTorrent. I had UPnP enabled and the uTorrent port forwarded manually, as well. All other settings were default.

1 -- Why did I lose access for browsers and mail clients.

2 -- Are the speeds OK? I expected faster downloads with the number of seeds and peers I had connected, 20 and 100, respectively.

3 -- Is it typical for the uploaded volume to be so much greater than the downloaded volume?

Thanks.

Ron

[Switeck]

Are you sure your max upload speed wasn't being hammered by µTorrent? (It tries to go infinite speed by default, limited only by various computer bottlenecks.)

Doing both UPnP and port-forwarding manually is excessive, on poor networking equipment that can even cause nasty conflicts! If the manual port-forwarding is correct, disable UPnP both in µTorrent AND your router.

Even if upload speed and download speed are well below your connection's limits, your connection can still be overloaded if there's too many connections at once (like 300+ peers and seeds on low-end broadband).

DHT is known to make many routers and modems simply hurl and crash. Disabling DHT in µTorrent is the only solution if that's the problem.

What is your half-open connections limit set to in Windows (if you have Win XP SP2) and in µTorrent? µTorrent's value should ALWAYS be less than Windows' or it will probably overload.

[divmediat]

Where do you set the half-open connections limit in Windows?

[milleron]

After reading your advice, I've now disabled UPnP in the router and in µTorrent.

I'm a pretty experienced computer user, and I thought I knew my way around XP pretty well, but I'm not familiar with the term "half-open connections" or where to adjust the setting. (I do have XP SP2.)

No, I'm not sure that my "max upload speed wasn't being hammered by µTorrent." You've lost me with the concept of being "hammered by µTorrent." What does that mean?

I actually went out and bought a new router, the Netgear WGR614v6, because my slightly older Linksys BEFW11S4 really would crash and lock up with torrent clients. I'd actually have to unplug it and reset it to get it going again. This new router definitely doesn't crash. I downloaded a torrent in excess of 3GB with it, and it kept going. After the download, I simply renewed the lease that the router was getting from the Vonage appliance, and that gave me back my connectivity for browsers and mail clients. So "crash" doesn't seem the right word for what it was doing. I left the number of connections at default, but I don't think I ever had anywhere near the "300" you mention as an example. I never noticed anything more than 120, and the typical number was around 30-40.

I see the setting for "DHT," but I don't know what it's for. Would disabling DHT be the next step if simply disabling UPnP doesn't work? What functionality is given up by disabling DHT?

I'm still looking for an opinion on the average download speeds of 40 KBs with a 360KBs cable connection -- good or poor?

Thanks

[Ultima]

Half-open connections are connections not yet fully established (meaning in the process of being made -- request for connection sent out, and waiting for response). You can set it with lvllord's patch (if you're on XP SP2). 40KiB/s isn't spectacular, but it's alright.

[milleron]

Half-open connections are connections not yet fully established (meaning in the process of being made -- request for connection sent out, and waiting for response). You can set it with lvllord's patch (if you're on XP SP2). 40KiB/s isn't spectacular, but it's alright.

I'm deducing that you're talking about a Registry patch. Is that correct? Should I search this forum for "Ivllord's patch?" Should I use a different search term? Should I be looking somewhere else? My crystal ball's in the repair shop right now, so I'm going to have to beg for some clues.

[Switeck]

GOOGLE is the crystal ball I use for terms I don't know. When in doubt, try it.

The lvllord patch is NOT a Registry patch. It has to hack a microsoft DLL that Microsoft had a hard-coded half-open connections limit of 10.

The issue beyond half-open connections is likely nothing to do with your computer and all to do with your router, modem, and ISP.

DHT uses UDP datapackets, which numerous routers and modems can't handle at the rate µTorrent supplies them. (That's hardware design limits and bugs.)

What I mean by "max upload speed wasn't being hammered by µTorrent"...if you have a 1/2 megabit/sec upload connection, and you tell µTorrent to upload at speeds of 60 KB/sec or more...it will hammer your connection and cause slowdowns and even potentially internet software failures. You need to know your connection's limits and not exceed that in µTorrent...by running online speedtests and asking your ISP what your connection is rated for as well as acceptable use/bandwidth-per-month limits.

[milleron]

I found and downloaded the LvLlord patch. I presume that it hacks the tcpip stack so that a pre-determined, higher, number of half-open connections is allowed.

1 -- If it asks for input on the number to allow, however, what is the suggested number for use with µTorrent?

My download limit is 3Mbs, and my upload limit is 384Kbs, so that's about 45KB/s.

1 -- How much lower than that should the upload speed be capped?

2 -- It's not critical that I understand this, but what problem is caused by allowing the torrent client to fill up the uplink bandwidth?

I think I'll disable DHT without even waiting for the results of these two changes because after I posted my original message, I DID encounter an actual lockup that required rebooting the router.

1 -- how much performance will be lost by disabling DHT?

2 -- My new router was NOT among those listed on the µTorrent FAQ. Thats's why I bought it, but it apparently SHOULD be listed there. Is there a wireless router that is known to handle torrent clients reliably without crashing?

Thanks very much for walking me through all these problems and questions. I know I ask a lot of them, but please bear with me a little longer because I think I'm getting close to a solution.

[Firon]

Use the speed guide and choose xx/384kbit from the list.

Linksys WRT54GL is a good router.