Speeds negligible with BT.

[JayDub]

Hey again everyone. Been a while since I've been around. I'll try to keep this post short, as I do tend to get wordy at times.

Problem: Any torrent I try to download gets practically no speed (d/u) at all. I haven't been able to successfully download anything with BT in months. I've tried different clients (BitComet, ABC, Azureus, TurboTorrent, G3Torrent, etc), and there seems to be no difference. I have a cable modem, and my cap is about 3mb, I think. Regardless of that, my speed is nothing, aside from getting connected occasionally. I don't know that my connection shows as yellow... I may actually get fully connected, but just without any download.

This is a computer I built, so and that makes it doubly frustrating that BT won't work. There are a couple other issues (every Sunday my system clock drops two hours, and I can't make the ATI tv play sound through my speakers), but those are something else.

Ok, system info. WinXP Pro, SP2 Build 2600, 3.0ghz pentium, 2gb Geil RAM, etc (point is it's not an "old computer" problem). I don't have a router, and use the Windows Firewall. My network card is a Microsoft card, I think an MN-150. It's the one that was in my old computer, and the old computer was fine with BT.

I've read through many pages (at least 10) of posts in Technobabble with no help. I'm not new to BT, and have tried everything I can think of. I actually can't think of all that much, unfortunately.

Can anyone help? If I didn't provide enough info, or left something out, please just let me know and I'll fill in the blanks.

Thanks!!

[thisistoto]

Get rid of that windows firewall first thing, its a bitch and a half and will cause you more problems than good.


Are you going through a router JD?


The system clock problem might be a dieing battery on ur motherboard, had that problem before. Go into ur BIOS and make sure everything is kosher in there.

[JayDub]

Get rid of that windows firewall first thing, its a bitch and a half and will cause you more problems than good.

Are you going through a router JD?

The system clock problem might be a dieing battery on ur motherboard, had that problem before. Go into ur BIOS and make sure everything is kosher in there.
I've disabled the windows firewall and that didn't help. Is there a more indepth procedure for turning it off than just using it's own shutoff to do it? What firewall should I use inplace of the Windows firewall?

I do not have a router.

I've considered the battery issue, but like I said, the clock drops two hours every Sunday, not more, not less (save once). So it's not the battery, it's too specific of a problem. Thanks though.

[thisistoto]

Check your BIOS, there could be something wierd in there.



And just turning off the Windows Firewall should do the trick. Did you make sure the settings in ur BT client were all good? How full is ur HD? Defrag?

[JayDub]

And just turning off the Windows Firewall should do the trick. Did you make sure the settings in ur BT client were all good? How full is ur HD? Defrag?

Like I said, I've tried multiple clients, all with the same speed. I just installed G3, and it's actually about twice the other clients' speeds, but the tracker says about 200 seeds, and I'm seeing about 50 of them. My down speed is about 6KB/s. I haven't adjusted any settings within the client. I have 4 hard drives, for almost half a TB, so space isn't the issue. New computer, so it's doubtful that defragging would affect anything, but I'll give it a shot.

[thisistoto]

:lol nice sig

[PyRo UK]

If you really want a firewall, get PeerGuardian. I use it not so much to protect against bad data, more to protect against police detection as I download copyrighted data.

When I was new to BT, I used this http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/229385 to get me started. Its really helpful.

[sadu]

1. Buying a router for $10 will help forward/unfirewall your computer.

2. Do a speed test on the NET. Just search for bandwidth test

3. You're on a 3mb connection...or you get 3 megs up/down. Which is 3000kb
or 24,000 kbs/sec. I would assume you're ona 3 meg backbone...meanig 6kb isn't all that bad cause you wouldnt get more that 400 at the very most.

4. Do you live in Canada?

5. Look @ www.dslreports.com and look for your ISP. There are reports of ISP's throttling speeds. Check to make sure you're ISP isn't one of them....Mine is one of them but there are ways around it.

6. good luck, let us know

[gsmyth79]

Do a NAT check (link somewhere in TB) as well to make sure you're not firewalled when you get all that figured out. Your light should be green not yellow.

I don't know shit about PCs (thankfully) so that's as far as my knowledge goes.

[JayDub]

1. Buying a router for $10 will help forward/unfirewall your computer.

2. Do a speed test on the NET. Just search for bandwidth test

3. You're on a 3mb connection...or you get 3 megs up/down. Which is 3000kb
or 24,000 kbs/sec. I would assume you're ona 3 meg backbone...meanig 6kb isn't all that bad cause you wouldnt get more that 400 at the very most.

4. Do you live in Canada?

5. Look @ www.dslreports.com and look for your ISP. There are reports of ISP's throttling speeds. Check to make sure you're ISP isn't one of them....Mine is one of them but there are ways around it.

6. good luck, let us know
1. Why would adding another link to the chain (router) help to get less blocked?
2. 2.8 megabits per second
3. Honestly 6kb isn't all that bad? Please... Like I said, I'm not new to this. I know what speeds are respectable. I'd take somewhere in the 200s... heck, 100 would be good right now. 6kb IS all that bad. I used to get over 1000 at work (yes, over 1000). 6kb (max) allows me to download about 100mb in weeks, not days or hours. In any event, I want to get the problem fixed.
4. I don't live in Canada.
5. I've called my ISP and they said they block nothing, and any problem I'm having is on my end. I asked about BT specifically. I think the guy said that he had some torrents going at the moment, and there are no blocks on that.
6. Thanks, I hope to be able to get this worked out. Thanks for your help.

NAT check said only this: "Could not contact TCP server 2 (tears.lcs.mit.edu at 18.26.4.77". I don't know what it means, so if there's someone to explain, please do.
As I said above, I do not think I am yellowed. Using G3 Torrent, I'm not sure where precicely to look, but what I believe is the indication of that is in fact green.

Thanks again for your help.

[U2Lynne]

As suggested, do a real bandwidth test and tell us what the results say. (just google Cable Bandwidth Test). Run it a couple of times to make sure the results are consistent.

I have a link in my sig about forwarding ports throught the XP firewall. However, it may be best to simply disable it while trying to figure this out. You may have to restart your computer after you disable it.

Regarding only seeing 50 seeds out of 300, that is typical. There is a setting in bt that tells how many people you are willing to connect to per torrent. Other people have that same setting. I think for Azureus, my default is 80 per torrent (under Options > Transfer) and 400 for all torrents open. So, if there were 150 leechers on a torrent I was seeding, I could only connect to 80 of them at max.

NAT check: http://btfaq.com/natcheck.pl Or, stop all your torrents in Azureus, quit and then start the application again. Before starting any torrents, go to the Configuration Wizard and a couple steps in it will test your port for you.

[sadu]

Adding a router...atleast in my experience helps direct traffic to the correct ports. I could be wrong but when I was direct to the modem speeds were slower and I was blocked.

"Please... Like I said, I'm not new to this. I know what speeds are respectable" 2.8mg/sec backbone where I come from is slow...so I apoligize I didn't know you were used to 200kb a second but change your tone pal I'm trying to help you.

I would suggest doing a scan of your computer..the best and most updated is trendmirco.com they do all of hotmails real-time scanning so I trust them. I know you're going to say "I have norton" f norton just use TrendMicro.

The whole issue with the system clock is bad news. It's a system function that gets it's info from the BIOS like toto said...so check that out too.

[JayDub]

As suggested, do a real bandwidth test and tell us what the results say. (just google Cable Bandwidth Test). Run it a couple of times to make sure the results are consistent.

I have a link in my sig about forwarding ports throught the XP firewall. However, it may be best to simply disable it while trying to figure this out. You may have to restart your computer after you disable it.

Regarding only seeing 50 seeds out of 300, that is typical. There is a setting in bt that tells how many people you are willing to connect to per torrent. Other people have that same setting. I think for Azureus, my default is 80 per torrent (under Options > Transfer) and 400 for all torrents open. So, if there were 150 leechers on a torrent I was seeding, I could only connect to 80 of them at max.

NAT check: http://btfaq.com/natcheck.pl Or, stop all your torrents in Azureus, quit and then start the application again. Before starting any torrents, go to the Configuration Wizard and a couple steps in it will test your port for you.
As above, my bandwidth test indicated 2.8 megabits per second. I ran it again to get some consistency like you suggested, and it is just about 2.8. Maybe 2.76 if you want to be specific.
I disabled my firewall last night, restarted, and that's when I was able to get speeds as high as 6kb.
I understand not seeing every seed. That wasn't the point of me saying I could only see 50 of 200. The point was that the torrent was very active, that I could see plenty of seeds, but I was still getting negligible speed.
Thanks again for help!

sadu, I'll go to trendmicro and scan right now. I also use pandasoft from time to time. I don't use Norton or Mcafee, as I can't stand how they junk up the system. So yes, I'll definately do this post haste. I just built this computer on freshly formatted drives, and the problem existed immediately. But it's a good idea for a scan now anyway, so that's what I'll do.

Thanks!! Eventually something will click and the problem will disappear! Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

[sadu]

Keep the firewall on...I don't use XP but you have to allow your Bit Torrrent in/outs. The other things should remain firewalled.

This happened to me once when my C: which wasn't even the drive I was saving to was almost full. I cleaned out C: and my download speeds picked up. Your computer may just be a little messed right now.

Spyware scan?
Virus Scan?

What are your speeds when downloading HTTP? or FTP?

good luck

[U2Lynne]

Jay, did you get results for both your upload and your download speeds? Also, what are your upload speeds looking like when you connect to a torrent? Is it possible that you are allowing your upload speed to max out and thus making your download speeds really, really slow? I usually suggest to people that they set there upload speed to about 80% of it's max and then play with it from there (I know that I can go to about 95% of max when I am only downloading one torrent, and about 90% when I am downloading two).

[JayDub]

Keep the firewall on...I don't use XP but you have to allow your Bit Torrrent in/outs. The other things should remain firewalled.

This happened to me once when my C: which wasn't even the drive I was saving to was almost full. I cleaned out C: and my download speeds picked up. Your computer may just be a little messed right now.

Spyware scan?
Virus Scan?

What are your speeds when downloading HTTP? or FTP?

good luck
I'll leave the Windows Firewall off until I get something worked out here, and then turn it back on (soon). I have 3 physical hard drives (one partitioned, so 4 letter drives). I save to different drives. One has 28GB free, one has 154GB free, one has 8GB free (OS drive, I don't save stuff there), and the last has 70GB free.
I'll do all the scans presently. Virus, spyware, etc.
Speeds when downloading HTTP are great. Absolutely maxed out. 403.9kB/s (evidenced by DU meter when running bandwidth check with results below). Haven't downloaded anything with FTP, so I can't speak about that.

Jay, did you get results for both your upload and your download speeds? Also, what are your upload speeds looking like when you connect to a torrent? Is it possible that you are allowing your upload speed to max out and thus making your download speeds really, really slow? I usually suggest to people that they set there upload speed to about 80% of it's max and then play with it from there (I know that I can go to about 95% of max when I am only downloading one torrent, and about 90% when I am downloading two).
006-01-07 12:57:49 EST: 3015 / 226
Your download speed : 3015 kbps or 376.9 KB/sec.
Your upload speed : 226 kbps or 28.2 KB/sec.
My upload speed is rationally less than my download speed. That is to say, if I do happen to hit 6kb down, I'd send probably 8% of that back up. My connection is definately not saturated.

[U2Lynne]

Hmmmmm, I'm running out of ideas here on what it could be. I'm not a PC person, so I can't really tackle the problem from that side, just from the BT side.

Is your NAT check coming out OK? Or if you are on a torrent from here, etree, or DIME, is your port showing up as OK (not in red)? If you are OK there, then we can rule out a firewall problem.

[gsmyth79]

NAT check said only this: "Could not contact TCP server 2 (tears.lcs.mit.edu at 18.26.4.77". I don't know what it means, so if there's someone to explain, please do.

I bet it has something to do with this, but I have no idea what it means. What does Azureus say about your NAT status?

[U2Lynne]

Ah, I didn't see the info about the NAT check. I would try it again later. I think that has something to do with where the test is being hosted and problems on their end.

[JayDub]

Is your NAT check coming out OK? Or if you are on a torrent from here, etree, or DIME, is your port showing up as OK (not in red)? If you are OK there, then we can rule out a firewall problem.I connected to a torrent on etree with many seeds, and while Azureus shows green ("everything is going ok"), the etree page shows me red, xxx:6881 So I'm guessing it's a firewall problem. Bear in mind that the XP firewall is disabled. Could there be another sort of firewall that I just don't know is there? Obviously the ports that BT uses are blocked somehow, while HTTP downloading is not.

I bet it has something to do with this, but I have no idea what it means. What does Azureus say about your NAT status?I was using G3 Torrent, but just had a problem loading it, so I downloaded and switched to Azureus. I did the NAT/Server Port test for 6881 (should I test others?) and it said "OK!"
Ah, I didn't see the info about the NAT check. I would try it again later. I think that has something to do with where the test is being hosted and problems on their end.I tried the NAT check again, and got exactly the same answer. Will try again later tonight.

Thanks again for trying to work this out! I feel like we're getting somewhere...

[karmakat]

:hmm: I thought you had problems with Azureus before. Monk had a port forwarding problem about two weeks back and I sent him to a random port that was five digits instead of four and it worked for him. It was port #10825

[spiritinaphoto]

I've got a crazy idea that no one seems to have suggested yet. It looks like you're using the standard BT port numbers (6881-6889). Try changing your BT ports to something above 50000 and see what happens. I know your ISP claims they don't throttle traffic, but that doesn't mean they're being honest with you. Now this won't work if they're actually monitoring the packets instead of looking at which ports your traffic is on.

[JayDub]

:hmm: I thought you had problems with Azureus before. Monk had a port forwarding problem about two weeks back and I sent him to a random port that was five digits instead of four and it worked for him. It was port #10825
Yes, maybe, but it's working as well as any right now. I didn't install it until now because I've been putting off installing Java on here. I did, and then installed Azureus. Changed port just now (>5min) and no change in speed.
I've got a crazy idea that no one seems to have suggested yet. It looks like you're using the standard BT port numbers (6881-6889). Try changing your BT ports to something above 50000 and see what happens. I know your ISP claims they don't throttle traffic, but that doesn't mean they're being honest with you. Now this won't work if they're actually monitoring the packets instead of looking at which ports your traffic is on.True about the ISP. Changed the port to 65534, and no change in speed.

I've read about static IPs and that sort of thing. I have made no changes regarding static/dynamic IP, so should I address this somehow?

[karmakat]

Yes, maybe, but it's working as well as any right now. I didn't install it until now because I've been putting off installing Java on here. I did, and then installed Azureus. Changed port just now (>5min) and no change in speed.
True about the ISP. Changed the port to 65534, and no change in speed.

I've read about static IPs and that sort of thing. I have made no changes regarding static/dynamic IP, so should I address this somehow?

I don't know Dubbies, but if you can give me some time to ask my Azureus expert about the config for it, I might have an answer for you later this afternoon. He's not online right now. :wtf:

[JayDub]

Yes, maybe, but it's working as well as any right now. I didn't install it until now because I've been putting off installing Java on here. I did, and then installed Azureus. Changed port just now (>5min) and no change in speed.
True about the ISP. Changed the port to 65534, and no change in speed.

I've read about static IPs and that sort of thing. I have made no changes regarding static/dynamic IP, so should I address this somehow?

Changed to port 65534, Azureus shows green, good connection, but the etree torrent still shows me as firewalled.

I changed to a static IP and that didn't change anything.

What are the chances that my motherboard has a built in firewall? Motherboard or some other component. I don't know of one, but I suppose it's a possibility. I don't recall one being advertised (and didn't find info about it) on my motherboard (AOpen).

[thisistoto]

Does ur ethernet connect directly into ur motherboard? If so that could be the problem (in regards to ur clock situation).....

[JayDub]

Does ur ethernet connect directly into ur motherboard? If so that could be the problem (in regards to ur clock situation).....Yes. Please explain how this might be the problem? First I've heard of it...

Thanks!

[thisistoto]

Well iv never liked the idea of having the ethernet port built into the motherboard.

Im pretty sure the motherboard doesnt have a built in firewall, like 99% sure. Go into your BIOS JD and see if something if wierd there. If you have another ethernet card sitting around throw it in and try that.

The fact that your having a problem with ur system clock and ur ethernet that are from the same board doesnt sound like a good thing.

[thisistoto]

nuther question: what kind of speeds do u get if u dl something from lets say the live music archive just doing a direct dl and not using a torrent client?

[JayDub]

Well iv never liked the idea of having the ethernet port built into the motherboard.

Im pretty sure the motherboard doesnt have a built in firewall, like 99% sure. Go into your BIOS JD and see if something if wierd there. If you have another ethernet card sitting around throw it in and try that.

The fact that your having a problem with ur system clock and ur ethernet that are from the same board doesnt sound like a good thing.

nuther question: what kind of speeds do u get if u dl something from lets say the live music archive just doing a direct dl and not using a torrent client?

No, the ethernet port isn't built into the motherboard. You asked if it was connected directly, and it is connected directly. It's a Microsoft MN-150, connected in one of the slots. I don't have another one around or I would try exchanging them. I'll check the BIOS shortly, but I've spent enough time in there that I don't know of anything offhand that's whacky, and since I haven't found it yet, I'm not sure I can find it now. But I'll check it out.

I mentioned above, HTTP downloads are superspeedy. 400kB/sec.

Thanks!

[karmakat]

Ok, Dubs, try this: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/73686

And I skimmed through this, but maybe? http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=493

[thisistoto]

No, the ethernet port isn't built into the motherboard. You asked if it was connected directly, and it is connected directly. It's a Microsoft MN-150, connected in one of the slots. I don't have another one around or I would try exchanging them. I'll check the BIOS shortly, but I've spent enough time in there that I don't know of anything offhand that's whacky, and since I haven't found it yet, I'm not sure I can find it now. But I'll check it out.

I mentioned above, HTTP downloads are superspeedy. 400kB/sec.

Thanks!


Yea I originally ment built in, damn, I thought we were onto something there. So its not a hardware issue, ur isp seems to be cool, but you still show up to be firewalled.........


Jesus JD just get a mac and be done with it :D

[TheMamba]

NAT check said only this: "Could not contact TCP server 2 (tears.lcs.mit.edu at 18.26.4.77". I don't know what it means, so if there's someone to explain, please do.

Call your ISP and ask them if they know what that means. I can't find it anywhere in Google...

Man...I'm just boggled by all of this. The fact that you can download http and surf just fine but get screwed in BT just has me scratching my head. :hmm:

If there is a computer store near you, I'd run down there and buy a cheap ethernet card like this one (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=301595&pfp=BROWSE), swap it with what's in your machine now and see if that helps.

What motherboard (manuf. and model) do you have?

[thisistoto]

Do u have a static ip setup jd?

[JayDub]

Ok, Dubs, try this: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/73686

And I skimmed through this, but maybe? http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=493Read through those, and the first is about routers. I don't have a router. The second is interesting, but nothing there helped.
Call your ISP and ask them if they know what that means. I can't find it anywhere in Google...

Man...I'm just boggled by all of this. The fact that you can download http and surf just fine but get screwed in BT just has me scratching my head. :hmm:

If there is a computer store near you, I'd run down there and buy a cheap ethernet card like this one (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=301595&pfp=BROWSE), swap it with what's in your machine now and see if that helps.

What motherboard (manuf. and model) do you have?I called the ISP, and the girl I talked to didn't know a thing about anything. Didn't know what BT was, didn't know what a NATCheck was, etc. She did restate that my ISP does not block any traffic on their system. So I've been told that twice by different people, and I buy it... Obviously she didn't have an answer to the NATCheck question above, sorry about that. I'll have to see if WalMart or RadioShaq has the ethernet card, those are the only places around here that might. Wouldn't it be surprising if that was the problem,
though?
Parts:
AOPEN I865PEA-7IF 865PE MB
VGAATI|A-I-W RADEON 9600 128M 8X
CPU P4/3 GHz 800M LGA775 530J
DDRAM 2GB PC-3200 GE2GB3200BDC
CPU FAN A/IZALMAN CNPS7700-ALCU
PWRSUPPLY COOLRMSTR 450W RS-450-ACL
Do u have a static ip setup jd?Yes.

[JayDub]

I just installed an FTP program and I can report that both FTP and HTTP speeds are outstanding. ~400kB/sec for both separately.

Also, checked the model of my ethernet card: Microsoft MN-130. This card worked brilliantly in my old computer, FTP HTTP and BT all.

[karmakat]

Read through those, and the first is about routers. I don't have a router. The second is interesting, but nothing there helped.



Ok...I go back to googling.

[karmakat]

http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=17671

http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=28520

Here is a list of things to try relating to Azureus that have not been suggested yet.

[JayDub]

http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=17671

http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=28520

Here is a list of things to try relating to Azureus that have not been suggested yet.
I read through those and and anything that was applicable, I've already tried.

Toto, I looked at every setting in my BIOS and could find nothing at all regarding networking.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I might be able to ask to get this resolved? A good message board dealing with this type thing specifically?

[thisistoto]

sorry to ask again if asked already but have u tried a different card? Even though it looks like to be 99% NOT a hardware problem u never know.

[thisistoto]

if u already went through those links kat posted, and u tried a different card, all that must be left is ur ISP. i would ask a friend or someone in ur neighborhood that has the same isp to try to run a torrent and see what kind of speeds they get. that can either

a) answer the question to this

b) open a new can of worms

[thisistoto]

and whos ur isp? dsl/cable?

[karmakat]

And you are sure you disable uPnP in Azureus?

[sadu]

update java if you're using azureus

[karmakat]

and whos ur isp? dsl/cable?

Its cable.

Well we narrowed down alot tonight, and tomorrow we rule out the XP configuration possiblity. We configured Azureus to my exact settings, ran nat checks together, port forwarded together, and tested out two trackers, one of which was mine to see what its reading which ain't much. We also ruled out the ethernet/NIC card. I checked the torrent files just in case...

[thisistoto]

jd u really need to find someone in ur nieghborhood (make sure its in ur neighborhood, espicially cuz its cable) and run a torrent on thier line.

[JayDub]

Clock issue has been resolved. It was a time zone issue, and I finally figured out how to check in a meaningful way. So that's fixed from what I can tell.

Thanks!

Now the BT problem on the other hand....

[FatBastard#420]

Now the BT problem on the other hand....

PEBKAM

[JayDub]

PEBKAM
maybe so and maybe not