Yellow Light for Months on All Torrents, Help Please

[jsgksu]

Ive had my computer for 4 years, it originally came with windows ME. A few months back I reformatted to XP SP2 and havent got a green light in a torrent since. I have a wireless USB network adapter from Linksys Model #802.11b and the router is a Linksys BEFW11S4. There is one computer running directly off of it and 2 other people with wireless adapters like mine but newer versions. I have gone into the router setting, opened ports 6881-6889, checked TCP and UDP and put in the correct IP address and clicked enable. Its been like this for months and Ive never had a green light, I never had a problem with it before I reformatted, I always had green lights. I thought maybe Windows XP's Firewall was to blame so I disabled it and I still get no green light. I run McAfee virus protector and use BitTornado for torrent downloading. I know this is my first post in this forum but I used to download shows at sharingthegroove a lot and Ive been downloading torrents for a few years. Ive asked for help on a different board I frequent (DMBTabs.com) and havent been able to have someone help me out yet. If anyone could somehow walk me through fixing this problem (possibly on aol or something else where we can talk back and forth) I would be very greatful. I have a lot of live shows (DMB and the like) and would be glad to hook them up with something for their effort. Ive read all the FAQ's and Help sections I can find and still cant solve this problem so please dont refer me to a link. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read and anyone that can try and help me out.

[TheMamba]

Ports and XP's firewall were the first thing that came to mind but it LOOKS like you took care of those.

I don't use a router so I can't help you out there.

As an after thought, have you tried reinstalling BitTornado? Have you tried installing a different client, Azureus?

[jsgksu]

Ill give it a try, anyone else have any advice?

[U2Lynne]

Are you using a dynamic local IP or a a static one (ie. what is your local ip when you do an ipconfig and is that the one you input to your router and does it ever change)?

[jsgksu]

Are you using a dynamic local IP or a a static one (ie. what is your local ip when you do an ipconfig and is that the one you input to your router and does it ever change)?

I dont know the difference between dynamic and static, Ive read it but I dont understand. With my linksys router, to go into setting I use 192.1681.1 My IP address is usually that number with 00, 01, 02, 03 on the end of it. It changes sometimes (when I restart I think) I dont input or specify which one it uses.

[U2Lynne]

OK, it sounds like this is the problem.

If you have the router set up to give you a dynamic IP, then you can end up with a local IP of 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.2 or 192.168.1.3, etc when you restart the computer. However, in your router, you are only forwarding the ports for 192.168.1.1. So, if you don't end up with that local IP when you restart your machine, then the ports are not forwarded for it.

Take a look at this page (http://www.linksys.com/tech_helper/advanced.html) and see if it helps you set this up correctly.

[jsgksu]

OK, it sounds like this is the problem.

If you have the router set up to give you a dynamic IP, then you can end up with a local IP of 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.2 or 192.168.1.3, etc when you restart the computer. However, in your router, you are only forwarding the ports for 192.168.1.1. So, if you don't end up with that local IP when you restart your machine, then the ports are not forwarded for it.

Take a look at this page (http://www.linksys.com/tech_helper/advanced.html) and see if it helps you set this up correctly.

Well, my ip address is normally 192.168.1.101 or 102 or 103. Anyway, everytime I restart my computer, if Im going to dl a torrent I check my IP and change the settings on my router accordingly. So anytime Im going to dl a torrent my IP and the IP on my router settings are always the same. So this isnt the problem. As Ive stated, I havent gotten a green light since the day I reformatted my computer (3 months ago), if this was the problem, I wouldn have gotten a green light at some point in time.

[U2Lynne]

Hmmm, well hopefully a PC person can come on here and help out. I'm a mac user myself.

On my kid's PC, all I have done is turned off the XP firewall and then forwarded the ports to thier local IP and they've been fine. However, I have given every computer here (we have five hooked up) it's own static IP.

[tgc225]

and use BitTornado for torrent downloading.

BitTornado's default ports aren't set to 6881. Have you changed the port range in BitTornado to reflect the port range that you opened in your router?

See upper right hand corner:

http://www.portforward.com/cportsnotes/bittornado/BitTornado-Preferences.jpg

[Hottiemagnet]

I had the same problem, although i got green lights but a very low down/upload rate.

Problem was solved when i start using an older version of BitTornado.

[uhclem]

From what I've read here I'd say you definitely need to set up static IPs for each computer on your router. I'd say it's pretty well impossible to have port forwarding if your router is randomly assigning IP addresses each time you boot.

And yes, as tgc says, make sure your BT client is using the same ports that you are forwarding through your router, or you'll never get a green light.

[jsgksu]

Well, my problem has been solved for over a month. All I needed to do was match the ports I forwarded on my router to the ones in my actual BT client (Bittornado) As of a few days ago, Im back to yellow lights for no reason. I didnt change anything and now I cant get a yellow. Anyone know any reason this would happen suddenly? I tried running the BT Tester and it says "NAT failed, check firewall and forwarding" or whatever. I have no idea why this would happen, any suggestions?

[U2Lynne]

Have you rechecked your router and bittornado to make sure they are still forwarding the same ports? Did you pick the standard bt ports, 6881-6889, or did you pick some other range? Try a different range and see if that works.

[thisistoto]

I've had the same problem for a long time now, and Iv wanted to seed shows, but wasnt sure if my yellow light would be a problem.


I am behind a router, use BitTornado 0.3.7, Windows XP (turned off Windows firewall), and have matched up ports (50,000 - 60,000)


There is sometimes only a laptop hooked up to my router, and i use PPPoE connection becuase i use DSL

[Ted]

I am behind a router, use BitTornado 0.3.7, Windows XP (turned off Windows firewall), and have matched up ports (50,000 - 60,000)Wow, you don't need all of those ports open. Just one will do, and is recommended for security. 6881 is th default, but not necessary. Which ever port you use, make sure it is specified in your options/settings, forwarded in your router, and opened in your firewall. Is that what you mean by "have matched up ports"?

[thisistoto]

my norton firewall doesnt match up ports, just the program itself. Thanks for the help ted.

[Ted]

I'm not familiar with Norton's firewall, but there should be a place where you can allow/block certain ports. Allowing a program access to the internet may not be enough. Don't assume all ports are open. You may have to specifically open them.

http://firewalling.com/personalfirewalls/nortonpersonalfirewall.htm

Check out the third image from the top and highlight your BT client. Click "Modify" or try the drop-down and click "Custom". See if one of those options gives you the ability to open the specific port you're using.

I'm sure other people use Norton and are able to BT successfully, but if a firewall doesn't support allowing/blocking traffic on individual ports, it's not much of a firewall. For security reasons alone, I'd recommend a different brand if Norton doesn't have this capability. Zone Alarm and Outpost are good ones, but if you're not willing to learn how to use them, they can be more of a security risk than one that "thinks" it knows what's best for the user.

Let me know if you still need help and I'll see what I can do. Also, check out the help file for "opening ports" and see if there is any information in there.

I'll be in/out for the next few hours, so if I may not see your next posts immediately. Maybe someone else will, or we can work on this over IM later today.

[thisistoto]

Hey Ted,

Doesnt look like Norton is the problem, i turned it off, restarded Bitorrent, and still that damned yellow light. I will try to play around with it and read through all the FAQs again. Thanks again for you help brother.