Intermittent firewall issue

[cmaz]

Hey, i wonder if anyone has an experience like this, or can otherwise help me out.

First off, i'm running Win XP Pro. I'm on a home wireless network running from a Linksys WRT54G router. i have a Paradyne DSL modem. i have gone through all the steps at Portforward.com for setting up a static IP address and forwarding my port through the router. i've also forwarded it through the modem, and when that didn't work, set the modem up as simply a bridge.

i'm using UTorrent v1.7.7. i have turned off windows firewall and also turned off the wormprotection feature of Norton Antivurus.

Ok, so Canyouseeme says my port is open, but i am listed as firewalled by the site. However, this is not consistent. In fact, the other day i was on two torrents and i was listed on one as not firewalled and as firewalled on the other. UTorrent gives me the green checkmark at all times.

i have a feeling that there is some kind of random problem where connections are occasionally refused, or seen as refused (line noise? busy computer?), because i have been to canyouseeme and have tried it numerous times on the same port and have been given three different results within minutes of each other (connection refused, success, and timed out)

Anyway, i don't think that i am actually firewalled as the speeds i'm getting are pretty good (150 kB/s down, 50 up). But i know that that is not a reliable sign that all is well, so...

Any help? Should i care?

[U2Lynne]

When you are listed on two torrents here, are they both with the same port number? Sometimes you can stop the torrent that shows as firewalled, and then start it again and the 'firewalled' will go away. Sometimes if you start utorrent and all the torrents are starting, you make too many connections to the site and it ignores some and that could be what is happening. Or the tracker is on a coffee break when you try to connect and it gives you a false positive. (Basically, if utorrent says you are fine, then you are fine - the tracker does nothing with the information except let you know if you are showing as firewalled at that one moment that you first start your torrent.)

[cmaz]

Originally Posted by U2Lynne

When you are listed on two torrents here, are they both with the same port number? Sometimes you can stop the torrent that shows as firewalled, and then start it again and the 'firewalled' will go away. Sometimes if you start utorrent and all the torrents are starting, you make too many connections to the site and it ignores some and that could be what is happening. Or the tracker is on a coffee break when you try to connect and it gives you a false positive. (Basically, if utorrent says you are fine, then you are fine - the tracker does nothing with the information except let you know if you are showing as firewalled at that one moment that you first start your torrent.)

Thanks Lynne. To answer your questions, all torrents are listed with the same port number. i have tried stopping the torrent and starting it up again, but with no success.

i hope what you say at the end is true (if utorrent sez it's fine, then it's fine), but it seems to me that i am not connecting to firewalled peers. Would that make sense?

[cmaz]

For instance, right now, i'm on This Stevie Ray Vaughan torrent, and i'm only connected to three of the leechers. That wouldn't be normal, would it?

[saltman]

I don't see you there at all. I would try to eliminate variables. Completely turn off the Norton, etc... and turn them on one by one until you can isolate the issue. Try connecting directly without the router, etc.

[U2Lynne]

I see you there and I see you firewalled there. I'm not that familiar with uTorrent, but is there a setting that says you are only allowed to connect to x amount of torrents through that one port (or something like that)? Have you tried connecting one torrent, seeing if it's firewalled, then another and checking, then another, etc and seeing if maybe it's always the fifth (or whateverth) torrent that always shows up firewalled?

And, of course, saltman has good advice about checking the other applications (Norton).

[KoolKat]

Is one of your settings (u-torrent/router) set at randomize port and thus goes out of the others "range"?

To throw a long shot possiblity in

In U-torrent click options>preferences>connections.
Set "Listening port" to one chosen number and uncheck the randomize each start up.
Then>
In your router ,set your port range etc for U-torrent program ,and then to interperate that port range to the number you entered in U-torrents Listening Port section.

If all is green then ,then Lynnes tracker likes a lot of coffee hehe.

K_K

[cmaz]

Thanks to everyone who gave advice; but now today, the problem is gone. And i didn't really do anything. This morning i fiddled around with my router's IP address, but that didn't lead me anywhere, so i just changed it back to what it was.

i started utorrent, and checked a number of the torrents that i'm seeding and they all listed my port without the dreaded red number. i started three new torrents and still no red ports. So who knows.

As i said in my OP, i really think it has something to do with connections requests getting timed out somewhere along the way, like a sketchy DSL line, or my bandwidth is maxed out and the request can't get through. Do either of those make sense?

On a somewhat related sidenote: i can't get to my DSL modem thorugh the wireless network.

The setup is: Line in > Modem > Linksys > me

Previous to changing the modem over to bridge mode, i was able to log in to it over the network using an address of 10.0.0.2

But now that no longer works. Then i plugged the computer directly into the modem and was able to access it. So, what might i be doing wrong over the network?