Internet connection slow up to 24h after turning off BitComet

BitComet BitComet General Discussion
1

Ive noticed for a while now that whenever I use BitComet to download files my Internet Connection goes downhill. While I have the program online I find it natural that I wont be able to play online games or do some heavy surfing. That is not my problem. My problem is that I get heavy lag on online games up to 24h after ive turned BitComet off. Example, I play World of Warcraft, my regular speed is at 100-200ms. After using torrents its constantly 5000ms+, even hours after shutting down BitComet. Ive also tried other games and I have the same problem in all of them. Ive tried rebooting the computer, rebooting my modem, my router, searched for viruses and spyware. I even tried removing all my seeding torrents and rebooting the computer, making sure NOTHING concerning torrents were active.

I got a suggestion from a guy saying that it might be peers still trying to connect to my now offline torrents, and that their constant hammering of my IP was making the lag. I didnt know this was possible, but if it is, how do I stop it?

Funny thing is, I had the same problem with my old torrent program, Azureus. I switched from Azureus to BitComet because of this problem.

Anyways, I would appretiate any help concerning this. Otherwise ill have to start trying other torrent programs, and I dont want to do that cause I really like BitComet :).

2

What’s your internet connection like? Do you have a router?

3

Otherwise ill have to start trying other torrent programs, and I dont want to do that cause I really like BitComet :).

Of course you should use them. This won’t help (I’m quite sure) as the problem is definitely not in BitComet’s code, as BitTorrent protocol is the same for all BT clients.

About “hammering your IP”… Well, they must know what to hammer - your client must connect to tracker and say “I’m here, I have this file, tell me who else have it and tell them I have it too” - and they must hammer you intentionally - if, say, 10 times their connection to you failed, their client won’t try again - so this shouldn’t be the cause. And the problem isn’t on your side, if you have good speed even part of time.

Maybe your ISP tech.support may give you more information. Just don’t mention “games”, “music”, “movies” and “warez” while talking to them - use “Linux disributables”, “OpenOffice” and “unlicensed anime” instead :wink:

4

If your continued connection attempts to your computer are causing this problem, and I’m sure you have enabled port forwarding in your router, right?

If so, then I would disable the port forwarding, and stop the connections in your router, so they don’t get to your pc.

I don’t know what router you use, but its not hard to disable it, and it can me done in just a few seconds after you have done it a few times.

Even if this doesn’t fix the problem, it will at least rule out this as a cause.

Suspect

ps. if you need help with this, send me a PM, I will give you a link to my support team

5

There’s something really odd about this. Even if that explanation were correct, it shouldn’t be going on anything like that long. But I also don’t quite buy incoming traffic as the problem.

Nevertheless, I’d suggest that you try stopping each of your torrents, and waiting for them to actually stop, just a couple of minutes, before you shut down BitComet. This should send an “I’m stopping, g’bye!” message to the trackers, so they take you out of each swarm.

I don’t honestly think that will make any difference, but give it a try.

There are some routers that try to helpfully “memorize” the last x connections you make. That’s a good idea for most applications and purposes, but not for P2P because of all the connections it makes in a short time. All would still be good if new connections rapidly replaced the old in the router’s memory. But in at least one case, they don’t, and it creates problems that might cause what you describe.

Shouldn’t rebooting the router fix this? Well, yeah, maybe, but it really shouldn’t be happening in the first place, so who knows? You might have to reset the thing to make it forget, but that’ll wipe out all of your settings including the password, port-forwarding, security, etc.

You might see if you can borrow another router of a different make/model from somebody, use it instead and see if the problem goes away. And even if not, knowing it’s not the router will put you ahead.

6

The router I use is a D-Link 604. Ive put my computers IP in the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), which means that in theory, all traffic should go straight to my computer from the modem. But just to be sure, I also put BitComet and the port I use for BitComet in an Virtual Server in the router. Not quite sure what this is supposed to do though but I got rid of a “you are firewalled” problem I had a while back.

My Internet Connection is a 5/1 line.

Thanks for the responses so far!

7

That’s a little extreme, you probably want to undo most of that and get behind a firewall. Bad idea to run without one. You’ll need to check your machine carefully to make sure it hasn’t been compromised in the meantime. That could be a big chunk of your problem. It usually only takes a few minutes for an unprotected machine to be compromised, after connecting to the net.

What you want are remote peers. If you’ve got them, then you don’t have a port issue and can forget that whole side of things because it’s sorted.

If you don’t, then the question becomes, “Is my lstening port blocked?” and the answer is to test it externally, from a site like www.canyouseeme.org. If it says your port is closed, then you’ve got firewall issues. If the port tests open, it’s something else.

Some routers call it “virtual server”, others call it “port-forwarding”, but it’s exactly the same thing. (I believe there’s some sort of international treaty obligation requiring all routers to do at least one thing completely different for no particular reason.)

I would still urge you to try to do the router swap, just to get it clearly in, or out of the picture.

8

That is NOT a good idea to have your computer in DMZ

Please remove it, and remove all the spyware and viruses that you surely have by now… :o

You need to setup a virtual server, and open ONLY the port that your bit torrent client uses.

portforward.com has a step by step guide with graphics.

I too use a dlink router.

If you need help, send me a pm here, or if you want to reach me faster, I can be reached at…

http://tus-kvcd-group.com

Suspect

9

I feel your pain… This is a problem for me to. I used to download on my laptop but finally gave up because of the spotty connection after I finished downloading. I bought a new desktop PC and decided to try again and the same problem happened again but this time the connection is even worse.

The downloads are fine. It’s what happens after that is the problem. I get “Unable to connect” messages when I try to use the internet. It’s worst right after I download and over the period of several days it slowly gets better.

I’m using a Linksys Wireless G router. With my laptop I would unplug the router after I finished downloading, then connect everything again one wire at a time over a period of about 5 minutes. That usually made the connection better, but with my new PC it isn’t doing anything.

I’ve even uninstalled Bit Coment from the PC and it changed nothing.

Here’s an example of what it’s like. This is what happened when I registered for this forum:

I hit the “register new account” button. I got an “Unable to connect” message. I hit the Try Again button and it went through to the registration form.

The form had the numbers at bottom that I need to type in, but they wouldn’t all load. I hit the refresh button 3 times and each time only 2-3 numbers would load.

I hit the back button and was taken to the “register new account” page again and chose the registration link again. Again I got the “Unable to Connect” message. I hit Try Again and it went through.

All 6 numbers loaded at bottom so I could type them into the box and hit the continue button to register. When I hit “register” I got the “Unable to Connect” message. I hit the Try Again button and got through.

The screen came up saying I was registered. I went to the login screen, typed my info in, and hit the submit button. Another “Unable to Connect” message. Tried it again…another “Unable to Connect” message. Tried it a thrid time and got through.

Now I’m here typing. :slight_smile:

Over a week or so there will be fewer “Unable to Connect” messages, but it won’t be a while until they’re all gone. So I’m connected but just…uh…not very often? heh. My icon never says that I’ve lost my connection. I sometimes disable my connection then enable it again but that rarely helps. My browser will also load partial pages, for example the page looks fine except for a couple of inline frames that fail to load, so the page is about 70% loaded.

Any tips? I’m going insane over here… :wink:

(copying this message before sending)

10

Eric, that sounds like a packet-loss problem I had with a previous ISP. Next time it starts happening, you might call yours and see if you can get them to do a line test – they should be able to do that right on the spot.

My problem did eventually turn out to be their network, and it only took them 7 months to finally solve it. But they should be able to detect it right away.

11

Eric, that sounds like a packet-loss problem I had with a previous ISP. Next time it starts happening, you might call yours and see if you can get them to do a line test – they should be able to do that right on the spot.

My problem did eventually turn out to be their network, and it only took them 7 months to finally solve it. But they should be able to detect it right away.

I was really hoping it wasn’t that kind of issue. I live in Japan and explaining this over the phone to the ISP just isn’t going to happen with any accuracy…

12

Ouch, hard enough to explain in English! But Linksys is one of the routers that does have the problem I was describing, with some of their models. So try the router swap before you tackle the ISP, and let’s get it out of the way if you can.

13

Just plugged the LAN cable directly into the modem and bypassed the router. Lightening speed now.

So I guess the question is…what fine tuning do I need to make to my router?

14

hi EricJapan,

Just to double-check with your issue, is your router the same as zezus’ one? i.e. D Link DI-604 model.

The intriguing issue with this router is that it isn’t upnp compatible, nor can this router accept too many connections esp global ones, so try heading into your router config, and disable upnp functionality.

Next, open BitComet → options → preferences–>Connection → disable upnp mapping (XP only) AND in Maximum connections per task (limit this number to something below 180 connections, the lower the better)

If this doesn’t solve your issue of continuous ‘operation time outs’, it could indeed be an issue with your isp provider. Out of curiousity, which nihon isp are you using? Since lol some are notorious for constantly dccing.

In fact, if you can communicate in japanese with us, especially in this forum:

http://jp.bitcomet.com/patio/patio.cgi?

Kirisaki-san may be able to help you out. As he has more experience with users in Japan.

Kind regards

P.s. If you’re planning to plug your PC direct into the modem, be sure to install a FIREWALL immediately, a kerio personal firewall would be sufficient. Add Bitcomet into its exception list. If you’re using Windows SP2/SP1 be sure to add in BitComet into the exception list.

15

Forgot to mention that I also have ZoneAlarm, and ive been in DMZ in the router for months without any problem so far (I use Ad-Aware and AVG to regulary scan my computer). The www.canyouseeme.org site tells me that it keeps timing out when I try to check the port I use. As for calling my ISP support, I have similar languagebarriers as EricJapan so thats unfortunatly not an option. Im going to reset my router and only try a “Virtual Server” this time. Using both TCP and UDP on a single port. But im guessing that wont solve the “internet-beeing-slow-afterwards” problem.

Once again, thank you for your replies everyone!

16

Uninstall Zonealarm. It can’t keep up with Peer to Peer traffic so it ends up blocking a lot of legit users. It modifies the TCP/IP stack without telling you and it cannot be disabled.

The XP SP-2 firewall will work fine just add BC to the exceptions list, Kerio Personal Firewall is also free.

17

You might want to decide first if all of this hassle is better than just spending the money to replace the router. They are, after all, quite cheap. Just get another, and save that one for a rainy day or another network, or trade it or sell it.

Firmware firewalls like the ones built in to routers can’t be accidentally disabled or misconfigured or subverted by a virus like software firewalls.

18

Uninstall Zonealarm. It can’t keep up with Peer to Peer traffic so it ends up blocking a lot of legit users. It modifies the TCP/IP stack without telling you and it cannot be disabled.

The XP SP-2 firewall will work fine just add BC to the exceptions list, Kerio Personal Firewall is also free.

So its ZoneAlarm that is the big bad in this scenario? I dont really trust Windows Firewall, it wont give me the control over things that ive so far felt with ZA, I love the layout and simplicity of it. (Im also one of those hating everything that has Windows in its name, just for the sake of hating it).

This Keiro Firewall, it might be free, but is it any good?

And about replacing my router, id rather try everything else before I start tinkering with the hardware, I dont mind the hassle :slight_smile:

19

So its ZoneAlarm that is the big bad in this scenario?

I would say it’s a good part of it.

I dont really trust Windows Firewall, it wont give me the control over things that ive so far felt with ZA, I love the layout and simplicity of it.

The Windows Firewall has complete inbound protection. It’s record is one of the best as it has zero remote exploits. I don’t know how much “control” you want but it does the job. The one and only downside is that the XP SP-2 firewall doesn’t block outbound. The Vista Firewall is compleatly awesome and blocks inbound & outbound.

(Im also one of those hating everything that has Windows in its name, just for the sake of hating it).

That is a rather narrow minded & immature view point.

20

I would say it’s a good part of it.

The Windows Firewall has complete inbound protection. It’s record is one of the best as it has zero remote exploits. I don’t know how much “control” you want but it does the job. The one and only downside is that the XP SP-2 firewall doesn’t block outbound. The Vista Firewall is compleatly awesome and blocks inbound & outbound.

That is a rather narrow minded & immature view point.

What I ment by control is the function in ZA that pops up anytime a new program tries to access Internet, Windows Firewall isnt giving me nearly as much information as ZA on theese programs. It also lets some windows-based programs through without asking, something I dont like. I want total control over what gets out on the net from my computer. Vista Firewall? Is that what Windows Firewall is based on?

And yes, it might be immature to dislike windows just for the sake of it, but with all the hair ive lost using it during the years, I can live with that.

But im going to be throwing out ZA and trying some other free firewalls out there. Hopefully that will solve the problems. Thanks alot for all the answers you guys have given me. Youve been really helpfull.

//Zezuz