Help with my BitComet Settings

[deadman_uk]

Hi all,

First of all, yes, I have read this guide: http://www.cometforu...settings-guide/ but it is out of date, doesn't have all the settings explained and some of the settings it does explain are not in much detail.

I run Vista Home Premium x64 SP2, use BitComet 1.13 and have had this problem with older versions of BitComet as well. My cable connection is 10 Megabit, with a total download speed of approx 1.1mb/sec and a total upload speed of approx 40kb/sec. With BitComet running, even when my torrents are downloading at a speed of 0kb/sec and upload speeds are also extremely low or 0kb/sec too, my Internet browsing speed crawls, far slower than 56k. I understand that if I reach close to my upload speed limit, it will slow down my download speed but as I said, my Internet browsing crawls even when tasks are downloading/uploading at 0kb/sec. BitComet does not allow me to set my maximum global upload limit below 10kb/sec.

I had a look in advanced settings and played around with the settings "max_connections_per_task", "max_connecting_connections" and "max_connections". I managed to improve my Internet browsing speed while BitComet is running, however it is still very slow and I don't really know what settings would be best for my connection. Below is a picture:

I gave details of my connection, can anyone help me set up the correct settings? Setting them to 0 (auto/infinite) is not an option, that was what they're originally on.

Thanks

Edited August 2, 2009 by deadman_uk (see edit history)

[deadman_uk]

Anyone? Please?

[cassie]

Patience, deadman_uk, patience... (most of us haven't gotten home, in order to donate our spare time, yet...)

Just to ascertain the obvious, when you say

total upload speed of approx 40kb/sec

you really mean 40 kBytes/s and not 40 kbits/s (8 kb = 1kB), right? Are these you tested speeds or your advertised speeds?

I understand that if I reach close to my upload speed limit, it will slow down my download speed

Where did you hear that? You may be downloading a very well-seeded torrent (such as one from Open Office), where you will see not only your upload speed come close to its limit, but also your download almost maxed out (it's happened to me, several times).

BitComet does not allow me to set my maximum global upload limit below 10kb/sec.

This is in order for you to not become a non-desirable trading partner. If you do not offer anything better than this amount (8 KB/s is a very bare minimum), you will be passed over by the other members of the swarm, in preference to those who are faster and far more reliable than yourself. (The more you give/upload, the more you receive/download... just make sure that you aren't trying to spread out your upload bandwidth amongst too many peers, else you'll be defeating your own purpose.)

If, as you say, your 40 KB/s is your tested upload speed and, you have set your LT seeding to 10% and your regular upload cap to 70% (4 KB/s and 28 KB/s, respectively), are you saying that your Internet browsing still lags?

How many tasks are you running at the same time (both uploading and downloading)?

I gave details of my connection

True, but not of your setup... please read here and see what else we need.

[kluelos]

deadman, I'd also like you to download and install the free NetLimiter2 Monitor. You'll need to reboot after installation.

When you've done that, start the monitor, and look at it carefully.

Click on the + next to "Units", and change the setting to KB.

Start BitComet as you normally would, if it's not already running, temporarily stop any running tasks, then look at what NetMonitor is saying about BC's outgoing activity. BC is still going to be doing some frequent low-level activity, particularly if you have DHT active, but anything less than 1 KB/S isn't significant. We want to see if there's much outbound activity above this level when no tasks are running. There should not be.

Start one of the troublesome BitComet tasks, and after it's up to speed, try to browse or whatever you were having trouble doing before. Recreate the situation where you're having trouble. Now look at NetMonitor, write down the numbers for BC and the other task (web browser or whatever, and anything else that's taking significant bandwidth) or, easier, take a screenshot and post it.

Don't forget to provide the info Cassie asked you for, in the meantime.

[deadman_uk]

Just to ascertain the obvious, when you say

you really mean 40 kBytes/s and not 40 kbits/s (8 kb = 1kB), right? Are these you tested speeds or your advertised speeds?

Oops, I meant KB not kb. Here is the results of a speed test. I connected to a server 100 miles away from me (closest I can get). I was wrong about my maximum upload speed, it appears I can upload close to 60KB/sec (Was monitoring upload rate while running the test with NetLimiter 2)

Where did you hear that? You may be downloading a very well-seeded torrent (such as one from Open Office), where you will see not only your upload speed come close to its limit, but also your download almost maxed out (it's happened to me, several times).

When downloading, i'm using my bandwidth, so when I start uploading at the same time, this bandwidth would have to be shared out. The closer I reach my maximum upload rate, the more bandwidth the uploads takes. Because of this uploading, my download doesn't have access to all the bandwidth so it's going to slow down. Using more upload bandwith = less download bandwith. If I am wrong, why?

If, as you say, your 40 KB/s is your tested upload speed and, you have set your LT seeding to 10% and your regular upload cap to 70% (4 KB/s and 28 KB/s, respectively), are you saying that your Internet browsing still lags?

For LT seeding, 10% of my upload rate cap is approx 6KB/sec, but BitComet limits me to 10KB/sec or above, I cannot set it that any low.

How many tasks are you running at the same time (both uploading and downloading)?

I currently have 4 torrents downloading, sometimes I can browse the Internet with these downloading fine, but 95% of the time, my Internet is so incredibly slow, often pages time out. Yes, this often happens even if I have only 1 torrent downloading and downloa/upload speed doesn't seem to be a factor in terms of whether I can browse the net or not in the background.

True, but not of your setup... please read here and see what else we need.

I've already given you most of that information but to answer the missing information, my cable modem is from NTL but my ISP is Virgin Media (they took over NTL). I do use a Router (I purchased one recently) but this use to happen when I did not have a Router. My Router is a D-Link DIR-615 (Wireless), I do not know anything about port forwarding, settings for ports are default, I only went into settings to set it to WPA/WPA2 encryption. I use Avira Antivirus, and COMODO Firewall.

deadman, I'd also like you to download and install the free NetLimiter2 Monitor. You'll need to reboot after installation.

When you've done that, start the monitor, and look at it carefully.

Click on the + next to "Units", and change the setting to KB.

Start BitComet as you normally would, if it's not already running, temporarily stop any running tasks, then look at what NetMonitor is saying about BC's outgoing activity. BC is still going to be doing some frequent low-level activity, particularly if you have DHT active, but anything less than 1 KB/S isn't significant. We want to see if there's much outbound activity above this level when no tasks are running. There should not be.

Start one of the troublesome BitComet tasks, and after it's up to speed, try to browse or whatever you were having trouble doing before. Recreate the situation where you're having trouble. Now look at NetMonitor, write down the numbers for BC and the other task (web browser or whatever, and anything else that's taking significant bandwidth) or, easier, take a screenshot and post it.

Don't forget to provide the info Cassie asked you for, in the meantime.

Ok, here are some screenshots:

Not sure why BitComet is still uploading when I stopped all tasks... (Yes, it still uploads, even after several minutes of me stopping all the tasks)

Upload and Download speed change all the time which I know is normal, but the changes are massive. The screenshot above shows an upload speed of 181KB/sec... my upload isn't that fast.

Edited August 4, 2009 by deadman_uk (see edit history)

[kluelos]

The upload activity is puzzling, but as you can see yourself from the penultimate screenshot, BitComet isn't using anything like as much bandwidth as Firefox is: 14 KB vs 166 KB. This clearly isn't enough to interfere with Firefox.

The slowdown appears not to be a simple bandwidth issue. Firefox is getting the lion's share when it asks, so the problem is elsewhere. I'd like you to download and install µtorrent, using the same listen port you're using for BitComet (so don't try to run both at the same time) and see if the problem clears up. If you would, repeat the NetLimiter Monitor tests as well.

[deadman_uk]

The upload activity is puzzling, but as you can see yourself from the penultimate screenshot, BitComet isn't using anything like as much bandwidth as Firefox is: 14 KB vs 166 KB. This clearly isn't enough to interfere with Firefox.

The slowdown appears not to be a simple bandwidth issue. Firefox is getting the lion's share when it asks, so the problem is elsewhere. I'd like you to download and install µtorrent, using the same listen port you're using for BitComet (so don't try to run both at the same time) and see if the problem clears up. If you would, repeat the NetLimiter Monitor tests as well.

But BitComet isn't always using 14KB, look at the other screenshots minutes apart, the BitComet upload rate increases randomly, then goes back down. Even when all torrents are set as STOPPED, BitComet is still uploading! Screens below:

I am able to browse the Internet a lot faster with uTorrent than the 95% of the time when BitComet reduces my surfing speed to a crawl.

Edited August 4, 2009 by deadman_uk (see edit history)

[kluelos]

I'm not as concerned with the speed fluctuations as with Firefox being able to get bandwidth when it wants it. That strongly suggests to me that the problem is not simple bandwidth usage conflict, but something deeper.

You can try resetting your winsock and seeing if that helps. Doing a clean reinstall of BitComet, with reboots, is also worth trying. But µtorrent is showing the results that I would normally expect from BitComet. I would go with that for now and try again when you have a significant windows change.

[deadman_uk]

Kluelos, you are only looking at selected screenshots, and not seeing the whole picture. Only 1 of the shots shows Firefox taking bandwidth, and that could be explained very easily. Perhaps I was loading a webpage in the background (well trying to) while screenshoting... that would explain it. It doesn't concern you that BitComet is downloading and uploading at more than the speed that DHT would have if it was active? (which it is).

I'm not sure what winsock is, so I will do some research on that.

Thanks

EDIT: I reset my winsock and reinstalled BitComet. BitComet, no longer uploads more than 10KB/sec like it use to (even when I globally limited it to 10). I think things are fixed now but it's too early to tell, I'll keep you updated.

EDIT 2: Yep, problem is fixed. I have BitComet downloading torrents and am able to surf the Internet without huge slow downs, it certainly feels good. Thanks very much all!

Edited August 5, 2009 by cassie (see edit history)

[cassie]

cassie, on 03 August 2009 - 06:30 PM, said:

Where did you hear that? You may be downloading a very well-seeded torrent (such as one from Open Office), where you will see not only your upload speed come close to its limit, but also your download almost maxed out (it's happened to me, several times).

When downloading, i'm using my bandwidth, so when I start uploading at the same time, this bandwidth would have to be shared out. The closer I reach my maximum upload rate, the more bandwidth the uploads takes. Because of this uploading, my download doesn't have access to all the bandwidth so it's going to slow down. Using more upload bandwith = less download bandwith. If I am wrong, why?

Not exactly. Most residential connections are asymmetrical (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), meaning that you have a download bandwidth speed capacity that is much greater than your upload bandwidth capacity.

When an ISP advertises a connection speed - say, for example, 1 Megabit (this sounds impressive, right?... but, remember, they're advertising in bits, not Bytes... sneaky, huh?) - they are referring to your maximum download capacity/speed (even if you never get to see such speed, in real life). What they don't tell you is that the upload capacity for that specific 1 Mb connection is only of 128 KB/s. That's it... they just won't give you any more than that, without you changing over to a "higher"/"more potent" connection (read as more $)... but, again, your upload bandwidth will always be much lower than your download bandwidth.

Many users would gladly swap part of their download bandwidth for some extra upload bandwidth for, as in the bittorrent world, the more you give/upload, the more you receive/download.

[DTeng]

Thank you very much deadman_uk Icon and your support team for all the information. This is very helpful for me. I wish I was 40 years younger and be able

to catch up with you all. Maybe my next live.

Thank you. B) B) B)

Edited August 11, 2009 by DTeng (see edit history)