Bizarre BitTorrent problem.....help.......

[Tazmool]

Hi Guys,
As the title states, I have a very Bizarre BitTorrent problem, I'll try to include any and all info in the hopes that someone can help me figure this out.

I have been using BT for months no with absolutely no problems, that is until a few days ago , whenever I try to dl anthing via BitTorrent, my system starts to hang, pause, become very unresponsive, programs won't load, windows won't shut down properly, I basically have to reset the system manually.

During this time, the dl & ul speeds go down to 0kb/s
If I let the system sit there for a while, it will suddenly come back, the speeds jump up to their normal 200-300kb/s for dl/ul then everything pauses and goes to hell again, usually the 2nd time around its worse than before...

I am using Windows XP SP1 (all updates installed, all newest drivers)
1Gig Dual DDR Ram
3.06GHz P4
240gig's HD space (2 raid setups one IDE & SATA & standalone ide drive for backup/storage)
Cable modem (RCA)
ZoneAlarm 5 Suite

I have tried several solutions, reinstalled Windows a bunch of times, No Change.
I got the newest drivers for my network card (No Change)
Changed networks cards (from my built in mobo GigaBit Ethernet to a DLink DFE530TX PCI card using XP builtin drivers.... No Change
I changed my system configuration, system boots of a different drive, different drives have windows & apps... No Change
Dl to a different drive....... well if I dl to my fast SATA raid setup, the pauses are faster and closer together, but still......... No Change
All the latest Windows XP updates.... No Change
I changed client programs from BT-Experimental, to BT 3.4.2, to Azeureous..... No Change!
I changed Ports 100x times over, tested ports (all worked fine)...... NO Change.
I went to a router (router is properly configured with port forwarding etc) No Change...
Went with a Hub.... No Change
Got rid of Zone Alarm 5 Suite........ No Change


The strange thing is, I have been using BT for months! it has never given me any problems, I have not changed anything in the system before it started to act up..... it just refuses to work properly.... one day it just started to act up... has not worked properly since....

I can dl with other programs, no prob....
I dl the OMF Demo (300mb) at 300kb/s no probs...
The system runs beautifully, no probs anywhere, no crashes... its 100% until that is I start to dl via any BT client... then wham! pause...... pause........ lock........ damn it!

If I stop the BT download, and close the client... the system goes back to normal (within a few mins)..... but usually its best to reset...

Yes, I have read the threads below, and there is one other guy with a similar prob, but I did not see any solutions there...
Has anyone figured this out?

Tazmool

I love BT, but now my internet is crippled without it....

[Malicious Intent]

Anti-virus software? In particular Norton. Another poster found that Norton sometimes tries to check individual chunks of the file, causing problems.

[lion7718]

I don't know how many files you are downloading, but I find my system starts to slowdown after 3...so I don't download or seed more than 6...or it would just crawl.

[SanDiegoKid]

I'm having the exact same problem. It's not the # of files, nor is it Norton anti virus. I'm at a loss as well. My FTP and other p2p apps have no problems, however, if they are running when BT goes screwy, all of my bandwidth gets choked; not just BT.

Using ABC (lastest version, tried going back to old versions too)
WIN XP Pro
512 MB RAM
1 Ghz Athlon
blah blah blah

[Sneck]

Hello there.

I have been having the exact same problem, I havent been using BT that long but it worked for a good couple of weeks before I started getting this problem.

Its strange because if you try to shut anything down it does disapear and it is no longer in the Applications section of the Windows Task Manager, but it is still running and shows up under processes?

I find that loading IE or Mozilla is just tempting fate while running BT which isnt good considering the way BT works.

If anyone has any clues, HELP!


I'm just installing a different Firewall, see if that will help. Zonealarm did get updated recently.

[Malicious Intent]

*Stumped*

Two of you have said that it used to work fine, but now it doesn't. It is absolutely impossible to guess what you may have done in that time.

Shutting down BT used to always leave a process running, but I haven't seen this with the latest round of updates.

[Sneck]

Its when I shut anything down while BT is running, not just the BT client but any prog including windows. Nothing would close. For instance I would close IE or Alcohol but they would still be running?

I have just installed Sygate instead of Zonealarm and its been going fine for longer than it usualy does, I will give it a while more to see what happens. It did seem to start after the Zonealarm update.

I used the online Panda active scan this morning and that picked up a virus which my usual AVG has obviously been missing too, but I cant see it being that.

[Tazmool]

Hi Guys,

Well after a few days of trying different things, I got BT to work properly (like it used to).
The system is running stable, have already downloaded a bunch of stuff via BT with no probs.

My problem seemed to have been spreading to eMule as well, so something new had to be done...

I completely wiped the entire system, all hd's were totally formatted (just in case this was some new trojan, or worm etc), reinstalled Windows XP with all the updates, and this time I installed ZoneAlarm 4.5 (my old one) and did not register or update it at all.

I also went back to my original built-in Gigabit network card (which I was using originally when everything was working fine).

This is the 2nd day already, and everything is working fine.

Another clue as to what 'may' have caused this prob is that I installed ZoneAlarm Suite V5 with all the new updates on my sis's computer (that puter is on the same router as my system) and within a day or two her system developed problems with the internet as well.
She would try to print some document off the net, and her entire system would pause, can't close programs, exact same symptoms as my system (just with out BT, she does not run BT). Had to reset the system and try the print again (not a good thing when she's working on her Masters)

I have just wiped her system clean, and went back to ZA 4.5 no updates, no registry, and everything seems to be running ok there too.

I don't know if we had a trojan/worm attatched to the new copy of ZA-suite-v5 or if its updates were causing probs, or what the prob was...... all I know is that it took me a long time to get everything back together, and now I'm waay behind on my work.....

I did scan both systems for viruses with NA2003 with all updates, & ZA Suits v5 with all updates and they found no virii......

Hope this helps ya guys.

Tazmool

[Betamax]

I had terrible problems for over week until a read somewhere that ZA5 caused problems with BT. Uninstalled ZA5, installed Sygate -no more problems.

http://www.suprnovaforums.com/index...howtopic=154107

"Just a quick note to anyone who might have had the same problem as I had.

If you use Zone Alarm and have recently updated to version 5.0 and your bit-torrent client keeps crashing then ZA is likely to be the cause! Having uninstalled (am now trying Outpost) bit torrent no longer crashes (touch wood)!

Try uninstalling ZA and using a different firewall.

Just wanted to post this as it took me a while to work out why I was having problems and despite the fact that it has been mentioned in the forums, its not that obvious for someone looking for troubleshooting!"

[Tazmool]

I do think that ZA5 was the prob, however I did disable the ZA5 firewall and that did not seem to solve my BT problem..... with it on or off the system would hang.....
I ended up wiping the whole system...... plus I had no clear indication that just installing ZA5 with the updates would cause a prob like this....

I should mention that I 'need' a firewall on my system, especially when reinstalling the OS and all the apps & updates. If I don't have the latest patches on my system, and don't have a firewall running, I get the Blaster worm, or other crap within minutes of being on the net and my system starts doing that retarded 'automatic shutdown in 49s' crap...... and other things go wrong....

Some looser on the Cogeco network (Cable) must be purposely leaving an infected system online.... since my install 2 days ago, I have 1802 intrusions (usually from other cogeco IP's) and 6 of em are high-rated... again from cogeco IPs......
All of these are blocked & reported by ZA.

I've had a fresh OS install accidentally turned on without a firewall (b4 all the newest patches) get infected within a min of being online.... really sux as the viri/worms mess the system up enough to warrant a complete wipe again....

Tazmool

[DampCold]

A good router with port stealthing is nice to have. I bought a wireless router so I could connect with my laptop from anywhere in the house and since I needed a router anyway for multiple computers.

[moneoa]

Some providers are starting to throttle the common BT ports, some trackers now ask you to apply thier own ports so your bandwidth does not get choked

[GneralSneers]

I had the same problem. If you browse the ZoneAlarm help forums you'll see even more people with the same problem. The fix is to go back to ver. 4.5 which I did and that fixed the problem

[cuplatnum]

if you are using zonelarm 5 i had the same problem with all my p2p aps ot would lose internet connectivity for a few mins and it work again i had to go back to 4.5 and it worked fine again

[mp3master1215]

the problem i have is that most the bittorent users in shareaza when im downloading a file is choked the amount of chocked users are usaully 10-20 users which is not normal for a torrent i think. how can i get those 10 to 20 users not choked?