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186
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 13/06/2008 18:48:06
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Visits: 63
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I've been noticing random, short-term (literally one or two seconds) network drop-outs accross all of my networked computers recently (one PC running Win XP Home SP2 OEM, one running Ubuntu 6.10 running Samba, and an Xbox 360).
All are connected to my cable modem using a wired Linksys BEFSR41 v4 router.
At first I suspected duff cables but then I started to notice a pattern - the drop-outs only seem to occur when I'm running uTorrent on the Win XP PC.
If I'm not running uTorrent, or the Win XP PC is off altogether, then the problem stops. It seems to start again within a minute or two of firing up uTorrent. The drop-outs only last for a couple of seconds at most and seem to happen every few minutes. When I exit uTorrent the problem usually stops (although once or twice it has carried on until I've restarted the machine).
I find this quite odd to say the least.
Any ideas what could be causing this?
Cheers,
Dave.
***********************
Law of Cat Inertia
A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest, unless acted upon by some outside force - such as the opening of cat food.
Law of Pill Rejection
Any pill given to a cat has the potential energy to reach escape velocity.
May the Force be without you!
***********************
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 13/06/2008 18:48:06
Posts: 36,
Visits: 63
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Okay, it seems I should have done my homework a bit before posting here. Apologies.
According to the uTorrent FAQ all versions of the BEFSR41 router are known to have problems with uTorrent (and most other p2p apps apparently).
Something to do with the way it handles global connections.
The answer is, in uTorrent, to go to Options > Preferences > BitTorrent and set the value for 'Global maximum number of connections' to 200 or below.
However, this appears to be a speed issue and doesn't seem to account for complete network drop-outs (which I'm still suffering from).
There are "serious" known issues with some other Linksys routers though (although the BEFSR41 is not listed as one of them) that make the routers hang when running uTorrent et al. I can only assume that my problem is something to do with this.
My router has the latest firmware installed so doesn't seem there's much I can do about it.
I'll keep an eye on the situation and post back here with any info I can dig up for anyone else that might be suffering the same problem.
In the mean time can anyone else shed any light on this?
Thanks,
Dave.
***********************
Law of Cat Inertia
A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest, unless acted upon by some outside force - such as the opening of cat food.
Law of Pill Rejection
Any pill given to a cat has the potential energy to reach escape velocity.
May the Force be without you!
***********************
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Santa Pig
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Yesterday @ 15:06:57
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There are serious issues with Torrenting.
It absolutely hammers the internet infrastructure.
It's not the amount, but how it goes about it.
Dave R
XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC 
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Pentium
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 23:52:48
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Seconded. The problem's torrenting, more than the router itself. Torrent programs are great for getting big files etc, but are very 'selfish' in the way they do it. They basically grab every last drop of bandwidth they can get their hands on and can cause huge problems for anything else on the network (local or internet).
If I've got torrents running at home, all other computers in the house struggle to connect to the internet, or share files.
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486
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/08/2008 19:13:38
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thirded! (that a word?)
if i download a torrent, even at speeds of between 1kb/s-7kb/s it still HAMMERS the connection!
Steve B 
c2d e4500 @ 3.0ghz
P5N-E SLI
2GB 800mhz Patriot Ram 3-3-3-11
x1950pro oc'd @ 650mhz 1.4ghz
X-fi Xtreme Music
500gb Maxtor - Vista
250gb WD - XP
320gb Hitachi - Backup
430w Antec PSU
What boots up must shut down
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 13/06/2008 18:48:06
Posts: 36,
Visits: 63
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Ah, I see. That was going to be my next question as well (why does everything go so slowly even when the torrent speed is only 1 or 2 Kbps?).
Is it inherent in the protocol, or is it something to do with the client?
The reason I ask is that I don't seem to experience these network drop-outs when using KTorrent (I dual boot Kubuntu on the XP PC), although saying that I rarely use it. I do however still experience the slowing of my connection in general, despite what speed the torrent might be downloading at.
***********************
Law of Cat Inertia
A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest, unless acted upon by some outside force - such as the opening of cat food.
Law of Pill Rejection
Any pill given to a cat has the potential energy to reach escape velocity.
May the Force be without you!
***********************
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Santa Pig
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Yesterday @ 15:06:57
Posts: 10,078,
Visits: 11,039
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Torrents spawn a large number of sessions, they also open 10 ports for themself.
When Torrents first reared their ugly head, they would often break the routers of the time.
So yes, it is the protocol that is to blame.
Dave R
XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC
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