NAT problem

[googong]

System info
Java 1.7.0_67, SWT v4233, win32 Windows XP v5.1, x86  Vuze V5.3.0.0/4 az2
Router /modem TP-Link TD-W8970
Torrents not seeding.
Health status on downloaded torrents always blue
NAT/Firewall test OK, Green smiley in task bar NAT OK
This started spontaneously; I hadn't changed any settings.

I have used a minimal configuration - direct connection, no splitter, no firewall. The ISP says they're not throttling or blocking
As I said, I can ul and dl using ftp, access http etc, but torrents stall and often won't upload at all.

Windows errors (from event viewer):  The DNS proxy agent was unable to read the local list of name-resolution servers from the registry.
On the modem when I test Internet surfing    
Test xDSL Synchronization    Pass
ATM OAM Segment Ping    Pass
ATM OAM end to end Ping    Pass
Test PPP Server connection    Pass
Test authentication with ISP    Pass
Test the assigned IP address    Pass
Ping default gateway    Pass
Ping primary Domain Name Server    Pass
Test DNS Root    Fail
Network Connection Status Inspect(NCSI)    Pass
Help!
 

[googong]

Ok, This gets weirder. I've just d/led the vuze update, and it's happily seeding near 22kbs - but none of my other torrents are uploading!


 

 

[GaryE]

Are your other torrents from public sites like ThePirateBay and kickass torrents?

Are you located in the UK?

They just shutdown a huge proxy which was previously allowing access to those sites from the UK.

This could explain the problem!

[googong]

Thanks Gary - I'm in Oz, where they haven't blocked servers - yet. I've been told that my ports are visible, so the problem must be at the tracker end.

 

 

[GaryE]

I am not familiar with the term "ports are visable"  ports are always visable.  Even when they are closed they are visable.  Have you actually used a port checker to verify it yourself?

here is the one I recommend:

 http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/

But that is neither here nor there.  You can still download even if your ports are not forwarded/open.  It just takes longer for downloading to start.

I can tell you that the problem is almost certainly not at the tracker end.  It almost never is.  If there was a problem with the tracker everyone using the tracker would have a problem.  Is anyone else on the torrent site in question reporting problems?  If not you can pretty much guarentee the problem is on your end.

The only thing I can think of on the tracker end which would only effect you would be if your IP address was banned by a private site for invite/account trading or ratio cheating or similar.

That would be easy enough to figure out.  If you can access the site in question your IP address has not been banned.

Are you sure you are not getting traffic shaped?

first check here and locate your ISP.

then read this for suggestions on how to avoid your ISP's efforts (if necessary)

The words here and this are links ;-)

If you find your ISP on that list it is possible that your ISP is blocking/shaping you.  You would not be the first person in Australia whose ISP was lying to them about traffic shaping.

Are you using some kind of free proxy?  Private sites often will block those . . . often times without notice.

Are you using something like peer-guardian?   There are many many many private sites which are hosted on networks which are blocked by peer-guardian . . . that would certainly explain the problem.

[googong]

Thanks Gary
Ports open. No bans, shaping, throttling. NAT OK.  Down is not a problem. Seeding: there can be hundreds of peers but no upload.
Tom

[GaryE]

First you are welcome!

When you say hundreds of peers . . . are you sure they are all downloaders? A peer is an uploader or downloader.  So do you really mean peers or do you mean downloaders/leechers?

Even if there are hundreds of leeches they are not necessary downloaders.  If the torrent in question is a multi-part torrent (has more than one file) all leechers are not necessarily actively downloading.  According to torrent protocol you are a leecher until which time you have downloaded 100% of the torrent.  So it is very common with large multi-part torrents that the vast majority (if not all) of the leechers are not really leechers.  In other words even when a user has download all of the parts of the torrent they are interested it . . . unless they have 100% of the torrent they will always be considered a leech.  We call these leeches partial-downloaders in torrent speak.  A lot of new torrenters make this mistake.  They will download a relatively large torrent which appears to have a lot of leechers only to find out that they are really partial-downloaders and are therefore not going to download anything from anyone.

The other reason why users complain that they can not seed to many many leechers is when they have poor upload speed.  The torrent protocol favors the fastest seeders so if you are only one of say 40 seeders and you are amoung the slowest 5 seeders you are not going to seed much.  I know that much of Australia has relatively poor upload speed.  I do not know what your upload speed is but if your speed is anything less than about 2 - 5 Mbit/sec you are going to have a hard time uploadling on most sites.

The final reason is that if you are not connectible you are not going to be able to initially connect to the leeches which feeds back into the fact that the torrent protocol favors the best seeders . . . the best seeders are connectible.  The technical reasons for this are a bit more complicated but it depends on a lot of factors including the size of the torrent and the trackers update interval.  However, in your case you are telling me that the port checker says your ports are open so going into all that detail would be pointless.

Sometimes the problem is just one of these issues or some combination of them or all of them.  Without seeing the torrent site in question, the torrent itself, and both the users end and the trackers end . . . it is very hard to say exactly what is going on.  But in about 98% of the cases I have seen where people are complaining about not being able to upload to a bunch of leeches some combination of these three issues explain their problem.

Basically do a better job choosing torrents.   Just because a torrent is large and has a boatload of leechers it does not necessarily follow that you will be able to upload with ease.  A lot of people will tell new users things like "just find a torrent with a lot of peers and download it and you will be fine".  Unfortunately, this inacurrate advice prevades many many torrent sites and provides a lot of confusion.

In a nutshell I always advise people to only download torrents which have been on the site for less than 24 hours (better yet would be less than 6 hours) which you have determined (by monitoring the site for a week or so) will be popular.  But even if you do that . . . if your upload speed is relatively poor (roughly less than 5 Mbit/sec) you still might have problems seeding.