uTorrent killing connection since using network switch (Problem solved)

ToneLoc777

Okay, I probably should've left my old setup alone but I thought instead of using a 2nd router as a switch I'd just get an actual switch thinking specific device would equal better performance.

Well, since the change the performance seems basically the same. Except whenever I attempt to download a torrent with uTorrent, all devices connected to the router via Ethernet lose connection. Anything connected via wireless is fine. If I take the switch out of the equation and connect the computer directly to the router there is no problem.

I'm using the D-link DGS-2205 switch with the DGL-4300 router. Since the switch doesn't have any configuration options I'm thinking there's something that needs to be tweaked on the router's settings but I can't think of what that would be.

(For testing sake, I've also tried having the PC using uTorrent as the only active device on the switch and made no difference.)

Any ideas?

travathian

No ideas really. A switch is damn near a passive device so I'm not sure why it would do such a thing.

But I do have a similar setup: modem -> linksys wireless router -> netgear gigabit switch

3 PCs on the switch, 1 which runs uTorrent 24/7, 1 printer directly on the router, and I have no such problems.

ToneLoc777

travathian wrote: »

No ideas really. A switch is damn near a passive device so I'm not sure why it would do such a thing.

But I do have a similar setup: modem -> linksys wireless router -> netgear gigabit switch

3 PCs on the switch, 1 which runs uTorrent 24/7, 1 printer directly on the router, and I have no such problems.

Was there anything special with how you set up your router?

travathian

I have dd-wrt installed, do port forwarding of uTorrent ports to that system, as well as QoS enabled to keep port 80 connections on the highest priority. I think I upped the number of simultaneous connections it can handle as well. But again, the switch has nothing to do with any of this, so I am clueless as to why yours would be doing what it is doing. Might want to start by just resetting your router to factory defaults and re-setup from there.

Krikee

Any switch you buy that costs less than a couple hundred dollars is going to use RISC processing instead of ASIC processing. Long story short, sounds like your switch is underpowered and cracking under the load. You could try setting your network card to negotiate at 100 Mbps by going to the device manager and opening up the properties window for your NIC; see if that helps (don't hard code the duplex).

ToneLoc777

Krikee wrote: »

Any switch you buy that costs less than a couple hundred dollars is going to use RISC processing instead of ASIC processing. Long story short, sounds like your switch is underpowered and cracking under the load. You could try setting your network card to negotiate at 100 Mbps by going to the device manager and opening up the properties window for your NIC; see if that helps (don't hard code the duplex).

So the switch crapping out could cause the router's behavior? I'll give your suggestion a try and see what happens.

Thanks for the responses.

travathian

It is a gigabit switch, it should be able to handle a single PC running a torrent program no problem. It's not like it is keeping an IP table full of entries of remote hosts, doing encryption, or anything other heavy lifting. Like I said, it is very nearly a passive device. It may be defective some how, but I don't see why knocking down your connection to 100mb ethernet would change anything.

Like I said, I run uTorrent 24/7 and it maxes out my connection, yet all my other computers work just fine. I have a RDC going from my gaming system to the torrent server, it works fine. I have a file server, it backs up all my PCs nightly, it works fine. I transfer a shitload of data constantly over my switch without a hickup and it isn't that much more highend than yours, and it sure as shit aint a $200 enterprise switch.

Roland_tHTG

travathian wrote: »

Might want to start by just resetting your router to factory defaults and re-setup from there.

What he said.

Teth

Update the firmware in the router and switch (if possible for that switch) and the firmware and drivers of your NIC. Is your connection DSL? Make sure that every minutiae of your configuration (WAN port) is right.

After your WAN connection is sound, configure the NIC port in your system to match whatever the switch is. I.E. 100 Mbps/Full duplex on switch, match that on the PC. Don't just set the NIC to auto/auto, hard set it to match the switch port.

Google the switch model and search the manufacturers support site to see if it has any issues with MTU sizes or the use of jumbo frames, or any kind of offload functions of certain NIC drivers, things of that nature. Disable or configure the NIC appropriately if so.

Echo

Some devices just can't handle the thousands of connections a bunch of torrents generate.

Try limiting the number of global connections in uTorrent to 50 or so and see if that helps. If so, add 50 at a time until you hit the problem.

travathian

Echo wrote: »

Some devices just can't handle the thousands of connections a bunch of torrents generate.

You'll have to explain to me what exactly this switch is doing with these thousands of torrent connections.

Krikee

Could be an Ethernet flow control issue that's why setting the port speed to 100Mbps might help. If you have any way to turn it off do it. It's a garbage feature.

Have you tried doing a ping to your gateway when the switch is "locked?"

LoneIgadzra

travathian wrote: »

I have dd-wrt installed, do port forwarding of uTorrent ports to that system, as well as QoS enabled to keep port 80 connections on the highest priority. I think I upped the number of simultaneous connections it can handle as well. But again, the switch has nothing to do with any of this, so I am clueless as to why yours would be doing what it is doing. Might want to start by just resetting your router to factory defaults and re-setup from there.

I personally had a lot of trouble with DD-WRT QOS, but I guess that's kind of a thread hijack.

(Basically, its algorithm seems completely retarded - when there is any traffic on a higher priority service, all the lower ones get bumped down to a minuscule speed, even if the higher priority stuff isn't actually using much bandwidth.)

ToneLoc777

Well after suggestions to look at settings on the NIC, I think I've solved the problem.

When I looked at the settings I found:
802.1p QOS = Disable
Speed & Duplex = 10 Mb Full

So I changed 802.1p QOS = Enable and S & D to Auto, and now everything seems to be working okay. *fingers crossed*

Teth

ToneLoc777 wrote: »

Well after suggestions to look at settings on the NIC, I think I've solved the problem.

When I looked at the settings I found:
802.1p QOS = Disable
Speed & Duplex = 10 Mb Full

So I changed 802.1p QOS = Enable and S & D to Auto, and now everything seems to be working okay. *fingers crossed*

Good times. You have no idea how many awkward issues NIC settings actually resolve within a data center, let alone in the home office (where you typically have a clusterfuck of subpar equipment and drivers working together).

Krikee

That's awesome. Since you were set to full your switch was negotiating to half-duplex... half-duplex is the devil.

ToneLoc777

So far things have been running amazingly well since that change. It seems even faster than when I was using a 2nd router before I bought the switch.

Thanks for all the tips and steering me in the right direction everyone!