Peer to Peer (torrent) issues - freezing

[DaveM]

I've been running Windows 7 x64 Professional on my system for the last month or so with little difficulties - except for a recurring issue whenever I try to use any Peer to Peer program. After two or three weeks of troubleshooting I am 99% sure I have nailed the problem down to peer to peer (torrent) software... however am open to other idea's if anyone else can suggest a possible cause of the problem.

I have tried various different programs (uTorrent, Vuze, Limewire to name a few) and all encounter the same problem.... a random freeze whilst downloading.... total system lock-up, requiring a hard reboot. Usually this occurs when the PC has been left for a little while to download, leaving me with two blank screens that wont wake up from any keyboard or mouse input. This initially lead me to believe there were possibly some power management issues with my graphics card on wake up.... but I have since had the freeze occur a few times whilst using the PC with the download operating in the background. It has never occured when not using any peer-to-peer. To rule out anything else I left the PC running for 5 days without doing any peer-to-peer downloading at all.... Regular use, Internet Browsing, Word Processing, Excel, Transferring files to/from camera, Photoshop.... nil issues, nil freeze, nil downtime. Turned on Vuze to download a file - 20 mins later, system lockup.

As already indicated, changing programs hasn't yeilded any results - same freeze no matter what the program.

It also seems pretty irregular - sometimes the PC has been on for a few hours, I start a download and I manage to download a 3 or 4gb file without any freeze.. other times I get 50mb in off a fresh boot-up and it locks up.

All drivers are latest available.

Anyone able to assist with possible causes? As apps are Java-based, possibly Java related maybe? I'm out of ideas!

System Specs (nothing overclocked):
MB: ASUS P5KPL-VM
CPU: Intel E6550
RAM: 4Gb Kingston 800
Graphics: ASUS 9800GT
Network Info: Using onboard ethernet CAT5plugged directly into Netgear DG834Gv4 router
Antivirus: AVG
Firewall: Standard Windows - permissions for file sharing checked and everything a-ok as far as I can see.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Nibiru2012]

First don't use Vuze or Limewire, they're crap!

Did you do a clean install or upgrade? Some have been having issues with upgrades after a few weeks.

Have you tried uninstalling all P2P software and then seeing what happens? Are you running a firewall? Have you done a AV scan to check for malware, trojans, etc.?

 

[DaveM]

First don't use Vuze or Limewire, they're crap!

No arguments here.... only installed them to see if the problem was persistent accross smilar programs.

Did you do a clean install or upgrade? Some have been having issues with upgrades after a few weeks.

Clean install. Used the Student Upgrade from 32bit XP if that's relevant.

Have you tried uninstalling all P2P software and then seeing what happens?

Yep - system runs fine.

Are you running a firewall?

Only the standard windows one. Permissions/ports seem to be in order.

Have you done a AV scan to check for malware, trojans, etc.?

Yep. All clear.

 

[clifford_cooley]

First don't use Vuze or Limewire, they're crap!

I'm not sure about Vuze or Limewire, I use uTorrent.

P2P apps are easy targets for viruses. Even if you are very careful about what you download. Eventually you will catch one of those viruses, especially if it is applications that are being downloaded.

 

[TorrentG]

Hi. Please go to C:\Windows\Minimdump

Zip the contents and attach to a post using the paperclip. I can have a look for you.

In cases like this, it's always good to start with updating the network driver in use to latest.

If you are overclocking anything, set to default to test.

 

[DaveM]

Appreciate the replies already, thanks guys.

Hi. Please go to C:\Windows\Minimdump

Zip the contents and attach to a post using the paperclip. I can have a look for you.

Directory does't exist on my PC.

In cases like this, it's always good to start with updating the network driver in use to latest.

All done. Nil value.

If you are overclocking anything, set to default to test.

Nothing overclocked.

Another forum has suggested it may be AVG causing the issues - anyone here care to comment on that idea?

 

[TorrentG]

AVG is always the cause of everything. 100% yes. Completely uninstall as disabling will have no beneficial effect.

(If you must know, that's me on the other forum too, with a new account. I like to help people. heh)

"Yes. Because every pc I've ever seen with AVG and issues - issues caused by AVG.

100% and were talking 100s of machines."

That should be a pretty good clue.

 

[Silvermistshadow]

I had the same issue here, and saw the solution, so I uninstalled AVG and installed something completely different. But my computer still freezes. Any known problems with Avira as well? It seems I just can't catch a break with this thing.

EDIT: Looking over some other posts, I saw that there were tools to uninstall anything the windows uninstaller may have left behind from AVG. I used it, will try to run the peer-to-peer transfer again.

 

[TrainableMan]

At the forums here we recommend Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). While other anti-virus programs may work for some people they are often known for causing slow-downs and BSODs.

Silvermist, this post started last year so it is likely to late to help the original poster but he noted it was when his computer was left alone for some time and I suspect it may be related to the sleep/hibernation feature. If this is your exact situation, try going to control panel \ device manager and find the power management tab for your network adapter or wifi card and uncheck so it is NOT allowed to be shut-down to conserve power.

As a side note, I personally use BitTorrent (although I uninstall BitTorrent DNA) and have for years with no issues like this, but as with anti-virus programs, your results may vary.

 

[Silvermistshadow]

Okay, I've done that for now.

I'm actually just trying to get the FFXIV beta to not crash my computer while updating. It happened with STO as well, and uTorrent when I installed the machine. Bittornado does not seem to activate this cause, though it may have been because of the above. It crashed again just a while ago, but I had left the computer for a while.

And I didn't notice that the original post was a year ago, but I also didn't feel like making a new one on the same topic. Which makes it less of a bad thing I think.

 

[TrainableMan]

Well the Final Fantasy beta may be a problem with their software. It seems there were major bugs in the release and supposedly those are now fixed but they are limiting the testers. So if you got a version of the beta prior to the fixes I would suspect it is the developers fault it bombs. Article Sept 3,2010.

From what I can tell (I never played it myself), Star Trek Online is paid software so any torrent that may contain the game is likely an illegal rip and may very well contain viruses or other malware. This type of software can be extremely dangerous and is not recommended; also since it would be considered illegal there is no help we could give here as to getting it to work.

The first step is to delete other active anti-virus and make sure you have MSE. When you say "I've done that for now" did you mean you uninstalled AVG & installed MSE and turned off the allow sleep? If not you should do those. Also, if you are downloading illegal software then I would next run a thorough virus scan and also download and run malwarebytes, as the cause of your problems may be a virus. Finally download and run CCleaner's registry cleaning (second icon in the list). The utilities mentioned are linked from our forum freeware database.

If it is just your torrent program crashing you might see if there is an update to the torrent program itself or try a different program such as BitTorrent.

Then if it is the computer crashing start a BSOD thread and attach dumps as instructed, as you likely have driver issues.

 

[Silvermistshadow]

...I didn't say I downloaded a torrent of STO. I said that I used a peer-to-peer transfer to try to download the game when I was in the open beta. It was the official downloader from Cryptic.

That and I've already narrowed it down. No need to keep posting here, thanks.

 

[TrainableMan]

Well then you are probably not infected, at least not from that, but you should still do the anti-virus to MSE and run CCleaner.

I would suspect you have some outdated drivers.

And you didn't say if only your torrent abended or the whole computer crashed.

 

[Nibiru2012]

I just started using a new bit torrent client calle: Tixati, and it works great!

Small footprint and a lot of features to view. Lots of tweaks for it also.

http://www.tixati.com/

Tixati is a new and powerful BitTorrent client.
100% free, contains no spyware, no ads, and no gimmicks
Windows and Linux native versions available


Why use Tixati?

Ultra-fast downloading algorithms

DHT, PEX, and Magnet Link support

Super-efficient peer selection and choking

Advanced bandwidth control and charting

RC4 connection encryption for added security

Advanced views of peers, pieces, files, and trackers

Detailed event logging for all transfers and individual peers

Much better in my opinion that uTorrent, at least so far.