Those pesky ports..

[GMorris]

Hello all,

I did a search and read a few posts, but I cannot figure this out. I had been using a torrent client, and it downloaded about 98% of what I was getting. Then it just came to a halt. I had set up a port in the router/modem that runs our DSL to open for incoming connections, and it worked great for a while. Now it's reporting that port closed, and will not get the remaining 2% or so of the file(s), and I don't know WHAT to do next. I'm going to look through the settings in the router thing and see if it is turned off there (closed), and if so maybe I can figure out how to open it again. I was hoping there was a way to just do it through the OS because I get awfully nervous sometimes fooling with that router/modem thing. Does anyone know why this happened in the first place? Would installing some other software possibly cause it? I HAVE to think it's somewhere in the software/OS, as the port WAS enabled before through the hardware.

Any ideas will be much appreciated and considered! Thanks.

[jayd512]

To be honest, if you did a port configuration inside the router, I think it would be best to check there first.
Failing that, you may want to contact your ISP to verify that the port wasn't disable on their end.

[reginaldperrin]

Try changing the port number in the torrent client to something away from the default.
Almost all clients support this.
Simple solution, if it works.
The other problem might be simply that there are no other peers who are sharing the file any more.
You could try searching for the exact name of the file you want via various torrent search websites, and try starting one of the hits, see if it starts the same torrent download you have already. This would add a new tracker to your clients list of trackers for the torrent.
It could be that the original tracker doesn't have the torrent listed any more.

[kurtdriver]

I get awfully nervous sometimes fooling with that router/modem thing.

Is this with just one torrent? Do others work, can you upload?

No need to fear damaging your router. It should have a button (likely red) on the rear or underside. Pressing this for 30 or so seconds will reset the router to the defaults. You can't really hurt it.

[Mudgen]

Is this with just one torrent? Do others work, can you upload?

No need to fear damaging your router. It should have a button (likely red) on the rear or underside. Pressing this for 30 or so seconds will reset the router to the defaults. You can't really hurt it.

Careful there. Resetting to defaults would blow away any customizations to his configuration.

OP, what torrent client are you using? Look for information on "seeders" and "availability". If any torrents are downloading, it's likely that either there are no seeders online for this one, or that the total availability from all seeders is 98%. If you wait long enough, a seeder might come along and resolve either issue. Or it may just remain a dead/broken torrent.

[iskeusz]

Is this with just one torrent? Do others work, can you upload?

Of course he can upload because it's him who establishes connections. The problem with closed ports on a router is, others can't initiate the connection, can't get through the closed port to you.

[iskeusz]

I was hoping there was a way to just do it through the OS because I get awfully nervous sometimes fooling with that router/modem thing.

If you suspect the modem, look through its settings. You can do little by configuring your desktop OS to correct the problem in modem's settings if it's there. You won't get hurt if you just look at the settings. Some modems may accidentally «lose» some settings sometimes.

[Mudgen]

Of course he can upload because it's him who establishes connections.

??? I suppose it depends on how you define upload, but given that he's clearly defining download as pulling torrent content to his computer, upload would mean furnishing content to other peers. Those peers would be establishing those connections.

[iskeusz]

upload would mean furnishing content to other peers.

Sure.

Those peers would be establishing those connections.

Not always. I succeeded to seed with closed ports, although too little. The best thing for diagnostics might be using a torrent client which shows who establishes the connection. Like Azureus (Vuze).

[Mudgen]

Given that it's a peer-to-peer protocol and two peers may very well be cross-loading, we're probably both over-simplifying and over-generalizing. Certainly I was.

I'll say that a torrent is unlikely to work very well without the ability for connections to be initialized in both directions and leave it at that.