transfers stop & freezes computer

[Morb]

Ok the basics here...
Windows XP Home Edition SP2
3Ghz P4, 512mb Ram, 20GB free space (80 Gig hard drive)
Roadrunner Cable Modem, no router, direct modem to ethernet port. I contacted my ISP and they say they don't filter anything. They had me reset my modem and check my connection as well.
I use zonealarm and the windows firewall, I also disabled both of these and it doesn't stop the problem.
I have a Sony Vaio notebook computer model # PCG-K35
Running Limewire Pro 4.4.4 sharing 200 files.
-----------------------------------

What seems to happen is I start Limewire and everything is fine, I get virtually a turbocharged connection and have no problems. I get a few downloads started and they're blaring away. All is good. After only a few minutes if that all transfers slow down to 0.00kb/s in just a few seconds and <1 minute after that the connection to the network is gone. Sometimes it will recover and start again though most of the time it doesn't.
At this point if I try to browse any web site, check email, use instant messanger programs or anything that connects to the internet, it just acts like there is no connection plus programs will not respond (will not say not responding) and will not close and cannot start any new programs. Curser moves though.

To solve this I have to either shut down the computer (by holding the power button if it doesn't want to respond) or unplug the ethernet cord. A few seconds after I unplug it, the computer starts responding and all is fine though no connection obviously. I've downloaded about 4 different versions of limewire and all do the same thing. I'd also like to note that winmx does this too.

Is there a fix for this or a setting to change?

[nikki781]

Hi, sorry I can't help you, because the exact same thing has been happening to me so let me know if you find out how to fix it!

[Lord of the Rings]

One thought is if you're using USB modems. For some people they can cause unreliability issues. Scroll down to 3.4 on this link: 3.4 USB-based modems/routers

* See Downlds stopped/slow down.

To limit the stress on your computer, do not Resume all your files. This will definitely cause problems potentially as bad as yours.

Limit uploads to 70-80% : Tools>Options>Uploads>Basic
Go to LW's menu Tools>Options>Speed & tick Disable UP Capabilities & press the Apply button.
Delete some of the old incompletes that are 0% in your incomplete folder. Do the same for your Download window in LW.
Go to LW's menu Tools>Options>Downlds & tick Auto-clear downlds.
Either keep your simultaneous downlds to a minimum or reduce your downld speed so you have some left over for browsing: Tools>Options>Downloads & reduce to about 90% & press Apply button.

Go to menu View>Show/Hide & hide/close all the LW windows you're not using at that time. eg: Connections, Monitor, & Library windows.

Close search results that are more than a few hours old.

Don't use LW's media player, but instead use your own player. Tools>Options>Player & untick option box & press Apply.

Alternate players: 1. QCD is free & has inbuilt codecs & plays everything OR
2. iTunes (also inbuilt codecs & is free) which arranges music into artist & then album sub-folders (but might use a little more ram.)

Hope these suggestions help. They will all reduce both stress on LW, stress on your cpu & ram & your bandwidth.

[Morb]

Hi Lord, thanks for the reply. I followed your recommendations and no difference still. I also updated my java to 1.5 and the latest limewire with no luck still. I just get the feeling there is some kind of compatability issue with the software or something. Connection quality isn't the issue here. I get very fast speeds. sometimes one file can peak over 200kb/s. I limited my upload connections to 8 then to 10 then to 50, then to 20, 15, 30 just all over the place and made no difference and along with my upload and download speeds/connections ect. I looked at every setting in options and changed what seems appropriate. I don't see anything going wrong in limewire itself, it just seems to freeze and freeze the rest of the computer with it. Quite a mystery.

[Morb]

I'd also like to note that unplugging the modem from the back of the computer and then starting limewire has no freezing problems then. I also disabled the network card from within Device Manager does the same thing, doesn't have a problem then, except for the connection issue lol. I deleted all my downloads from within my incomplete folder and started fresh with none, also uninstalled limewire and deleted the preferences folder and redid everything. 1 download connection makes no difference here either. bizarre.

[Morb]

Well, after a bit of research on this problem this is the only viable explanation I could come up with on this problem. Victim of RIAA attacks. I find this interesting in that it only affects p2p software and absolutely nothing else. I seem to have the symptoms of the "freeze" program. I read also the only way to get rid of this is to wipe your hard drive and start over. People aren't sure exactly how to get rid of it. I'm gonna wipe my hard drive and see how it works in the morning when i get it back and running firewalls and antivirus on. Wish me luck.


'Music industry agents' to ruin your day
"Record-label hackers should wipe out the computers of people who swap MP3s. That's the nuclear option Utah senator Orrin Hatch recommends."

Yep. And,

"Meanwhile, peer-to-peer special ops have already begun. The courts have been busy - and are likely to get busier - with Recording Industry Association of America lawsuits. The labels have also quietly contracted elite gray-hat hackers and small computer security companies to thwart music file-sharing. According to one self-described anti-pirate, 'It's eye-for-an-eye time.' Here are some of the anti-P2P programs and their industry codenames."

These are the two lead paragraphs in a Wired article entitled Minsters of Rock with, Meet the music industry agents that could ruin your downloading career as the sub-head.

And the 'agents' are: Antinode, Fester, Freeze, Shame, Silence, Suck and Tattle.

Reads a bit like partners in a law firm, No? (Sorry Larry : )

Underneath, you'll see what each name means and under that are italicized comments from Steve Hinkle.

Antinode Creates fake "supernodes," signposts used by some file-sharing technologies (Kazaa, for example) to guide users' computers to files. The pseudo-supernodes distribute misleading file information.

People will BLOCK THIS WITH PEERGUARDIAN AND OTHER BLOCKING SYSTEMS!

Fester Puts the word out on file-sharing networks that RIAA servers have music files for download. The servers redirect users to black hole sites, tying them up indefinitely. Newer P2P clients drop useless connections more quickly, so this approach may already be obsolete.

Users will find these IPs and not download them! They may be blocked as well by consumers.

Freeze Uses an existing bug in P2P clients to remotely "hang" computers hunting for MP3s. The result could be more than mere frustration - unsaved data can be lost during a long hang. It's in development now.

Someone will write an anti-virus signature, or use P2P apps that do not have this, or write a patch file!

Shame If implemented, would distribute a benign P2P virus in an illegal media file that adds the words "I steal music on the Internet" to a user's email signature. Expect to see that appear as a slogan on T-shirts a few minutes later.

This would likely be circumvented with an anti-virus signature, or a manual edit of the signature file, and it be set read-only.

Silence Scans computers on P2P networks for illegal material, hacks into the pirate machine, and deletes the data. One problem: Early versions delete legal MP3s, too.

Users backup their files before this hits, then delete this "deletion virus", and restore their backups.

Suck Scours the Net for large libraries of MP3s, and then starts asking for files. And asking. And asking. Eventually, the requests clog library owners' connections like hair in a pipe - and if the RIAA is using that bandwidth, then nobody else is. As a bonus, this approach generates huge volumes of data traffic, driving up pirates' usage and incurring the wrath of ISPs.

This could be equated to a denial-of-service attack, and a virus and would likely violate computer crime laws. If the RIAA is behind this, who would want to contribute files?

Tattle Recruits other industries. If you have lots of liberated music, chances are you also have a few pieces of software that fell off the back of a truck. Recording industry bots already track online piracy - insiders have suggested the RIAA share that information with the software and movie industries.

This is doable, however you still have the concept of "innocent till proven guilty". This could result in class actions back. See www.directvdefense.org for a similar concept with smart card products, of people who did not intend to use them for signal theft. This is a similar concept.

[TwistedHobo]

I think that this reason is a result of government intervention. I sat down and watched what would happen and I experienced the same results as above. The connection to LimeWire would not connect because of peak times or whatever (im at college and it can connect sometimes) but when it fails to connect after about 10 minutes a prompt will come up stating that it couldnt connect. The only problem with this, or atleast for my computer is that instead of 1 popup, there would be a never ending supply of them. Another one would pop up every 5-10 seconds, resulting in multiple popups about this issue. It would send my computer into shock as it was dealing with new pop ups, as well as the ones already there. Basically it would bog down my computer to freeze symptoms and even though I could move the mouse cursor, nothing could be accessed because of the priority of the mulitple popups. I don't know the solution, but thats something that related to my problem that could be fixed by some technical background.

[Morb]

Well I have discovered my problem after a couple weeks. And it's due to a virus or something i found in my temp directory called "Hijack.exe" or something similar. It must have done it's damage prior to detection cause whatever it did left my computer messed up. So I figured that virus came from a downloaded program I used. So, I wiped my hard drive again and kept a strict eye on my temp directory as I installed programs. Nothing detected. I started using AVG antivirus instead of Nortons 2005. And i haven't seen this file and my computer is running fine. Limewire is running perfect. Couldn't be better. So my suggestion is the wipe your hard drive and look for any suspicious files in your temp directory as your reinstalling programs ect. Good luck and thanks for the replies everyone.

[TwistedHobo]

Hmm...well I am pretty sure it isn't a virus or anything because I have asked people around my campus and they have experienced the same situation. They cant't connect and then limewire pops up hundreds of error messages causing thier computer to be manually shut down. From what I gather not many people experience this, but I figure it is a technical issue that still should be noted.