Download Issues / 2.4.2.86
 

Using 2.4.2.86, I have a problem with downloads. Sometimes, I will have selected a number of files to download from a search, and these will apear in the download tab. Phex will download the first two or three, then stop downloading.

The remaining files have the status waiting for the file, and for all candidates. It does not appear Phex is making any attempt to download these files.

I can try removing candidates, clicking Retry Candidate, whatever, no go. From this point, Phex will not download any more files, even if I completely remove all downloads from the download screen, make a new search, and click to download some new files. The only way to make it download again is to completely exit Phex and start it again.

What can be done about this? Anyone else seen this behaviour?

My setup:

Phex 2.4.2.86
Windows 2000 SP4
Norton Antivirus 2003
ZoneAlarm 5.5.094.000
Java 1.5.0_02-b09
P-IV @ 3 GHz, 1 GB RAM
Plenty of disk space

I've been using Phex for over a year now. This is the first version I've encountered this problem. Was previously using 2.2.2.x.

Also, this version of Phex routinely uses 100% of CPU so I have to sets its priority to "below normal" in task manager so that I can retain some use of my PC while it runs.

I get the feeling something is amiss with this version.

Cheers,
Fidel

I'm by contrast a newbie to Phex, so I can't comment on the downloading issues raised by Comrade Fidel.

However, I am experiencing intermittent but severe CPU usage as well, whatever the network or peer settings I choose (I read previous threads on the subject).

I also installed the latest java RTE from Sun (1.5.0_03-b07).

It runs fine for a few minutes, and then javaw.exe eats up the CPU every minute or so, and then CPU usage drops back to normal. And the cycle continues.

During this time, the computer is sluggish, and the Phex interface is frozen.

My setup:

Phex 2.4.2.86
Windows 2000 SP4
No antivirus or firewall locally
Java 1.5.0_03-b07 RTE
P4 @ 2.8 GHz, 1 GB RAM
Loads of disk space

I'm not a computer nor a network newbie, so don't hesitate to get technical. I'm however not yet familiar with Gnutella networks.

It's a great program nevertheless, keep up the good work!

Andargor

Ye gads, man! Get yourself a firewall and some anti-virus.

Especially get yourself anti-virus if you're going to be downloading things from the net. I'm a fan of Norton AntiVirus (2005 edition is current and I have it on my work laptop), but McAfee and Innoculate (eTrust) are also good.

ZoneAlarm firewall is a free download from www.zonelabs.com, so there's simply no excuse for not using it. Its also quite easy to configure. Once you've installed it, the next time you run Phex, it will ask you if the program should be allowed to act as a server (say yes, as Phex is both client and server in one).

Unless you're running behind a router or corporate firewall, then running your own firewall is a must. If you're using Windows, then this goes double.

Good luck! Hopefully someone will answer the question re CPU usage (I think its because Phex is scanning the disk for files to share, but its over the top when it makes the PC unusable).

I'm also interested to see if anyone has the same downloading issue I have...

Cheers,
Fidel

Heheh, the key word here is "No antivirus or firewall locally". ;)

I've got a Linux firewall with netfilter. Large portions of Asia and the Eastern Block are banned... They kept harassing my DNS.

I've only "caught" a worm once since I started on the net in the 1980's (before the early 90's explosion), and that's because I used a VPN to tunnel to my company. My bare computer exposed to the company's infected LAN... :)

So I'm not too worried. :D

Andargor

Hi...

to the CPU issue:

How many files are you two sharing?

What are your download settings on "Total parallel downloads" and "Max downloads per file"

Usually these values influence CPU usage very much.

to the download issue:
Can you check in the task manager how many threads Phex uses when it downloads normaly and how many it uses when it stops downloading.
Also can you look into your phex.error.log file if there are any error messages during the time Phex stops downloading.

Gregor

Sharing 1 file.

Parallel Downloads: Tested settings from 4 to 24. It doesn't affect the symptom I've described.

Max Downloads per File: Tested 2 to 10. Same result.

I haven't seen a download problem, but I'm not yet trained to notice that yet. :)

Andargor

Hmm... very strange...
I have a much slower PC (1,4GHz) to develop Phex on and the same system Win2K SP4 and dont see this kind of problems.

Hi GregorK,

Thanks for your response. Ok, first thing I noticed, there are a lot of errors in the phex.error.log file. Phex seems to be looking for non-existant directories on my system.

One of them is a directory which used to exist, but which no longer does (I renamed that shared directory when I found a mispelling in the name).

The other directories are more interesting because they never existed, so I'm not sure how Phex is getting the idea that they did.

In each case, the error reported is Error/LIBRARY_SCANNER: 'C:\folder\folder' is not a directory.

Where "folder" of course is the actual folder it was looking for. The cases where Phex seems to be investing directories which don't and never existed seems to be more interesting. All I can tell you is that the directorory is formed partially from the name of a file that used to be in that directory, and Phex is then adding something such as \CD1 or \Sample to the filename or partial filename. This does not seem to make any sense at all.

There are a block of these 'not a directory' errors which occur once every minute.

Its hard to say how many files I'm sharing (is there a way in Phex to find this out), but it would be over a thousand, across quite a number of folders (most of which are set to share subfolders), for a total of several gigabytes.

As for the settings I'm using, I allow Phex 10 maximum downloads, 50 max downloads per file, 16kb initial download segment, 90 seconds target time per segment, and 30 seconds push timeout. Downloading in throttled to near but not quite my bandwidth.

For uploading I allow a maximum of five parallel uploads (1 per host), sharing partial files enabled but not browsing of directories. I allow up to 10 in the queue, and return up to 64 search hits. Uploading is also throttled to optimise bandwidth usage for long term use.

I hope some of this info helps!

Thanks,
Fidel

Oh, I forgot phex.error.log... Lots of java errors, here it is. I'll send you the password via PM.

Andargor