Not so much "locking up" on XP, just..... crashing as regularly as Aeroflot

[tambourine-man]

OK - does your 3.3.4 version of Limewire crash like hell - if so, please read on. Not sure if this is deserving of a new thread, but the other threads don't seem to specifically cover this (and I can't believe I'm the only one to experience this), so i'll go ahead.


Diary of Misery...

Wednesday Night: I downloaded Ver. 3.3.4 from Limewire website. Worked about as well as you can expect it to work. I'm on ADSL (in UK). Downloaded (and launched) 3 or 4 mpeg and mp3 files with no problem. At the same time, I ran most recent version of Kazaa. Spent early hours of Friday morning downloading on Limewire and allowing both Limewire and Kazaa to access each other's "shared" files for upload. This worked with no problem. Aghast at the time. Realised that eyes had dried up like two albino raisins... decided it was wise to go to bed.

Thursday Morning: Connected to web, launched Limewire (resumed download from previous night) yet was unable to search. Would not allow me to connect (light stays red). FAQ suggested that this situation would improve if left for "extended periods of time". Continued to work with Kazaa, watching my "Participation Rating" rocket.... CRASH...!!! Windows restarts and suggests a FAT 32 check. "Fair enough" methinks - just one of those things. Relaunches Limewire and now find that I am able to connect and search. Cat claws my hand when I tease him mercilessly with a makeshift "whip", constructed from a stretch of curtain fibre.

Thursday Afternoon: Windows XP crashes yet again, and again. Each with the same suggestions of a FAT 32 check. Luckily, there are no serious consequences. Cat eyes me suspisiously. Become paranoid that I may be somehow overloading my system's memory capability or overheating it. However, after various tests, none of these appear to have any influence on the occurance of crashes.

Thursday Early Evening: After finishing uploads/downloads on Kazaa, I shut that programme down, suspecting that both Limewire and Kazaa are somehow conflicting at times or requesting similar resourses (I'm not a computer techie, really). Launch only Internet Explorer and Limewire. Crashes within 5 minutes. Attempt it again, this time without any other program. Start downloads. Crashes in under 60 seconds. Become extremeley worried when the room lights dim - only to find that cat has climbed onto the radiator and "pawed" the dimmer switch. Accept cat's subtle hint and feed him.

Thursday Evening: I write this little piece, scared to even start Limewire, considering the alarming increase in regularity of crashes. On a further note. When I crash, the files I was in the middle of downloading are unrecoverable (even from the "incomplete" folder). What I'm presented with, is an automatic "resumption" of downloading a file I had earlier downloaded. Cat comes into house from garden, looking slightly dishevelled. Probably been inadvisably fighting with next door's fat-*** cat.

I have to say that I'm a little disappointed with the performance - I thought about trying Morpheus or ShareBear???? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Any simple, idiot-proof solutions would be grovellingly praised.

Tambourine-man

[tambourine-man]

Thursday Late Evening: Downloaded Morpheus. Worked perfectly for over 20 minutes. Then it crashed, taking my system with it (just like limewire). Now it can't even load (comes up with warning box reading "cannot load GnucDNA". I surmise that the gnutella network stinks worse than my aggressive cat.

Tambourine-man

[tambourine-man]

Friday Morning: I take back my last comment - managed to get 2 hours of uneventful, crash-free downloading out of Morpheus late last night - after my FAT 32 check solved the "GnucDNA" issue. And my cat doesn't really smell. Something else interesting happened today - I left Kazaa running while I made my breakfast (marmalade on toast, today). It crashed (probably within half an hour), taking my system with it.

Now I'm convinced that the problem doesn't necessarily lie in the respective programmes, (whether they be Limewire, Morpheus or Kazaa (even Direct Connect crashed)). It just strikes me that there's something about the whole P2P concept that doesn't fit very well with my XP machine.

As I now have my faith restored in Limewire - can anyone... ANYONE, give me some direction or guidance as how to solve this annoying problem?

Thanx,

Tambourine-man

[tambourine-man]

Saturday Evening (a week after last post): So the problem finally comes full-circle... After reading a number of other forums on various other P2P networks, it has came to my attention that my original ideas about overheating may have been "in the ballpark". The more I think about it, the seemingly irregular crashes, increasing in frequency and intensity with continued usage, would tally with a heat-problem.

It seems that a number of other P2P clients (including Kazaar) have an option that disables "ultrapeer" or "supernode" actions, reducing the workload of the system (and, presumably, the amount of heat it generates), (why is this enabled, as a downloaded default? I have a 1.7Ghz, 224Mb RAM, AMD Athlon, running on XP, connected via an ADSL line at 576Kbps and it kills my machine). Anyway, I disabled this feature on all P2P clients and they've worked brilliantly (apart from Morpheus, which appears to have completely packed-up).

So there you go - a heating problem. I've managed to reveal my technical ignorannce and P2P naiivity in one, fell swoop. Never mind, I hope it helps some other n00bie. I take back all statements about LimeWire or Gnutella being crap, (or stinking worse than my cat).


tambourine-man

[dawgfan56]

Amen brother. My XP crashes almost nightly. You are lucky. I don't get anything back that i was downloading. Files that are completed are not affected. You have my sympathies. Glad I don't have your cat, or any cat for that matter. When it comes back up, are all the files you were trying to DL in red? If so, do you know what the red means? I have yet to be able to restart a file in the red. If figure how to make LW Pro and XP fly in formation, let me know, please.

[tambourine-man]

Wow...LOL... I forgot about this little thread I made (I had it on e-mail alert - hence the reason I'm posting now).

To answer your question - yes they were 'in red' and completely unrecoverable at my level of skill. Unfortunately, I'm unsure of what the red means, other than that it probably indicates that it is corrupted (best guess).

As it turned out, my problem was complicated by two factors: First, I was having trouble allocating RAM, and secondly (more importantly) I was using a USB port for my cable connection...

The helpful people at www.napsterites.com (AKA www.p2p-zone.com) were able to help - see this thread (it'll take you through some of the solutions):

http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=17151

They were so helpful - I became a regular there. Hope it helps, matey.