BitComet error....

I'm using BitComet for torrent downloads, and the previous version I had (.79 or .80) worked fine. I removed the older one to install the newest one (0.82 I think). I didn't use it for awhile after loading it. I used it for the first time 3-4 days ago and upon launching, I get a 'UPNP.exe' error: has encountered a problem and needs to close; or something similar.... but BitComet still downloads and works OK... I used it again today, and got the same error message, it actually pops up twice in a row and after clicking on OK the 2nd time, BitComet runs OK.... what's up with that???? I'm pretty sure UPNP is short for Universal Plug-n-Play..... any help? suggestions??? ideas?????

hopperdave2000

 

I think UPnP stands for something else in torrenting. Some sharing? port? protocol. It can be enabled/disabled according to your security concerns. One thing I've found for all bittorrent clients is that uninstall is never complete. They all seem to leave remnants in %appdata% folder. For best results, I always uninstall and delete their folder in appdata before installing new version or switching clients. You have to reset preferences this way but things work better. Just make a note of your open port so you can plug it in when reinstalling.

 

I'm wrong UPnP is Universal Plug and Play. I think it has to do with automatically finding an open port. Not really sure. Utorrent's FAQ's suggest it is only necessary if you haven't manually forwarded a port. Sorry for the bad info. but I think a clean install is still best.

 

Thanx for the info..... I'm not real famaliar w/ port assignments and the like... Where in BitComet is this option and what should I set it to (if anything)? Also, this may be diff thread topic, but: I'm trying to finish a torrent. It got up to 98.4% and just stopped. After waiting an hour or so (to be sure it was 'dead'), I rebooted the PC and started again from 98.4%... it got up to 99.1% and again stopped even the download rate said it was still downloading. It stayed at 99.1% for about 2hrs before I rebooted again. It then got up to 99.4% and now seems to be stopped again.... what's up??? bad seeds/peers??? or does the UPNP have something to do with it? THANX!! Any help appreciated!
hopperdave2000

 

It's been a while since I used bitcomet so I can't really tell you how to navigate its interface. I think it asks for listening port number under Options>Connections. UPnP is probably under Options>Advanced>Connection.

Portforward.com has information on how to forward a port. Click on portforwarding and find your router and follow instructions. Not as difficult as it seems at first. From my experience bitcomet works very well without forwarding but that is because it cheats the system and hammers peers for pieces thus increasing its download speed at the expense of others. I think its fine if your only doing a little torrenting but many people hate it, so I switched to utorrent just to get along. Utorrent has a similar interface without the built in browser.

As far as torrents that don't complete, I can't really give you any advice. If there are still seeders or availability is over 1.00 than you should eventually get the last pieces. Sometimes no peers can reach 100% for some reason even though the original uploader is trying to share. I don't know if this is a badly made torrent file or what. I suspect that it might have something to do with someone making a torrent of a folder and then moving the files elsewhere before uploading so that a hidden file like thumbs.db might not be present and thus is the missing piece. If it is a movie file most players can play a file that is 99.0% complete without any problem. Otherwise leave it running or cut your losses if it looks hopeless.. I don't think it as anything to do with UPnP.

 

Hey Sach- THANX for the info!!! I did eventually get the entire file: it took about 24hrs rolleyes but I have it! I went to the site you listed and checked it out and I learned something new!!! YIPPEEE!!!! Thanx again. I now have to repair/reload my BitComet and so forth as mentioned earlier. As an afterthought- I tried Azureus but I don't really like the interface (too much info; too many settings, etc). Any recommendations for a diff torrent client???

hopperdave2000

Thanx again- VERY helpful!

 

My experience:

Original BitTorrent client--terrible interface, difficult to run more than one torrent at a time. Also, I think changes in recent versions are getting this client banned from several sites.

Azureus--very good, fast downloads, cute icon, RAM intensive. I use an older computer for most of my internet browsing and Azureus doesn't play well with this system. Not worth upgrading this computer so no Azureus for me until I get a new one and swap internet PCs.

BitComet--good interface, no problems it just has a bad reputation for not sharing. I'm a member of a couple of sites where other members literally hate bitcomet and sometimes ban bitcomet users from receiving pieces of files during initial seeding. Bitcomet is very popular because it is easy to use and doesn't bug you about port forwarding which can be confusing to figure out. I'd probably still be using it, if it wasn't for requests to switch.

Utorrent--the client I decided on has a good interface, low RAM usage and good speeds (although I think Bitcomet and Az are slightly faster at downloading, if you're going for a fair share ratio you have to keep the torrent running after download is complete anyway so absolute maximum download speed isn't that important to me).

There are a few other small clients out there ABC etc. but I haven't bothered to try them. Utorrent fits my needs and works unobtrusively in the background. What more could I ask?

 

Thanx again sach.... I'll give UTorrent a shot. I think I tried it once a loooong time ago, before I understood what it was supposed to do, so I dumped it. DUH! I was a torrent noob (I'm still kind of a torrent noob ).... Much thanx!
hopperdave2000