Tech Question-Torrent Troubles

[leadchipmunk]

With the large group of nerds here, I decided I'll try this question here too. It is relatively detailed about networking issues and torrent downloading.

I just got my computer set up to download torrents again (since I wiped it around 2 months ago) and it is causing me troubles once again. My torrents will run for a set amount of time (it fluctuates a large amount, but it is normally is somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours) and then all wireless internet to my computer stops working. I can't get it working again without restarting the computer. All other computers/devices keep internet access. I've been through all the options in my router and torrent client, but nothing has worked.

What happens is I lose my IP address and cannot get it renewed without the restart. It keeps trying, but never works.

Specs are as follows:

• Laptop is running Kubuntu 12.04
  
• Torrent client is KTorrent 4.1.3
  
• ISP is Verizon DSL
  
• Router is Westell brand, not sure what the model is
  

Every time I wipe my system the same issues come up (torrents run for a while, after so long all internet to the machine stops). It doesn't matter what OS I'm running, it has happened on all of them (Linux only, I haven't used Windows at home in years). I mess with the problem so long and sooner or later, whatever I did or updated or just randomly, it starts working again until the next time I wipe it. I have no idea what is causing it to happen, and I have no idea how it was solved in the past.

My Google-fu must be weak because I cannot find anyone having this same problem.

Could it be Verizon that is stopping my internet? If so, why does it work on a restart, wouldn't they block me by IP or MAC address? I keep getting the same IP on reboot, but when it goes out, I can't receive an IP address at all.

Could going to static addressing fix this?

Any other ideas or am I just S.o.L.?

[gerbilOFdoom]

Your IP is assigned by your router, not Verizon... so the problem is somewhere between your network adapter and the router. To eliminate the router as an option, take your laptop to another network and let it torrent for a few hours. If it fails, it's the laptop. If it doesn't, time for a new router (Netgear or Linksys, preferably). It would help to know exactly what your adapter status is when it fails - just 'sudo ifconfig'.

[leadchipmunk]

Thanks Gerbil. I'll run it next time it does it. Also, I don't have anywhere I could go to try it on another network. The only places I could go are public wifi, which usually have torrents blocked.

I do need a new router anyway, long story but basically my antenna is broken and signal isn't really strong anymore. Though I do know that isn't what's causing this problem. As for Netgear or Linksys, I prefer Cisco (yeah, Cisco owns Linksys, but I've had more trouble working on Linksys routers). A little more expensive, but worth it in my book. The only reason I have a Westell is because it came with my upgrade to DSL and hasn't caused me too many troubles until the last year or two.

[joeyb]

I have had that issue before too. I figured out that if I connect an Android phone or my Chromebook to the network, it kills the router and the router needs to be reset (unplug and plug back in). If I stop using those, then everything is dandy. I'm not sure if Google is writing their own drivers or if it's the linux drivers that are killing it, but none of my machines that run Windows cause the issue.

[leadchipmunk]

That is really odd Joey. I know my problem isn't related to Android because many times my phone (the only Android phone in this house) and my eeePC laptop running Andriodx86 isn't connected to the network and it has happened before I had an Android phone. But I wouldn't doubt it if Google wrote their own drivers.

How did you get a chromebook? Was it from the Beta or did you buy it? And how do you like it? I was running Chromium on my eee a while back, but didn't give myself much time to play with it.

[leadchipmunk]

I'm at 98% done with my last torrent and it started doing it again. I ran 'sudo ifconfig' and hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary except that I still had an IP address. This is usually odd because I always had trouble getting an IP when it happens. I went to my wireless manager to see what's up and a new SSID shows up ("linksys") with medium signal (around the same as amount as mine). After a minute or two, I was reconnected and working. So, the new SSID may do something to kick me off (don't know why) and then I can't get back. My home network is the only one that I've connected to before, so it should keep connected to it.

This is all speculation though, because it came back on itself. Looks like I'll need to find more torrents so I can recreate this problem.

[joeyb]

How did you get a chromebook?

I asked nicely and said "Pretty please".

I really do like it. It's great to take on trips because they gave us 100MB of data each month for free. However, it doesn't have java on it, which prevents me from VPNing into work and with all of the network issues, I think that once I run out of data, I'm going to install another OS on it.

[leadchipmunk]

Check out Peppermint. It is a hybrid OS that is about 50/50 network based and desktop operating system. Ubuntu based (I do so believe) and GNU desktop and the best thing is, you can log in whenever you want regardless of wifi or data connection, which in my area is a good thing.

[leadchipmunk]

Ok, it did it again and this time I wasn't downloading anything. Same thing happened, and the other network (SSID of "linksys") appeared. Ran 'sudo ifconfig' but it gave me no information.

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 20:7c:8f:0e:33:dd

inet6 addr: fe80::227c:8fff:fe0e:33dd/64 Scope:Link

UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1

RX packets:252956 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

TX packets:407274 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

RX bytes:104193174 (104.1 MB) TX bytes:282181594 (282.1 MB)

After a restart and internet was working:

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 20:7c:8f:0e:33:dd

inet addr:192.168.1.45 Bcast:255.255.255.255 Mask:255.255.255.0

inet6 addr: fe80::227c:8fff:fe0e:33dd/64 Scope:Link

UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1

RX packets:714 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

TX packets:1102 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

RX bytes:184104 (184.1 KB) TX bytes:322369 (322.3 KB)

The only difference I see between the two is the IPv4 address line is missing.