BUG: Articles "Hang" in Transfer Queue

richard · Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 40

Another way to reproduce the problem:
Yesterday biggulp could not get a proper connection. Since it is on prio 2 anyway (all the other servers are prio 1). I decided to pause its connection. Then a file came by that was missing an article. It was kept queued because the biggulp connection could not give a clue about getting it complete (it was paused remember). I unpaused biggulp and left it in error as long as I wanted, NL never decided to decode the file that was missing one article.

Caddy · Joined: 21 Nov 2004 Posts: 3 Location: Wisconsin, USA

Are people still having this issue? I have recently downloaded the ver 1 and ver 2.0 betas and I am having big issues with this.

I currently have 8 items hung in my queue, or which some were pllaved into the queue using a nzb created from www.newzbin.com search. I am using giganews as server. I also have a RoadRunner news server configured, but it is not active.

I have also manually added files which have hung using the nzb and have the same issues.

The interesting part about this is the files ALWAYS hang at 98%, then I can pause them, and restart them. When they restart they start at 96% and then hang again at 98%. I have been able to grab the file using Grab it without an issue.

I would love to purchased NL as I am verry impressed with it, but if I can not find a solution to this, it is useless to me.

Please contact me if you wish, I am mor then willing to assist with this, provide network captures, or anything else you may need.
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Caddy..

odin · Joined: 21 Nov 2004 Posts: 2

Whether or not this helps, but here is what happened in my recent experience:

Had DSL provider with TITAN news as my provider. Never had a problem with hanging connections. Switched to GigaNews for a news server, still on DSL, still no problems.

Last week I changed ISP's in favor of a cable provider. They have an agreement with GigaNews for them to provide newsgroups but the speed is abysmal (2 connections @ approx 30KB each) so I kept my normal account with Giga. Now I find, especially with large binaries like 50MB DVD segments, that the hanging connections has become a problem. The majority of the time it is only one random part of a file, but it will happen several times over the course of downloading so the whole thing eventually gets held up (only have 4 connections for Giga).

Here's the trick though - when I disconnect from my premium Giga account and connect to the Giga account provided by my cable internet ISP, I can get those hanging parts and continue as usual. Of course this sucks and takes away from the automation ability Newsleecher has (like uploading nzb files home from work and having everything done when I return).

So it may seem that this is a newsgroup/ISP problem but perhaps a solution for NL is to stop trying after x attempts and just download the file as is?

Caddy · Joined: 21 Nov 2004 Posts: 3 Location: Wisconsin, USA

Some Discovery on this bug made..

All I decided that this is too odd.

I decided to install Virtual Server 2005 on my machines, and then install Windows XP sp2 do all the critical updates and then so a fresh install of NL 2.0 Beta 6.0

Results

Downloading from giganews

alt.binaries.james-bond
Subject containing vcd-pts01.r01
Choosen Manually on both physical and virtual machines.

My Physical machine hangs with one connection configured at 55%
The Virtual machine configured with 3 connections was sucessfull, with a slight pause at 98%.

I believe this may be related to something installed and running on my physical machines that conflictsl

I am going to review all the settings between the 2 machines and see if I can find something different.
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Caddy..

Lips · Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 3803

m_piii · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 1

Maybe I can add some info.

I have experienced the same problems since v0 beta 15.

In my opinion it has nothing to do with a corrupt NZB. I have shut down NL and removed the file from the queue, starting the file again by loading the same NZB-file and it gave no problems at all.

Just brainstorming:
- It seems as if NL loses track of the status of a single part (when having troubles downloading it?). Switching to another server (I have an ISP-server and a pay-server to get the incompletes) does not tell NL to use it, which it does in normal situations.
- NL also doesn't decide to save the incomplete file. Is it thinking it is still downloading it?

Hope this helps to save the problem.

dwazegek · Forum Moderator Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 3006

wvkreg · Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 10 Location: Maastricht

Yeah this queue bug is also irritatating me. Using other news programs i dont have the bug. It happens on different computers, so imho its a NL bug. Reset or reread option would be great Smile

Lips · Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 3803

Just a simple question here: does the log show that the articles are missing (ex, 430 no such article) and does it show for every active sever? What exactly do the logs show about these stalled articles? Just wondering if you are all seeing the same log entries.

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Lips

odin · Joined: 21 Nov 2004 Posts: 2

dutchguy · Joined: 20 Nov 2003 Posts: 91

Wouldn't it be a good idea to add an option: force decoding?
This way, at least the downloaded parts can be saved.

Another help would be if in the properties of a post, more information was given about the parts: from which server a part has been downloaded or which servers failed.

Scotsman · Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2

I've used NL for about a year without a problem but now I also have the 98% blues.

The only change I've made that I can think of is I recently bought a new computer running XP SP2. ( previously running 2000 pro). The weird thing is, the new computer worked fine with NL for a month after I got it until now.

Now, a file will get to 98%, stall and the next file in the que will start, get to about 88% then it will stall, then nothing happens except the 60 second reset which tries to restart it but does not. I can DL nothing...

Sorry, nothing else to contribute, just wanted to say I'm having the problem too.

PS: I use Giganews on news40 and news 60, also telus.news. I'm using a Linksys router (for the last year)

Lips · Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 3803

Scotsman · Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2

Well maybe I should have tried the obvious as you suggested Lips .. It Works now! I bypassed the router and everything is fine. It flies right past 98% to 100 and then on to the next part.

Still it is strange that it worked with the router before.. Maybe there a port in the hardware firewall that NL uses that could be opened ?

Also, to answer your other questions, yes the parts were showing up in data / parts but it seems the last part was smaller ( I beleive they should all be the same size)

I use Trend PC-Cillin AV with a firewall and I have Windows firewall turned off. Trends firewall cannot be turned off withour turning off the AV.

The first M-P post stalls at 98% and the next usually made it to 88% before stalling. Then nothing. If the one stalled at 98% is deleted, the next one in que fires up and makes it to 98% .

At this point Telus is not in the picture because they carry fewer parts than GN and they are faster so what parts they have are DL'd more quickly and the server becomes inactive.

Anyway I'm without a firewall if I want to DL from GN with NL. What a PO!

tiberious · Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 3

i do not know if this helps but

from nzb: i download some file using 2 differnent servers with 4 threads from each, and then 4 files hang,

then used only 1 server added the same files from the nzb again and it all downloaded fine.

So i am thinking possible mismatch between servers or nl getting confused.

anyway

ta for a great program