# KTorrent becomes KDribble

## mounty1

I would like to download a 2006.1 installation DVD so I installed KTorrent, downloaded http://torrents.gentoo.org/torrents/livedvd-i686-installer-2006.1.torrent and opened it with KTorrent.

After about 12 hours, it has downloaded 3.4 Mb.  At this rate it will take just over 197 days, by which time the DVD will be superceded.  Now I know that the idea of the bittorrent software is to reduce the load on distribution servers but this is extreme.  Obviously it is working, because it has downloaded something.  `Check data integrity' shows 6 chunks downloaded, 2027 not.  I've looked through other messages about bittorrent but can't see anything relevant.  In particular, it's not up to 99.9% downloaded or anything like that.  The status is `stalled'.

This is the first bittorrenting I've done --- is it something to do with sharing ratios ?

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## KozmoNaut

How fast is your internet connection? Although I don't think it's the problem here, unless cap your upload you can easily wreck your download speed completely. You need some upload bandwidth free for your connection to work properly.

Also, it's a good idea to forward the port(s) that your torrent client uses from your router to your computer. It REALLY helps, and makes bittorrent work the way it was meant to.

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## mounty1

 *KozmoNaut wrote:*   

> How fast is your internet connection? Although I don't think it's the problem here, unless cap your upload you can easily wreck your download speed completely. You need some upload bandwidth free for your connection to work properly.

  It's 256 Mb ADSL with nothing else happening (i.e., just this one Gentoo machine on it, just doing the bittorrenting) so I can't believe that's a problem but thanks for mentioning it. *KozmoNaut also wrote:*   

> Also, it's a good idea to forward the port(s) that your torrent client uses from your router to your computer. It REALLY helps, and makes bittorrent work the way it was meant to.

 OK, I've found under Preferences/Plugins something called upnpplugin which `uses UPnP to automatically forward [sic, grrh] ports on your router'.  I've loaded it.  Now 3.6 Mb is downloaded.  Only 225 days to go.

There is a snapshot of my KTorrent window at http://www.landcroft.co.uk/KTorrent.png

[later] as 23:53 GMT it has downloaded 13.4 Mb, only 67 days to go.  So that upnpplugin seems to have freed up something, but it's still rather slow.  Thank you very much for your help !

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## mounty1

The download has been running since this thread started, i.e., eleven days now, during which time it has downloaded 511 Mb of the 1016 Mb total.  It has now ground almost to a halt, downloading only 0.1 Mb overnight.  Peers:  0.

The upnp page of the preferences dialog has an empty detected devices pane.  Clicking on Rescan does nothing.  Clicking on Forward Ports also therefore does nothing.  Use DHT to get additional peers is also checked.  This fr***ing bittorrent/KTorrent is a right PITA.  If no one else is downloading the DVD image, why doesn't my connection go straight to the gentoo servers ?  Is this bittorrent stuff flakey ?  It ain't working for me.

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## desultory

 *mounty1 wrote:*   

> If no one else is downloading the DVD image, why doesn't my connection go straight to the gentoo servers ?

 Because the tracker you are connected to is apparently not self seeding.

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## mounty1

 *desultory wrote:*   

> Because the tracker you are connected to is apparently not self seeding.

 OK . . . can I do anything about that ?  I really don't know much about bittorrent (except that it's a PITA).

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## desultory

I can offer two ways of handling this type of problem, though I doubt either will be satisfactory. If possible try another tracker, be absolutely sure that both trackers manage identical files. If that is not a viable option, try contacting the operator of the tracker you are using to request that the torrent be reseeded. When trying the latter be courteous, mention that you already have a significant portion of the file and offer to seed for some time (considering the circumstances, I doubt this will cause much network load).

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## mounty1

 *desultory wrote:*   

> try contacting the operator of the tracker you are using to request that the torrent be reseeded. When trying the latter be courteous, mention that you already have a significant portion of the file and offer to seed for some time (considering the circumstances, I doubt this will cause much network load).

 This looks quite reasonable, actually.  I'll try it.  Thanks.

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## mounty1

It's just finished.  26 days.  A personal record, easily beating the previous of 58 hours, set when downloading a CD image via a dial-up link in 2001 (I was on a fixed-amount tarrif).

Unfortunately, the MD5 check-sum doesn't match.    :Sad: 

```
mounty@pimple ~/livedvd-i686-installer-2006.1 $ md5sum livedvd-i686-installer-2006.1.iso

5dda92b666b765b1364451b29bc9d3f3  livedvd-i686-installer-2006.1.iso

mounty@pimple ~/livedvd-i686-installer-2006.1 $ cat livedvd-i686-installer-2006.1.iso.DIGESTS

# MD5 HASH

97459098b26e1b79ffb1d36f71f29197 livedvd-i686-installer-2006.1.iso

# SHA1 HASH

386e68e235c3515df02310161dafec53a3ff28fd livedvd-i686-installer-2006.1.iso

```

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## Headrush

 *mounty1 wrote:*   

> It's just finished.  26 days.  A personal record, easily beating the previous of 58 hours, set when downloading a CD image via a dial-up link in 2001 (I was on a fixed-amount tarrif).
> 
> Unfortunately, the MD5 check-sum doesn't match.   
> 
> ```
> ...

 

If you reopen the torrent file with ktorrent (newest version at least), it will check the iso and redownload any corrupt parts.

There are many reasons your downloads can be slow: few seeders/peers, throttling by your ISP, machines that force upload/download ratios.

There are many good pages on properly setting up bittorent clients and how to adjust and fix those issues. (google is your friend)

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## mounty1

 *Headrush wrote:*   

> If you reopen the torrent file with ktorrent (newest version at least), it will check the iso and redownload any corrupt parts.

 That worked, thanks. *Headrush wrote:*   

> There are many reasons your downloads can be slow: few seeders/peers, throttling by your ISP, machines that force upload/download ratios.
> 
> There are many good pages on properly setting up bittorent clients and how to adjust and fix those issues. (google is your friend)

 I did look, when the download was struggling in early January, but couldn't see anything.  Thanks anyway though.

PS, http://www.searchmash.com is my friend nowadays.

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## enlightend

I'm thinking he already explained his actual problem.

The BT client isn't able to automaticly open up ports on his router, so its running firewalled.

You should forward a port manualy on your router and setup the client to use that port.

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