Author Topic: can't upload, is my ISP blocking? (Read 6444 times)

moog · « **on:** April 25, 2007, 08:02:11 am »

All my uploads get timed out, but my downloads seem fine.

I'm not connected through a router, I'm on a cable connection (Charter). My uploads seemed fine until recently. I'm suspecting my ISP is doing something, as I've heard Charter blocks p2p, but I want to make sure before I confront/call them (to quit my subscription).

What I find weird is that I'm able to upload using other p2p programs such as BitTorrent, Soulseek, and eMule. But I'm unable to upload on WinMX and OpenNap (I use utatane for opennap, but I get connection errors when other users try to download off of me).

What I want to know is, if my ISP is doing something with my connection regarding p2p, piracy, etc., how come other programs work with uploading, when winmx and opennap don't? Shouldn't neither of them work?

Another thing that I think I should mention is that my connection drops at random times or on weird occasions. I'll explain....say I was downloading something over bittorrent going at 460kbp/s (my maximum speed). When the dl finishes (download stops), that's when my connection drops. I usually just close all running programs that use bandwidth (they don't work at this point anyway) and wait a few minutes until everything is back to normal (I used to shut down everything, but I found out there was no need). I'm thinking it has something to do with my PC, but this all happened recently.

Everything was working fine before. I even reformated and reinstalled windows xp to make sure it osn't the work of a virus, yet these connection problems still persist. Could this also be the work of my ISP?

KM · « **Reply #1 on:** April 26, 2007, 05:14:28 am »

what is the make and model of your modem? as that sounds like winmx set to accept connections, when they are actually blocked, normally this is due to a NAT router being added after winmx is installed - often in the form of a modem with a built in NAT router

moog · « **Reply #2 on:** April 26, 2007, 06:07:23 am »

It is an Ambit, model U10C18.

KM · « **Reply #3 on:** April 26, 2007, 03:06:32 pm »

Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Command/MSDos prompt, in the box type in ipconfig /all and press enter

it should come up with a list of network settings, do the numbers next to both IP Address and Default gateway start 192.168.*.*? (or in some cases 10.*.*.*)

moog · « **Reply #4 on:** April 26, 2007, 04:54:51 pm »

no, it starts with 71.*.*.*

but if I remember correctly, It started with 24.*.*.* the last time I checked my ip....it seems to have changed(!?)

KM · « **Reply #5 on:** April 27, 2007, 08:32:48 am »

you aren't behind NAT then which is the common cause of inbound connections being blocked

are you using any firewalls? and are they set to allow winmx (XP also has a built in firewall - as does vista, but vista has its own problems...) - although normally winmx would have detected it when it first ran if it was a firewall and set itself in passive firewalled mode

you could try different ports, in winmx settings under inbound TCP connections, then under in/out UDP packets, change the 2 numbers in there (any numbers between 1 and 65535 should be fine), it could be your ISP blocking the default ports but this is unlikely

there is another option of setting both of those settings to unable to accept connections/packets, and that will set you up as a passive secondary so won't have to worry about inbound connections being blocked, however that would leave you unable to exchange files with other users set the same way so is normally best to leave as the last option

moog · « **Reply #6 on:** April 28, 2007, 02:34:01 am »

I disabled XP's built in firewall. Other than that, I'm not using any firewall.

I went through winmx's setup wizard (for the connection test), and the default ports weren't connecting, so I changed them. Then I tested my upload and it worked. Everything was running perfectly. But when I shut down the program, and restarted running winmx again, I was getting upload timeouts like before. The ports that I changed to earlier seemed to have stopped working. So again, I ran setup wizard, but this time the default ports passed the connection test, so I used those ports and I'm able to upload. Then I shut down winmx and restarted it to see if I'd get the same problem, and I did. So again, I changed the port numbers from the default to some random ports, but this time I wasn't able to upload or download (all timeouts).

Over and over, I shut down and opened winmx, changing the ports and testing the connection. It seems that every time I connect, the ports I use in my previous winmx session, no longer work in the next, so I have to change them. I even re-use some of the same ports over and over, and sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I'm totally stumped.

KM · « **Reply #7 on:** April 28, 2007, 10:03:02 am »

how long did you wait between closing winmx and opening it again? winmx takes around 5 seconds or so to actually close when you close it, if you open another winmx before the last one has closed and stopped listening then it won't be able to listen on those ports (although normally it will detect the error and set itself as unable to receive connections for that session...)