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    Utorrent causes internet crash ONLY at one pc, internal lans fine

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • T
      tastyratz
      last edited by

      Windows 7 amd 5800k machine with 16gb ram and using a pfsense release firewall, gigabit switch.

      I have been struggling with a VERY strange issue using utorrent on my desktop pc.
      If I download a large torrent which is well seeded and really downloads fast my pc will suddenly dump the internet connection ONLY at this pc and ONLY till I reboot. I can continue to reach this pc from inside the network using rdp, and I can continue to reach my laptop from the internet no issue. I can log into the pfsense panel from this desktop, and if I ping random new dns addresses it resolves dns but refuses to ping.
      Only utorrent DOWNLOADING will cause it to take a complete dump, I can pull down hundreds of gigs over newsgroups successfully with no hiccup and I can seed forever without an issue. Once the download is finished I don't lose the connection again and can start seeding it. If I reboot the pc everything comes back up again for a period of time. I have rebooted this pc for 1 torrent today about 5 times so far and I have a massive one to get in on next week.

      I have tried resetting tcp/ip, winsock, disabling/enabling network card and dumping the arp cache while running - still ONLY a reboot fixes it. There is nothing in the event log to coincide with the problem. It isn't grabbing a new IP, the router stays up rock solid.

      I have updated the network card drivers to a newer version, disabled avast firewall, disabled windows firewall, changed utorrent settings to recommended settings on their FAQ which - I had 4x too many connections for my speed tier. Since changing those settings my speed has definitely improved and consequently the problem seems worse!

      I searched but think my problem is rather unique to anything I have found. I cross posted on the Utorrent forums but its such a strange issue that I think it's more just failing a "Stress test" here. Any good ideas?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • H
        hackin8
        last edited by

        I had a similar problem - never found the cause, but changed to using deluge - and never had a problem since :)

        Not sure this helps you - but it did help me.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • ?
          Guest
          last edited by

          Using onboard nic? If you have an intel nic laying around, I would suggest giving that a shot. I've also had this issue with my gf's PC, her onboard nic having "green technology" which causes some really strange ass issues. I downloaded a little utility from the manf's website and turned it off - no more issues. You may be able to turn this off going into the properties (device manager) and then "Advanced" or something similar - disable any sort of ability that could turn it off be it green technology or simply "allow the computer to turn this device off to conserve power."

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • W
            wallabybob
            last edited by

            Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by @tastyratz:

            my pc will suddenly dump the internet connection ONLY at this pc

            and @tastyratz:

            Only utorrent DOWNLOADING will cause it to take a complete dump,

            Do you mean that other applications on that PC don't seem to get a response when they attempt to access the Internet? If that is the problem it could be that the torrents have so much data "in the pipe" that the response to the other access attempt can't get back in time.

            I don't know what can be configured in uTorrent but my Linux torrent client (Transmission) allows configuration of torrent priority and global bandwidth limits (presumably across all active torrents). If uTorrent offers something similar maybe you should play with priority and bandwidth limits.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • T
              tastyratz
              last edited by

              Yea I am using the onboard Realtec nic, don't have any intels just laying around unfortunately. I tried setting the limiter to 2.5 megs today and it seemed stable for the last 20gb or so of my download which was fantastic… at ~1/3 of my speed though.

              THANK YOU for the "green ethernet" tip. I googled that and maybe I am just a victim there. I shut it off, hopefully that helps.

              Also Wallabybob: yes the internet is non responsive through a host of applications. I can RDP into it to see my aim signed off, outlook stopped checking mail, and I.E. won't pull up any pages. If I close utorrent this does not fix the issue, it ONLY finds itself better after a reboot.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                This seems like something pro-active objecting to that many connections or the level of traffic. Do you have Snort running? Any sort of software firewall on the client machine?

                Steve

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • ?
                  Guest
                  last edited by

                  instead of limiting the speed, limit the number of connections possible. Over 1,000 connections used to lock up my cheapy linksys router before I went to pfsense. Just something to try, I could be way off base on this though since I would assume it should be using your system's ram to store connections.

                  Also if you have a pfsense box setup, install pfblocker. Personally I block China / Brazil and a handful of other countries. Nothing but garbage connections.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • C
                    cmb
                    last edited by

                    If it were the number of connections, or something else that was being done to the firewall, it would affect every machine. Assuming there aren't per-IP state or bandwidth limits configured (there aren't by default), it would have to be something on the PC itself.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ?
                      Guest
                      last edited by

                      I was assuming the number of connections at the PC level, and hoping to use the firewall and utorrent settings to help reduce the load on the poor little realtek card :-P

                      I only gave reference to my linksys because that's the only experience I've had, just to reiterate that I could be wrong about the realtek card getting overwhelmed (simply not understanding why or how the number of connections would affect a nic in a PC).

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        We need to hear back from Tastyratz to confirm this but as I read it the machine is still reachable on the LAN after it has stopped talking to the internet. Other clients are still able to talk to the internet as well. This implies that it is not a hardware or driver problem either in the client or the pfSense box.
                        I would suggest it could be Snort in the pfSense box blocking things or perhaps some other blocking rule. However I would expect it more likely that the client has some software firewall that might be interfering or is somehow loosing it's routing information.

                        if I ping random new dns addresses it resolves dns but refuses to ping

                        How does it fail to ping? 'No route'? no response?

                        Steve

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • T
                          tastyratz
                          last edited by

                          I do have pfblocker installed already actually, good little app.

                          I dropped the number in connections 400% and the problem got worse. If it were number of connections then when I dropped the connection number I would see the problem improve, not get worse I would think? I cut them down and throughput improved… but it tanked more often.

                          I agree on a small scale router it can take a beating... but that's why I have a pfsense thin client setup in my home because it can handle heavy usage.

                          I had avast firewall but disabled it to no change, no windows firewall. snort is installed but not configured yet.

                          Stephenw10, you did read correct, so that makes me hesitate. It certainly is an odd one. Pings fail as a timeout but do resolve an IP.

                          I have a good feeling about that green ethernet garbage, I just don't have anything to really test it out till next week.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            If the ethernet interface in the client were going into some power saving mode you would not be able to access anything through it. No pinging local clients, no RDP, nothing.  :-
                            If the pings are failing as a time out then the client still has a route, is a it a valid route? You still have DNS resolution. Presumably you are using the DNS forwarder in pfSense?

                            What rules are you using in pfBlocker?  Are you seeing anything in firewall logs?

                            Steve

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • T
                              tastyratz
                              last edited by

                              ok I just kicked off my next series of big downloads and its still going on unfortunately

                              traffic shaper off
                              only firewall rules are pfblocker and bogon networks.
                              pfblocker has spamhaus DROP and attack lists setup only, no country filtering or anything.

                              Firewall log is jam packed, TONS of udp packets blocked. 50 entries isn't lasting 8 seconds under full tilt download, no entries for pfblocker last few times

                              cpu usage when downloading at 5.5 megs was around 60%. I thought I had snort installed but actually I don't.

                              Everything was still up but I rebooted the pfsense box and pc for good measure last night when it happened around 7. I was able to get a good 4 hours or so without issue till it hung up again. I was unable to reach pfsense by the web interface at 7 but after the reboot and this morning, fine.

                              Interface Stats for fxp1              IPv4            IPv6
                                Bytes In                      3019044522            17424
                                Bytes Out                    71203496960                0
                                Packets In
                                  Passed                        36941172                0
                                  Blocked                            820              242
                                Packets Out
                                  Passed                        50115758                0
                                  Blocked                              0                0

                              State Table                          Total            Rate
                                current entries                    1386             
                                searches                      174168351        4485.4/s
                                inserts                          262768            6.8/s
                                removals                          261382            6.7/s
                              Source Tracking Table
                                current entries                        0             
                                searches                              0            0.0/s
                                inserts                                0            0.0/s
                                removals                              0            0.0/s
                              Counters
                                match                            334924            8.6/s
                                bad-offset                            0            0.0/s
                                fragment                              0            0.0/s
                                short                                  0            0.0/s
                                normalize                              0            0.0/s
                                memory                                0            0.0/s
                                bad-timestamp                          0            0.0/s
                                congestion                            0            0.0/s
                                ip-option                              0            0.0/s
                                proto-cksum                            9            0.0/s
                                state-mismatch                      294            0.0/s
                                state-insert                        5224            0.1/s
                                state-limit                            0            0.0/s
                                src-limit                              0            0.0/s
                                synproxy                              0            0.0/s
                                divert                                0            0.0/s
                              Limit Counters
                                max states per rule                    0            0.0/s
                                max-src-states                        0            0.0/s
                                max-src-nodes                          0            0.0/s
                                max-src-conn                          0            0.0/s
                                max-src-conn-rate                      0            0.0/s
                                overload table insertion              0            0.0/s
                                overload flush states                  0            0.0/s
                              states        hard limit    47000
                              src-nodes    hard limit    47000
                              frags        hard limit    5000
                              tables        hard limit    3000
                              table-entries hard limit  1000000
                              tcp.first                  120s
                              tcp.opening                  30s
                              tcp.established          86400s
                              tcp.closing                900s
                              tcp.finwait                  45s
                              tcp.closed                  90s
                              tcp.tsdiff                  30s
                              udp.first                    60s
                              udp.single                  30s
                              udp.multiple                60s
                              icmp.first                  20s
                              icmp.error                  10s
                              other.first                  60s
                              other.single                30s
                              other.multiple              60s
                              frag                        30s
                              interval                    10s
                              adaptive.start            28200 states
                              adaptive.end              56400 states
                              src.track                    0s
                              all
                              Cleared:    Fri Apr 12 05:45:27 2013
                              References:  [ States:  1388              Rules: 1                  ]
                              In4/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              carp
                              Cleared:    Fri Apr 12 05:45:27 2013
                              References:  [ States:  0                  Rules: 1                  ]
                              In4/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              enc
                              Cleared:    Fri Apr 12 05:45:27 2013
                              References:  [ States:  0                  Rules: 1                  ]
                              In4/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              enc0
                              Cleared:    Thu Apr 11 19:01:13 2013
                              References:  [ States:  0                  Rules: 1                  ]
                              In4/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              fxp0
                              Cleared:    Thu Apr 11 19:01:10 2013
                              References:  [ States:  0                  Rules: 42                ]
                              In4/Pass:    [ Packets: 50045744          Bytes: 71171714500        ]
                              In4/Block:  [ Packets: 66116              Bytes: 6309492            ]
                              Out4/Pass:  [ Packets: 36902402          Bytes: 3006758836        ]
                              Out4/Block:  [ Packets: 3                  Bytes: 180                ]
                              In6/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Block:  [ Packets: 12623              Bytes: 910008            ]
                              Out6/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              fxp1
                              Cleared:    Thu Apr 11 19:01:12 2013
                              References:  [ States:  0                  Rules: 15                ]
                              In4/Pass:    [ Packets: 36941624          Bytes: 3019045499        ]
                              In4/Block:  [ Packets: 820                Bytes: 29335              ]
                              Out4/Pass:  [ Packets: 50116257          Bytes: 71204213926        ]
                              Out4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Block:  [ Packets: 242                Bytes: 17424              ]
                              Out6/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              lo
                              Cleared:    Fri Apr 12 05:45:27 2013
                              References:  [ States:  0                  Rules: 1                  ]
                              In4/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              lo0
                              Cleared:    Fri Apr 12 05:45:27 2013
                              References:  [ States:  0                  Rules: 3                  ]
                              In4/Pass:    [ Packets: 1280              Bytes: 113965            ]
                              In4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out4/Pass:  [ Packets: 1280              Bytes: 113965            ]
                              Out4/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Pass:    [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              In6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Pass:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]
                              Out6/Block:  [ Packets: 0                  Bytes: 0                  ]

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                @tastyratz:

                                Firewall log is jam packed, TONS of udp packets blocked. 50 entries isn't lasting 8 seconds under full tilt download

                                Well this seems odd. What firewall rule is blocking these packets?

                                @tastyratz:

                                cpu usage when downloading at 5.5 megs was around 60%.

                                That seems very high CPU usage. A processor such as yours would usually barely notice 5.5Mbps. Do you have powerd enabled? Some other cpu scaling utility?

                                Have you ever had Snort installed? Sometimes it can leave things behind that cause problems.

                                Steve

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • T
                                  tastyratz
                                  last edited by

                                  I must have removed snort, I think I had it before bit it doesn't show under installed packages. How do I fully clean it out if it left remants like that?

                                  I rebooted that pc at 8:45am this morning, it JUST went down again at 10am pulling a steady 5.5megabytes down. it hard cuts when it goes down, not a slow drop of clients and problems creep in or anything like that, it's like I just yanked the wan cord as far as that pc sees it.

                                  I did have speed issues with powerd enabled so I did disable it, I have pfsense installed in a thin client with a p3 733 and 512mb ram, dual intel pro 10/100 card. I have encryption forced on outbound connections, I have noticed cpu usage can get pretty high when any ssl traffic is passed.

                                  How can I see what rule blocked it? I go to status > system logs > firewall and see the list there.
                                  Entries just look like below (with ip's removed):

                                  Apr 12 09:12:42  WAN (Source outside IP):60658 (My IP):7121 UDP

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    Hmm, I'm not sure about Snort. I've not seen it myself but I've seen other mention it before. Mostly I think it was a problem where Snort would block something then it was uninstalled resulting in no way to unblock it. Left over block rules.

                                    Ah, Bytes not bits and a P3 not a 5800K  (must read better!) would explain the CPU usage. You should almost certainly not have powerd enabled for that. Only the mobile P3 had speedstep and I don't think it was supported anyway.

                                    @tastyratz:

                                    How can I see what rule blocked it?

                                    I knew you'd ask that and the answer has temporarily escaped me!  ::)
                                    Thinking about it the blocked udp packets during a download are not that important. What would be interesting is looking in the firewall logs after your client has stopped being able to reach the internet. Try to open a few web sites or whatever and then check the logs.

                                    Steve

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • T
                                      tastyratz
                                      last edited by

                                      This time it only lasted 30 minutes before crashing, it just went down again.
                                      I disabled PFblocker to see if that was doing anything and it did not change anything.

                                      I also just disabled the bogon network rule and all other firewall rules just… didn't exist.
                                      So why does my firewall log still show as LOADED with entries? 50 entries view is only spanned over 1 second

                                      EDIT
                                      I found out how to view what triggered it by clicking the red x
                                      the rule that triggered this action is:
                                      @1 scrub on fxp1 all fragment reassemble
                                      @1 block drop in log all label "default deny rule"

                                      I also found this explanation:
                                      http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Logs_show_%22blocked%22_for_traffic_from_a_legitimate_connection%2C_why%3F

                                      So looks like that's normal, dead end.

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        By default pfSense blocks everything everywhere, the 'default deny rule'.

                                        If you have been running a P2P application you will see a large number firewall hits as other clients worldwide attempt to connect to you. This can take days to timeout.

                                        What firewall entry was that for? During download or after it failed?

                                        Steve

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                                        • ?
                                          Guest
                                          last edited by

                                          uTorrent uses UDP connections as well. Take note if the UDP port number is the same as uTorrent's defined port number. Though this is unlikely why your connection drops off, just an explanation of why you see massive UDP connections.

                                          If you go to Status > Services, do you see snort listed?

                                          When you say you run pfsense as a thin client, I take this to mean you have a separate white box running vSphere with pfsense as a virtual machine? While your uTorrent box is a separate/dedicated computer?

                                          With the above being true, if restarting the uTorrent box restores connectivity then the issue is solely the uTorrent box at fault.

                                          DNS resolution isn't definitive, as it could pull from cache. With pings timing out I'd go as far to say you have 0 connectivity, not limited. Download the Windows XP Mode from download.microsoft.com which should be about 400-500mb and will max out your speed.

                                          This way it's a single connection pushing 5mbps easily. You can rule out if it's uTorrent's fault, the number of connections, or if it's going too fast.

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                                          • T
                                            tastyratz
                                            last edited by

                                            Heavy1metal:
                                            no I don't see snort listed under services listed
                                            I run pfsense on an old thin client for the hardware, a wyse type box as a glorified mini computer - not virtualized. From there I plug into a gig switch which runs to my desktop pc having the issue and my other computers having no issues at the moment. I
                                            DNS isn't pulling from cache because I am randomly asking people for websites that i have never before visited - they are all fresh pulls.
                                            If I close utorrent on the desktop the issue does not go away. If I reboot the pfsense machine it does not solve the issue either… but how could utorrent break the connection ONLY at that pc and ONLY to wan traffic? what could be done locally to cripple wan but not lan? That is the strangest part...

                                            Stephen:
                                            That was during download after rebooting it.
                                            The entries look similar after it crashes. I just went down again and the entries for firewall are the same type and around the same frequency.
                                            Mostly udp, some TCP:S, some TCP:R, some ICMP6, all WAN. I turned off logging of default rule blocks and then tried checking a web page - nothing new showing up, firewall is empty.

                                            That being said: I have vmware workstation loaded on my desktop. I just fired up one of the virtual machines and attempted to pull up a web page - same end result for what it's worth. I also remotely connect to my desktop during the day with teamviewer and leave the connection open. I know the issue happens when it does because my remote connection drops. When that happens I teamviewer to my laptop to rdp into my desktop and troubleshoot.

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