BitTorrent Download Client
 

I am having a strange problem... I am trying to download some files using .torrent. Everything works well, BitTorrent Download Client opens, I select where I want to save the file, the folders and files get created by the BitTorrent Download Client but no data is transferred. It just stays at 0.0 and time keeps elapsing. Once it said tracker timed out. I have tried multiple files. I am not sure why this is happening. The internet is working fine as I am able to surf and listen to xm radio online. I am not sure if it is a port blocking problem, but if it is how do I check this out? The routers are not a problem because I can download on other computers. Just not this one. I am on debian kernel version 2.6.25-2.

Thanks for looking.

1) Does someone "seed" the file you are downloading? If no one is seeding, you'll never finish your download.
2) Try alternative bittorrent client.
3) Make sure that tracker is "alive", look for alternate trackers.

1) You can check if you port open using this, but there should be many other "open port check tools" available in other places. Just search.
2) YOu can also try to use nmap on your own IP, etc. Also make sure that if you are behind firewall, router, etc. that your bittorrent port is forwarded, and this port is correctly selected in bittorrent client.

BiTorrent Download Client - is it the Name Of This Program? Or you think we could guess it?
Try to open firewall - it will work in the case of port blocking problem.

Thanks for the reply. There are seeders for the files. I tried multiple files with the same result. I opened the ports on the router without avail. I am using Gnome-BTDownload as the program. It is the default program. I looked at the manual and it is using port 6881 as default. Is there some type of firewall within linux that I should check? Also, maybe a different bittorrent program would work? If so, what would you recommend?

2FireFerum
I'll hardly watch this thread, but if you want people to help you, at least following information is required:
1) Name of Bittorrent information and it's version.
2) How excatly are you connected to Internet.
3) Is your port correctly forwarded through all firewalls and routers? (including the system firewall, firewall on any device you are using to connect to internet, etc.)
4) Is your forwarded port correctly set in bittorrent client?
5) Are there seeds for the file?
6) Do you experience such problem with all trackers or just one?

--EDIT--
I was kind of late with answer, you've answered most of those questions already.

etc.
I'd recommend to take recent version of somewhat mature bittorrent client (uTorrent, Azeurus, since they'll at least indicate forwarding problems) and play with it around some time - to make sure that downloading problem is not program's fault. Then make sure that tracker is alive and there are seeds. If there are 200 seeds, tracker is alive (check tracker status in bittorrent program, ping and tracert it), and you still can't download, then check firewalls in your system, check firewalls in whichever device you are using as gateway, etc. Then make sure that your provider doesn't block access to the tracker, and external connections to your port are allowed. With many seeds you should be able to download file even without forwarded port, but that'll be slower.
If all setup is right and there is still no download, then try to download something another tracker - just for test. If that "another tracker" works, then your problems are tracker's fault.

There is iptables. (see "man iptables"), but since you are using SuSe, your system probably have easier way to setup firewall (through "yast", I think, but I'm not sure).

I use uTorrent + wine, another clients include:
Azeurus, KTorrent, rtorrent, qtorrent, mldonkey, deluge, Opera's builtin bittorrent client, Bittornado.
From those I've used KTorrent and mldonkey.
I'd recommend you to use either utorrent or mldonkey, but that's entirely your choice (some people recommended deluge, for example).

ErV, thanks for the help. I will try another client shortly and let you know what is going on. In the meantime here is the information you asked for:

1. Gnome-BTDownload v. 2.20.1.1
2. Connected to Internet via DSL. Setup is as follows: Bridge DSL modem to Router. Router contains forwarded port 6881 which is default for the client.
3. Port is forwarded like all other ports although it seems to me to be unnecessary since I can download the same files on XP with uTorrent without port being directly opened and forwarded. I do not have a firewall specifically set up so firewall is not an issue.
4. Port forwarded from WAN to same port on private LAN address.
5. There are multiple seeds (20+)
6. All .torrent files have the same problem.

I will try another client shortly and post back the findings. Thanks for the help.

I forgot to change my tag. I have switched to debian a couple of weeks ago.

I am going to try utorrent and mldonkey right now. Thanks.

I closed the port on the router and tried a different torrent program, qBittorrent, and all is working OK. It seems the Gnome-BTDownload program is not fully functional for me yet. I am also on the experimental version of debian. Thanks for all the help everyone. I appreciate it.

Unfortunately I can't help much about specific details Debian/Bridge DSL/BTDownload, since all parts are different from my system. See if someone else replies.

Other than that (especially because you can download on WinXP) it looks like it's local problem (access rights, firewall or bittorrent client).

I also suggest to:
1) Check if program has permissions to write into download folder, there is free space left on disk, and volume isn't read-only. This is important, and I forgot about this before.
2) run client from terminal (xterm, or whatever) and see if he writes some error messages. This makes sense only if client is Linux-native, since many Linux gui programs have a good habit of writing human-readable error messages into console. Or maybe there is a log file somewhere.
It is also possible to strace (see man strace) program - to see if any system callse fail, but it will be difficult to use strace's results if you don't have basic knowledge about system calls.
3) Check if port is open. Even with 20+ seeds there is a slight chance that they all have unforwarded ports. And if both your and their ports are blocked, connection won't happen.
4) If you don't use unicode locale (i.e. you use 8-bit encoding, not UTF-8 or something - I don't know default Debian's behaviour), check if program tries to create file with unsupported (by your locale) characters in filename. For example, there is no umlaut-based characters in my 8-bit encoding. Such problem is extremely rare, but happened to me once. Mature bittorent clients should be able to resolve this.
5) Try another port.

I can't think about anything else that might help, see if someone else writes a reply.

--EDIT--
Ok, I am late with reply again. I won't delete reply, so it might be useful for someone else with similar problem.