Downloads stuck

[mfilanowicz]

It seems that frequently the Downloads get stuck.
I'm using version 6 beta 1, build 743 on XP SP3 to GigaNews with SSL with 20 connections

When newsbin starts, it works fine, processing all files in the downloads list without issue.
Automatic updates also works fine sometimes (I have it set to update at 60 minutes).

But I always leave Newsbin running, even when I'm away from the pc.
Almost always with Version 6, when I return to newsbin after a few hours, there's a long list of items in the download list.
Sometimes it's files, but frequently it's just the auto updates of the groups.
I subscribe to 68 groups.
Sometimes, I find over 500 download items, all only group updates queued.

The download list is stuck.
It seems when it's stuck, it keeps adding group updates to the download list (expected).

I tried Resume (even though not paused)
I tried Pause / Resume
I tried Retry Download
Nothing helps.
I finally have to close Newsbin and restart it, which deletes all the pending group updates.
On restarting newsbin, the updates work again, until they get stuck again.

I keep forgetting to capture the log entries, but I'll keep trying to remember.
Thanks
Mark

[Quade]

I'll keep an eye open for this. Not seeing it yet.

[richy99]

i have seen this once or twice, added fiels from a post list and they didnt start to download a restart cured it, i thought it might have beena 1 off, ill keep an eye on it now

[jackholexxxx]

Same here. The connections seem to get stuck. Even clearing the download list and re-adding items does not fix it. Header updates stop working as well. A restart of newsbin will fix it temporarily. I usually never close newsbin, so I see this issue every day or two.

[Skynetfroggy]

Same here, with 6.0B1
Thousand files downloaded ok, and suddenly the download list is blocked, like files are in pause mode.

Like mfilanowicz I tried this :

I tried Resume (even though not paused)
I tried Pause / Resume
I tried Retry Download
Nothing helps.
I finally have to close Newsbin and restart it, which deletes all the pending group updates.
On restarting newsbin, the updates work again, until they get stuck again.

Nothing help.


OS : Seven pro X64
Giganews SSL
no error message

Edit : Some files were blocked at the end of the download list (4500 files++).
I selected the ten last files and I Put them in the top and the download started again, for thoses files ...

[richy99]

so you are saying not even restarting newsbin fixes it?

[Skynetfroggy]

so you are saying not even restarting newsbin fixes it?

Yes.
I just found that :
Some files were blocked at the end of the download list (4500 files++).
I selected the ten last files and I Put them in the top and the download started again, for thoses files ...

[Quade]

1 - there's an upper limit to how far down the list Newsbin looks for files to download.

2 - If you have files that are incomplete, you need to right click and "Assemble Incompletes" to trigger it to assemble the files and download the pars.

This and the lack of retries is mentioned in the release notes.

Sounds to me like you have a crapload of partial files waiting to be assembled and files down the list that at too far down for Newsbin to start downloading them.

[Skynetfroggy]

This and the lack of retries is mentioned in the release notes.

Sounds to me like you have a crapload of partial files waiting to be assembled and files down the list that at too far down for Newsbin to start downloading them.

Yep, It's working now.
I haven't read the lack of retries in the release note

Thanks !
This version is a big step in speed of file creation. A really good job. Finally not so much bugs for a so new program

[davidn]

1 - there's an upper limit to how far down the list Newsbin looks for files to download.

I'm downloading something as it's being posted - not complete yet. (I double clicked the compact line in post list) NB has paused all the files after Rar 49. Looks like all the rars before that look like they are complete.(The rar lines are yellow) How do I get the balance to download? I added some files above 49 to the download list and they are downloaded but the compact line doesn't reflect that I have those files. I restarted NB and lost the compact line in downloads.

[Quade]

I'd select the paused files and unpause them.

[davidn]

I'd select the paused files and unpause them.

Did that and they stayed paused. Tried move to top on the paused files and nothing happened. I understand this is the first beta so I'm not complaining, just trying to understand how it's working.

[DThor]

Just to double check - to unpause I've had to hit run(the little play arrow), as opposed to hitting pause again. The pause button isn't a toggle.

DT

[Quade]

Yeah, what he said. If the parent is paused, the children will be paused too.

[Stuart264]

Seeing the same problem myself on Windows 7 x64 running Giganews SSL

[mfilanowicz]

For me, it's not a long list of queued download files that causes it.

Sometimes, when it gets stuck, the only thing in the downloads list is a lot of group updates, many iterations of my list of subscribed groups. In other words, whatever makes it get stuck sometimes seems to happen on simple group updates.
Then, more and more group updates queue up, every hour.

[Sandman]

Getting same behavior too. I opened a NZB and it downloaded CD1 but when it got to CD2 it just didn't do anything. I checked the connections tab and it showed all 20 connections disconnected from Astraweb. I tried resume and retry and it didn't work. The only thing that did work was to click on the arrow to show files in that group and then manually select all files in that group and then select retry download. After I did that, it was working again.

[mfilanowicz]

For me, nothing short of stopping NB and restarting it allows downloads to work.

I finally was able to capture diagnostic log entries from NB.

Once it got stuck, all that shows up in the logging tab is lots of this:

[11:41:51] DEBUG NNTPServerWorker - Download: Idle Connection Closed: news.giganews.com
[11:44:01] ERROR news.giganews.com - Server: news.giganews.com SendCommand - failed to send command to server: Unspecified Network Error
[11:44:01] ERROR news.giganews.com - Server: news.giganews.com SendCommand - Server Disabled Service on connection:
[11:44:01] DEBUG - Server: news.giganews.com Unable to Select Group: alt....I took out the group name
[11:44:01] ERROR news.giganews.com - Server: news.giganews.com SendCommand - failed to send command to server: Unspecified Network Error
[11:44:01] ERROR news.giganews.com - Server: news.giganews.com SendCommand - Server Disabled Service on connection:

[Quade]

Someone reported that loading up monster NZB files seems to trigger connection problems like this. He said if he broke them up into smaller NZB's it didn't happen.


I haven't had a chance to look at it yet.

[mfilanowicz]

I'm not using NZB's, just automatic downloads with filters.
Plus the occaisonal manual download, but still not with NZB's.

It seems this thread has expanded the focus a little beyond my initial issue.
Some people are reporting issues with stuck files that seem different from mine.

Hopefully, the sparse diagnostic logs I posted will help, but there's not much there.

[Quade]

Normally, I'd say those logs indicate your virus scanner of firewall is preventing the connection to the server. Are you using SSL? If so, try disabling SSL, restarting and trying again. If you're not using SSL. Change the "Port" in the server options to 80, then restart Newsbin and try again.

Your logs indicate a basic inability to talk to the news server.

This along with the NZB thing makes me wonder if something gets stuck in a bad state. I'm not seeing anything like this in my downloads. Nor are any of the alpha tester groups so, at this point I'm not sure where to take it.

[mfilanowicz]

Your comment about virus scanner caused me to look at Norton Internet Security

I use Version 18.5.0.125.
In the Recent history, it shows NewsbinPro was protected several times recently.
I had the firewall rules set to Auto.
So, now I'm setting it to allow, and we'll see what happens.
Your firewall comment seems reasonable.

I also looked at the vulnerabilities, and it shows NewsBinPro has a known issue.
Interestingly, the bottom of their entry says NewsBinPro has version 6.1r1c available.
I hadn't seen that anywhere?

http://www.symantec.com/business/securi ... asid=22235
In the article...The vendor has released version 6.1r1c to address this issue.

[Quade]

Affected
NewsBin Pro NewsBin Pro 5.33, 4.3.2
NewsReactor NewsReactor

From your link.

[mfilanowicz]

So, it seems fixing the firewall in norton internet security resolved this issue.
It ran overnight without getting stuck, which Version 6 hasn't done before.

Thanks for the help!

[Quade]

Appreciate the feedback. I'm never 100% sure that it's not a newsbin problem. When I get responses like this, it makes me more confident.

[hero88]

I also have had the same issue, never happended with v5, i only use windows firewall. On windows 7 x64

[magician1962]

Same here. Just happened again this evening, maybe these clues may help

Had 4 items in download list, each about 400MB. 1st item near completion.
Paused Newsbin (Switch between pause run - bottom right of window)
On restart 1st item "stuck" item 2 downloading
Tried pause, un-pause on compacted item 1
item 3 started downloading when 2 completed

Shut newsbin down and restarted before item 3 completed. Item 1 started

No other drive activity as this is not the primary drive

[billynews]

this morning it happened to me and I know the reason why Newsbin stopped downloading:
I've got a new IP from my ISP which means I usually just have to wait 30 minutes.
I waited one hour but Newsbin didn't continue downloading - restarting Newsbin fixed this.

Before I've restarted Newsbin I've tried the following:
- stop and start Newsbin (button in the status bar)
- pause and restart download on top of my download queue
- move another download to the top of my download queue


P.S.: sorry, it's a little bit more complicated - here the situation:
- had 4 downloads in my queue, one active
- got a new IP and Newsbin stopped downloading
- added 3 new downloads to the top of my download queue
- restarted Newsbin after one hour

Now Newsbin has downloaded the 3 downloads I've added after I got a new IP
but stopped again on the old active download - second restart fixed this as well.