Forums / Support / Unresponsive while downloading

Unresponsive while downloading

by JimD @
Hi,
Since my searches didn't pay off, I'll ask directly.
I'm using a Vaio with XP installed, and the Giganews accelerator. Installation of the latest stable version, or the latest beta, both run fine as long as I queue items for later download. As soon as I start the downloads the program stops responding (or at least goes incredibly slow). I'm using the -DecodeSlow option, I've tried reducing the number of download connections from 8 to 2, I've tried setting the process to have higher priority, but nothing helps. After I've had any program in front of it on the screen it takes an age to repaint itself, and doesn't always manage it. Sometimes it will produce the changing data (such as the log screen) but won't repaint the part with the tabs so I can change the view.

This has happened with the last few versions, but I had an older laptop then, so was inclined to blame that. When I bought the program it was behaving well though. I'm not sure what version that was, I have '3726-1' noted on my order, so maybe that could let you identify it, and maybe spot what changed?

Thanks anyway, I'm sure it'll be fine again when I find the problem.

JimD
 

BinaryBoy's reply to JimD #8932 @

Look on the Logging tab in the Settings. Do you have all disk logging options unchecked?
 

JimD's reply to BinaryBoy #8945 @

Thanks for the quick response.

All the individual options are unchecked. Enable log windows, and record total bytes from each server are checked...
 

BinaryBoy's reply to JimD #8946 @

This might be caused by the way the queue is updated. There are a few switches you could try that might help.

binboy.exe -1
binboy.exe -2
binboy.exe -3

Each one updates the queue slightly differently. -1 has the best chance of solving the problem because it locks the queue display during updates.

Another possibility is that you have a virus scanner that's scanning each downloaded file and causing BB to lock up while it waits for the scan to complete.

Also make sure the Folders tab in the Binary Boy settings is empty or it will spend a lot of time searching for filenames before each download.
 

BinaryBoy's reply to BinaryBoy #8947 @

And are you running Vista? If so, what's your processor score? You can find it from the Start button at Computer | System Properties | Windows Experience Index
 

JimD's reply to BinaryBoy #8950 @

Not running Vista, it's XP pro, though the machine had Vista on it when I bought it.

I've tried '-1' and it had no effect.
The anti-malware I'm running is (all the free versions): AVG antivirus, Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware, Spyware Blaster, and Zone alarm. Do any of them have known conflicts?

I've just tried switching AVG off, as I know it scans incoming emails so maybe it's scanning news too, but it didn't seem to make any difference. I'll try again with it totally disabled after a reboot tomorrow (it's 1am here, and work tomorrow, so it'll wait till then...)

The folders tab isn't empty, but it was when I started, so that wasn't the original problem.

I'll try the '-2' and '-3' options tomorrow too...

JimD
 

BinaryBoy's reply to JimD #8951 @

ZoneAlarm has the ability to scan downloads. The reason I know this is because an older version would corrupt Usenet files during the download. It might or might not be causing the problem. The other apps I don't know about. Kaspersky is the main problem in this area.

Emptying the Folders tab while you experiment would help you to narrow down the problem. It's a real CPU sucker and could be contributing to the slowness even though it's not the main cause.
 

JimD's reply to BinaryBoy #9424 @

I've still had no luck with this, but a recent attempt using the '-2' parameter left the program coming up with an error (to paraphrase) 'unable to access log file'.

I deleted the program, then reinstalled the new version, and everything seemed great! it had a quick response, and everything seemed fine. Unfortunately, after I'd rebooted, it started behaving like the old version.

I'm using Giganews accelerator, so BB is attaching to 127.0.0.1, I'm trying to download to a network attached disk, so the attachment and part files are pointing there. I'm running XP pro, and the usercode is admin level.
First I got errors relating to cache files.

00:03:00: GetSubjectsFromCache: Failed to open cache file "D:\Documents and Settings\cisjnd\Local Settings\Application Data\Binary Boy\Cache\127.0.0.1!!alt.binary.movies.txt"
00:03:13: GetFirstLast error 2 while opening D:\Documents and Settings\cisjnd\Local Settings\Application Data\Binary Boy\Cache\127.0.0.1!!alt.binaries.bbc.comedy.txt
Jul 29, 2008 00:03:33: Error 'Access is denied.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 5 while creating folder
Jul 29, 2008 00:03:33: Error 'The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 123 while creating folder
00:46:48: GetSubjectsFromCache: Failed to open cache file "D:\Documents and Settings\cisjnd\Local Settings\Application Data\Binary Boy\Cache\127.0.0.1!!alt.binary.movies.txt"
Jul 29, 2008 00:50:40: Error 'Access is denied.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 5 while creating folder
Jul 29, 2008 00:50:40: Error 'The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 123 while creating folder


I disabled caching on the settings/newsgroups tab, but the errorlog still shows file creation errors etc.


Error 123 while creating folder
Jul 29, 2008 01:01:27: Error 'Access is denied.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 5 while creating folder
Jul 29, 2008 01:01:27: Error 'The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 123 while creating folder
Jul 29, 2008 01:07:16: Error 'Access is denied.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 5 while creating folder
Jul 29, 2008 01:07:16: Error 'The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 123 while creating folder
19:13:19: Server closed connection. 0 bytes available. No error.
Jul 29, 2008 19:43:23: Error 'Access is denied.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 5 while creating folder
Jul 29, 2008 19:43:23: Error 'The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.' in 'BBMakeSureDirectoryPathExists2()' while 'Creating folder'
Error 123 while creating folder


Can you suggest anything to fix these? I'm sure all the timeouts and retries aren't helping.

Jim Deakin
 

BinaryBoy's reply to JimD #9426 @

Thanks for the additional info. I'm looking into this.
 

BinaryBoy's reply to BinaryBoy #9427 @

At some point the parsing of network paths got messed up. That's what the BBMAkeSureDirectoryPathExists errors are. A fix for this will be uploaded in about a half hour.

The file not found error always happens for newsgroups before any headers have been downloaded. That's normal. If the "alt.binary.movies" newsgroup doesn't exist, the cache file will never be created.
 

BinaryBoy's reply to BinaryBoy #9508 @

Recent builds should make BB more responsive during downloads and also fix other errors. http://www.binaryboy.com/patch.php