Win 7 crash from uTorrent I think...

[Sapper123]

I have been using Windows 7 x64 Build 7600 for about a week and it was running fine until I installed uTorrent. While downloading things it has crashed my system on 3 occasions, I'm pretty sure its from uTorrent since it never crashed from any other programs the whole time I have been using it. Then about 10-20 mins into downloading things with uTorrent my PC just freezes and I have to reboot. Reliability monitor lists the crashes as Miscellaneous faileures so I'm not sure if it is uTorrent. Can anyone help please?

 

[SquonkSC]

What is the brand of your networkcard?

 

[H2SO4]

uTorrent is a user-mode app. It would have architectural difficulties in locking up the whole machine. While the lockup may be linked to uTorrent's network activity, it's more likely that the root cause is something like a 3rd-party firewall or anti-virus driver, if you've installed anything like that.

Does it happen if you test in [safe mode + net]?

 

[SquonkSC]

uTorrent is a user-mode app. It would have architectural difficulties in locking up the whole machine. While the lockup may be linked to uTorrent's network activity, it's more likely that the root cause is something like a 3rd-party firewall or anti-virus driver, if you've installed anything like that.

Does it happen if you test in [safe mode + net]?

Note to H2SO4,

There are several reports of uTorrent problems in relation to certain networkcards.

I'm trying to remember the name of a certain brand, that has it in particular.
Can't remember.

 

[Sapper123]

I use a D-Link DWA-510 wireless card to connect to a router. I use Avira Personal anti-virus. It worked just fine on my Vista x86 system I had running for half a year. I will try using uTorrent in safe mode + net and post back after that...

 

[H2SO4]

uTorrent is a user-mode app. It would have architectural difficulties in locking up the whole machine. While the lockup may be linked to uTorrent's network activity, it's more likely that the root cause is something like a 3rd-party firewall or anti-virus driver, if you've installed anything like that.

Does it happen if you test in [safe mode + net]?

Note to H2SO4,

There are several reports of uTorrent problems in relation to certain networkcards.

I'm trying to remember the name of a certain brand, that has it in particular.
Can't remember.

I'd be surprised if there were any problem classes utterly devoid of issues reported in conjunction with uTorrent

Having said that, uTorrent is hella-cool at what it's designed to do. More to the point, it cannot cause a lockup. It has no kernel-mode componentry. If it's network activity is causing certain NIC drivers to go bonkers and lock up the machine, technically that's a bug in the driver, not uTorrent.

Thanks for the info though.

 

[SquonkSC]

I'd be surprised if there were any problem classes utterly devoid of issues reported in conjunction with uTorrent

Having said that, uTorrent is hella-cool at what it's designed to do. More to the point, it cannot cause a lockup. It has no kernel-mode componentry. If it's network activity is causing certain NIC drivers to go bonkers and lock up the machine, technically that's a bug in the driver, not uTorrent.

Thanks for the info though.

Yes, the app it self is 100% Win7 compatible,
but for some reason uTorrent + Win7 + certain wireless cards are bad combinations.
I have seen D-link mentioned in a lot of problems, the past few months.

When you search this forum for d-link, you'll get a lot.

But it's not the brand I tried to remember.

 

[Tews]

What does your event viewer show you ... enter event viewer in your search box and open the applications tab... are there any critical errors??

 

[H2SO4]

Yes, the app it self is 100% Win7 compatible,
but for some reason uTorrent + Win7 + certain wireless cards are bad combinations.
I have seen D-link mentioned in a lot of problems, the past few months.

When you search this forum for d-link, you'll get a lot.

But it's not the brand I tried to remember.

Well the whole thing is like a stress-tester for the network stack. Multiple concurrent half-open sessions, multiple concurrent established sessions, frequent session setup and teardown... if there are any bugs in the NOS driver componentry on any given machine, all that activity is more likely to expose them than standard internet/network usage.

 

[Sapper123]

@ squonksc, I got the D-Link card when I installed Win 7 cos I went from Vista 32 bit to Win 7 64 bit and it was one of the only cards which I could actually find 64-bit drivers for, I got them from a site which was not D-Link related. Could that be the problem? I would hate not being able to use uTorrent just because of my wireless card. On my last system I used a NETGEAR wg311v3 and it got me through. But if it is the drivers then how come browsing the net this whole time has not caused me trouble?

@ tews, There don't seem to be any critical errors at all.
http://www.sevenforums.com/member.php?u=16846

 

[Sapper123]

@ H2SO4, I just ran uTorrent in safemode + net and about 20 mins in downloading it just froze again. Now I know there is something wrong here haha...

 

[H2SO4]

@ H2SO4, I just ran uTorrent in safemode + net and about 20 mins in downloading it just froze again. Now I know there is something wrong here haha...

That's about the worst outcome in the sense that it rules out simpler solutions. If it's a driver thing like squonksc suggested, and you're quite sure you've got the latest version of that driver, then you might want to test what happens with another (borrowed, if necessary) type of NIC.

 

[Sapper123]

@ H2SO4, I just ran uTorrent in safemode + net and about 20 mins in downloading it just froze again. Now I know there is something wrong here haha...

That's about the worst outcome in the sense that it rules out simpler solutions. If it's a driver thing like squonksc suggested, and you're quite sure you've got the latest version of that driver, then you might want to test what happens with another (borrowed, if necessary) type of NIC.

Ummm, but what wireless card would work which has 64bit drivers? Does Windows 7 come with drivers for that kinda thing cos I didn't even check if it worked, I just put on the drivers that I had downloaded and it worked with them, obviously...

 

[Sapper123]

I'm just looking at the website where I got the drivers from, http://www.driverguide.com, and it seems the drivers are v1.30 and are date 7 Apr 2008. So its quite out of date and it says it supports Windows 2008, I'm guessing that's Win 7 before it was named.

 

[H2SO4]

@ H2SO4, I just ran uTorrent in safemode + net and about 20 mins in downloading it just froze again. Now I know there is something wrong here haha...

That's about the worst outcome in the sense that it rules out simpler solutions. If it's a driver thing like squonksc suggested, and you're quite sure you've got the latest version of that driver, then you might want to test what happens with another (borrowed, if necessary) type of NIC.

Ummm, but what wireless card would work which has 64bit drivers? Does Windows 7 come with drivers for that kinda thing cos I didn't even check if it worked, I just put on the drivers that I had downloaded and it worked with them, obviously...

Personally, I use wireless only as a last resort, so I'm not aware of options are available. There's still no direct proof that it's the NIC and/or driver though. The fact that it happens in safe mode (where other extraneous stuff is deactivated) just makes it that much more likely.

To double-check, you might want to test again after uninstalling all anti-virus and non-default firewall utilities (deactivating them is not enough). They can sometimes integrate themselves into the safe mode boot configuration.

 

[Sapper123]

I uninstalled my anti-virus and I have no other 3rd party firewalls that I know of. I'm waiting now too see if my PC will freeze, I hope not...

 

[Sapper123]

Ok I think I might have some useful info. I was trying uTorrent again in safe mode after uninstalling the anti-virus and this time i was watching uTorrent to see what happens when my PC freezes and it seems it doesn't freeze, this time or the last time I tried safe mode, because what happened was that my mouse and keyboard both stopped working but I could see my download progressing and last time I was in safe mode my mouse froze again and I thought my PC froze but now I'm not sure it did. The first 3 times It happened I was playing music as well and it seemed to freeze but the music was carrying on but it was very distorted and playing funny, as in, it just sounded like noise. Hope this helps.

 

[H2SO4]

Ok I think I might have some useful info. I was trying uTorrent again in safe mode after uninstalling the anti-virus and this time i was watching uTorrent to see what happens when my PC freezes and it seems it doesn't freeze, this time or the last time I tried safe mode, because what happened was that my mouse and keyboard both stopped working but I could see my download progressing and last time I was in safe mode my mouse froze again and I thought my PC froze but now I'm not sure it did. The first 3 times It happened I was playing music as well and it seemed to freeze but the music was carrying on but it was very distorted and playing funny, as in, it just sounded like noise. Hope this helps.

If I understand correctly, you're saying the freeze no longer happens without the AV installed. Congratulations! I hope you and your next AV utility will be very happy together

 

[Sapper123]

If I understand correctly, you're saying the freeze no longer happens without the AV installed. Congratulations! I hope you and your next AV utility will be very happy together

No, no, what I'm saying is that I think it hasn't been real crashes all along but what has been happening is that my mouse and keyboard both stop working while using uTorrent for a while and if I'm playing music then the sound gets messed up but it doesn't get stuck on one continuous noise. Sorry the problem wasn't as simple as an AV product haha

 

[H2SO4]

If I understand correctly, you're saying the freeze no longer happens without the AV installed. Congratulations! I hope you and your next AV utility will be very happy together

No, no, what I'm saying is that I think it hasn't been real crashes all along but what has been happening is that my mouse and keyboard both stop working while using uTorrent for a while and if I'm playing music then the sound gets messed up but it doesn't get stuck on one continuous noise. Sorry the problem wasn't as simple as an AV product haha

If you reckon AV products are simple, you ought to go into driver development

Your statement above seems at odds with your original description:

"Then about 10-20 mins into downloading things with uTorrent my PC just freezes and I have to reboot. Reliability monitor lists the crashes as Miscellaneous faileures so I'm not sure if it is uTorrent."

Perhaps you should do some further testing to convince yourself whether you do have "freezes" and "crashes" or not, and then provide a precise summary of the symptoms - including the contents of those reliability monitor writeups.

Based on that info, someone may be able to help you further.