Some people suddenly unable to connect

[vladimir]

TS was running perfectly fine for like a year. Had multiple people connecting, using it, etc. Then all of a sudden about 1.5 months ago, a small subset of those people could no longer connect at all...would just come back that "the server isn't responding" and timeout.

But I can still connect, as can most of the other users. Out of approximately 30 users, 22 can still use the server just fine. I noticed that the only people that were having problems were on Linksys routers, though I don't know if that has any merit. And it's not consistent either. My brother is one of the ones that can't connect. He did a factory refresh on his router and afterwards could connect fine again. Talked for about an hour with everyone else. Then he says "I'm going to go play pool...be back in a few hours". 3 hours later and no changes to anything whatsoever, and he can't connect again.

Like I said, router manufacturer is about the only thing I can find that is even a remote similarity between the people. OS's are all different, different apps running, tried with and without various firewall/anti-virus software running...I'm just at a dead end with no idea where to go. The Linksys router thing is just a running theory at the moment....not that I've seen anything concrete that would be a problem.

I don't have a Linksys, but do they do automatic firmware updates? Perhaps one of the updates did something for filtering on that port. It kind of makes sense since my brother could connect for a while, but then nothing after a period of time.

I've done quite a bit of searches trying to find other people having this problem. My problem is that I've found several posts that describe exactly what I'm seeing, but no one ever has a solution posted to try. I have gone through the FAQ *several* times in order to find something that I may have missed, but nothing I change seems to matter. For all intents and purposes, it's set up perfectly and working perfectly except for certain people.

The server is hosted in a datacenter and so verified ports were open. They are...which makes sense since most people can still use the server just fine. Just really irritating that I can't pin this down. And, it's hard to troubleshoot as I (and many others) can connect perfectly.

If anyone has experienced anything like this at all, or knows of someone who may be able to help, I'd really appreciate it.

[guldi]

two guesses:

- If the server is hosted in a datacenter it might have more then one IP Interface ? Is so I'd suggest you try the bindtoIP trick from the FAQ.

- Do the user who can't connect get a timeout (see log file and also the "no reply / timeout" FAQ, a Link to the FAQ is in my signature). Did this users tried the debug mode ?

[vladimir]

1) Techincally the server has 2 devices, but only one active connection. Regardless, I have gone in and changed the "BoundtoIP" setting on previous occasions. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but when I do change that, the server won't let anyone connect. Not over the internet, not even locally. But that being said, I've tried having people connecting to the actual IP address (versus the DNS name), but they still get the same error. Again, maybe I'm just missing something.

2) Yes, anyone who cannot connect is getting a "Timeout/Server not running" error message. I've gone through the FAQ a few times, but I'm going to go check again (in case I missed something) and will update this.

Thanks for the help...I'll let you know and hopefully you will have some more ideas. :)

[vladimir]

Just as an update.

I went through and tried all of your suggestions with the Debug mode, etc. I still am unable to connect to the server. I'm attaching the log file in the hopes that someone can see something in here. This is a clean log file...the only thing done in here is trying to connect to the server w/ debugging turned on.


---------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- log started at 15-03-06 13:52 -------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
15-03-06 13:52:02,2716,DEBUG,All,Startup,Client version 2.0.32.60
15-03-06 13:52:02,2716,DEBUG,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,Creating and starting threads
15-03-06 13:52:02,2716,DEBUG,All,TDSoundIn.Open,opend direct Capture 8bit=0 , 11khz=1
15-03-06 13:52:09,2716,DEBUG,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,host ts.flockofemu.com resolved to 12.154.7.52
15-03-06 13:52:09,2716,DEBUG,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,Send LoginStep1
15-03-06 13:52:09,2716,DEBUG,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,Waiting for LoginStep2
15-03-06 13:52:12,2716,ERROR,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,Exception: Timeout on recv LoginStep2 wait
15-03-06 13:52:12,2712,WARNING,All,procedure TDICallBack.execute,"The operation had no effect." or "The device buffer overflowed and some input was lost." or "The device exists but is not currently attached." or "The change in device properties had no effect."
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TMainForm.FormDestroy,FCal lbackSynchronizer.Free done
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TMainForm.FormDestroy,FSou nd.Free; done
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TMainForm.FormDestroy,FSou ndNotifications.Free done
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TMainForm.FormDestroy,FWav eSaver.Free done
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientReadThread.waitfor
15-03-06 13:52:17,2320,DEBUG,All,TClientReadThread.Execute, leaving
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientReadThread.freeing
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientReadThread.Freed
15-03-06 13:52:17,1608,DEBUG,All,TClientEventThread.Execute ,Close confirmed
15-03-06 13:52:17,3932,DEBUG,All,TClientWriteThread.Execute ,Close confirmed
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active closed buffer
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientWriteThread.Freed;
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientEventThread.Freed
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active destroyed buffer
---------------------------------------------------------------
--------------- log ended at 15-03-06 13:52 --------------
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[Nicoleise]

---------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- log started at 15-03-06 13:52 -------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
15-03-06 13:52:02,2716,DEBUG,All,Startup,Client version 2.0.32.60
15-03-06 13:52:02,2716,DEBUG,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,Creating and starting threads
15-03-06 13:52:02,2716,DEBUG,All,TDSoundIn.Open,opend direct Capture 8bit=0 , 11khz=1
15-03-06 13:52:09,2716,DEBUG,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,host ts.flockofemu.com resolved to 12.154.7.52
15-03-06 13:52:09,2716,DEBUG,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,Send LoginStep1
15-03-06 13:52:09,2716,DEBUG,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,Waiting for LoginStep2
15-03-06 13:52:12,2716,ERROR,ProcedureInfo,Client Open,Exception: Timeout on recv LoginStep2 wait
15-03-06 13:52:12,2712,WARNING,All,procedure TDICallBack.execute,"The operation had no effect." or "The device buffer overflowed and some input was lost." or "The device exists but is not currently attached." or "The change in device properties had no effect."
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TMainForm.FormDestroy,FCal lbackSynchronizer.Free done
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TMainForm.FormDestroy,FSou nd.Free; done
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TMainForm.FormDestroy,FSou ndNotifications.Free done
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TMainForm.FormDestroy,FWav eSaver.Free done
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientReadThread.waitfor
15-03-06 13:52:17,2320,DEBUG,All,TClientReadThread.Execute, leaving
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientReadThread.freeing
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientReadThread.Freed
15-03-06 13:52:17,1608,DEBUG,All,TClientEventThread.Execute ,Close confirmed
15-03-06 13:52:17,3932,DEBUG,All,TClientWriteThread.Execute ,Close confirmed
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active closed buffer
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientWriteThread.Freed;
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active FClientEventThread.Freed
15-03-06 13:52:17,2716,DEBUG,All,TClient.Destroy,active destroyed buffer
---------------------------------------------------------------
--------------- log ended at 15-03-06 13:52 --------------
---------------------------------------------------------------



It is infact a timeout, and the excact same log has been posten on this forum previously. The red highlighed text clearly states that.

And believe it or not, it is a very common problem, that doesn't have a common solution .

http://forum.goteamspeak.com/search.php?searchid=531790

Above is a search made to find topics with the same problem. I actually took the time to browse around 30 of those pages through. Nothing.

And given as the problem is a different users, consistency goes down the drain. However. The log should be interpetated as

- User requesting information 1 from server
- User recieved information 1 from server
- User requesting information 2 from server
- User has timeout - does not recieve information 2.

That could be a users firewall or router having the port attemped to access running stealth or closed.

E.G. Information 1 could be recieved via a well known open port, while information two needs to access port 8767 UDP. If the users UDP 8767 runs stealth or closed, the user can request the information - and the server actually sends it, but the packet gets dropped (lost) at the port, because the port is stealth or closed.

That would explain why some people can log on, and others can.

It would be interesting to know, if some of the users (try to make as many as possible try this) could connect to different servers.

If you could, tell them, that at the instance they recieve the fault, they should connect to another TS server (non-passwordprotected, of course) and see, if they are able to join that.

And then get back to us, on how many users tried, and how many users could successfully connect to different servers ? :)

_
NicoLeise

[guldi]

it is indead a "common" problem, or at least we get requests from time to time in the forum :(
It seems as if the TS client is a bit timeout sensitive, what can be reduced a bit by setting the client into debug mode. Users also reported that older client (the one's before 32.60) versions are less timeout sensitive (they can be downloaded from the FTP server).

My exp. with timeouts was limited to home hosted servers where some people had problems to connect to some specific home hosted servers. But as some game servers also made problems, we changed to an TS server hostedat an ISP => no problem anymore.

I know this is a painfull way, but you might check with your ISP as well. We could at least reduce one timeout problem of one guy to an ISP interconnection problem (UDP appliactions between two ISP didn't worked at all when the users got an IP from a certain range).


Did you bound the server to the LAN IP interface which is active ? That should work ?