ApexDC++ 1.3.5 and 1.3.6 hangups

[Dooble 0]

I've been noticing this problem for a few days now - ApexDC++ starts up fine and everything is running normal. My computer usually is up and running 24/7 as well as ApexDC++, now while I left the house ApexDC keeps running. When I come back home and want to check my download queue, messages etc. I cannot get the focus on ApexDC++ window anymore, it stays minimized and windows taskmanager tells me the program is not responding. I tried upgrading to 1.3.6 but the problem didn't go away. When I kill the ApexDC++ task Windows comes up with the usual problem report popup which tells me that the application has crashed. When I restart ApexDC++ everything is just fine again, but will hang again some time later.

[Mek 13]

Look here. Is it the same problem?

[Lee 84]

I've been noticing this problem for a few days now - ApexDC++ starts up fine and everything is running normal. My computer usually is up and running 24/7 as well as ApexDC++, now while I left the house ApexDC keeps running. When I come back home and want to check my download queue, messages etc. I cannot get the focus on ApexDC++ window anymore, it stays minimized and windows taskmanager tells me the program is not responding. I tried upgrading to 1.3.6 but the problem didn't go away. When I kill the ApexDC++ task Windows comes up with the usual problem report popup which tells me that the application has crashed. When I restart ApexDC++ everything is just fine again, but will hang again some time later.

Can you reproduce this on a fresh install?

[Dooble 0]

Look here. Is it the same problem?

I'm not sure, but looks quite similar.

Can you reproduce this on a fresh install?

Didn't try this yet. I'm quite afraid of losing settings/configuration.

[Crise 26]

I'm not sure, but looks quite similar.

Didn't try this yet. I'm quite afraid of losing settings/configuration.

Backups, backups...

[Dooble 0]

Backups, backups...

I do have a backup and I can surely create one. But rebuilding configuration on a clean install from scratch means a lot of work - ok maybe you can restore the favorites from the backup, but maybe it would make sense to rebuild the hash database.

Because of my large filecount this takes very long even though the computer uses a fast raid system. I'd really like to avoid things like that :)

[Mek 13]

Then backup your whole Settings folder; your share along with the hashed data (and more) will be backed up.

[Crise 26]

About hash database, a /rebuild in some hubs main chat could be useful from time to time.

[Dooble 0]

I updated to ApexDC++ 1.3.8 and did a /rebuild yesterday. Still this didn't fix the problem

[k4killer 0]

I just got Apex the other day and I was having a similar issue. While Apex was running it would intermittently freeze, and windows would slow down to a crawl. Taking minutes to even open firefox, or a folder. Eventually, if I left my computer idle with Apex running it would eventually BSOD pointing to the NT Kernel. The STOP error was for a HDD fault. I tried opening the Win 7 Resource monitor, then run Apex to see what happened during the freezes. Everytime it froze the system would be only at 1-5% load and not much activity, and Apex was waiting for the network I/O.

After messing around in the settings I noticed disabling Progress Bars decreases CPU load. I tried that and I havent had anymore problems. Im typing this whole post with Apex in the background, which before would be impossible. Try disabling progress bars and see if it helps your case.

Also just another note. Ive noticed now in the progress bar that when ever Apex is running, the NT Kernel is using a huge load (20%), compared to 1-2% when Apex isnt running. That doesn't seem like a good thing.

[Crise 26]

About progress bars and cpu, what type of progress bars, and how many at a time?

[Big Muscle 1]

If you get BSOD, then you have HW problem.

[k4killer 0]

If you get BSOD, then you have HW problem.

Thats not true. Just because my comp BSODs does not guarantee its a HW problem. Like I said, I only have problems while Apex is running, and my CHKDSK and MEMTEST is fine.

Now back to my problem, while disabling the progress bars helped considerably. (no more BSODs =D)

I still get sporadic system hangs. My best guess at the cause of this is that Apex hangs when waiting for the Network I/O, because its so heavily entwined in the Kernel process its also causing that to hang. Creating a long string of processes to queue up, and applications start freezing.

About the progress bars, I just had the default ones enabled from when I first installed. I dont think it mattered how many progress bars were up. I only would have 3-6 at any given time. Im still very new to Apex as I just got it the day before yesterday. I have tried reinstalling now, with no success at fixing this. Thank you for the timely responses though.

Also I'm running Windows 7 Professional x64, on a ASUS N51Vn-A1 Laptop.

[Dooble 0]

I did a clean install of Apex 1.3.8 yesterday, also ran chkdsk on any partition (with no errors). This also didn't fix the problem, ApexDC will still hang after some hours runtime.

Never had this issue before while I've been using Apex since V1.21 on the same system.

[Lee 84]

What happens when you revert back to a previous version?

[k4killer 0]

Last night, I left Apex running again to check for stability and sure enough I woke up to find it restarted. Checked the event log, It crashed at 5:40am with the stop error 7a (Page file error).

I just read all the minidump info. The ntstatus was a 185 (Device I/O error) and it was caused by svchost.exe. Ill post the full analysis as a text file in the attachment.

Im also gonna try DLing 1.3.6 and see if I still have problems.

Ok, so I reverted to the 1.3.6 client. It was very slugish for about 5 min after i started it, then was fine. I left it running while I was afk for 2 hours. It seemed fine when I got back, but then after about 20 min of using my computer it started bogging down again. I was reading a post earlier about someone having problems maximizing.

For me the problem seems similar. Apex acts like it has run out of resources and is therefore bogging down, except in reality my only at 48% RAM usage and 20% CPU.

Im gonna try using DC++ and see if it helps

STOP ERROR DEBUG.txt

Edited October 21, 2010 by k4killer

[Dooble 0]

What happens when you revert back to a previous version?

I got all the same error with V1.3.5, 1.3.6 and 1.3.8. I can't revert to any version older than this because ApexDC will startup and close right away. (because of version check / security issues).

At least I can say that ApexDC++ V1.3.5 did run fine for quite a while. For my share I do not experience performance problems.

[Dooble 0]

Looks like I found the cause of the problem. I removed some files from my share and ApexDC is running fine until now, no hangup or crash occured in more than 24h. Maybe there is a problem with too many files in share? When ApexDC hung my share always exceeded 2 TB.

[Crise 26]

Looks like I found the cause of the problem. I removed some files from my share and ApexDC is running fine until now, no hangup or crash occured in more than 24h. Maybe there is a problem with too many files in share? When ApexDC hung my share always exceeded 2 TB.

ApexDC should be able to handle 2TB, and more, just fine (memory usage might be bit much with large shares, but it should still work just fine).

One more thing, if you haven't try disabling fast hashing, I dunno what kind of problems it may cause... since haven't had any, but there is a note about it in settings.

[k4killer 0]

Ok, I'd just like to report in. I downloaded StrongDC++ and that is working great. No problems at all. So I dont think its a problem with my computer. Also I dont think there is a problem on install considering I had tried reinstalling several times, including attempting to install with anti virus/firewall disabled. Im thinking there is just a problem with compatibility, obviously one of the features that is different from Strong (im to understand Apex = Strong + Extra Features).

Also I dont think its the fast hashing causing the problem, first of all because I wasnt hashing when I had the problems in Apex, and because I'm using fast hashing in Strong and having no problems.

For the idea about your hash size, i dont think it matters. I had only hashed 550GB when I started having issues.

So for now on i'm gonna use strong, but I'll still try and help solve this issue.

[Dooble 0]

Seems I was wrong about the error caused by large share. Apex hung again with smaller share size. Dunno how to fix this at all :)

[IVR 0]

I have similar issue with 1.3.8.

It all began soon after installation.

I have home server (dedicated computer) with ~3.5 TB share, running on WinXP SP3, 24/7.

I use ApexDC mostly for sharing files. At "prime time" upload speed can be up to 18 mb/sec, usual load - 5-8 mb/sec.

What I have noticed:

1. Sometimes system partially hangs and do not responding to mouse clicking and keys pressing. This state lasts different time. BUT! Process Explorer tray icon (always started) draws usual graph of processor load (not overloaded), router's and HDD's LEDs are on and flashing - this all indicates that system works (well or not - I don't know). After some time system returns to usual behavior.

2. Sometimes system behave like overloaded - even folders open very long (I don't mention other things, i.e. web-browser or notepad). BUT! Process Explorer does not show any significant load! Usual graphs, usual resourse usage... No any overload.

3. My server works for my other computers too like usual fileserver throgh standart Windows sharing. It all worked fine for 2 years, but now when ApexDC started I can't download anything to my workstation computer - speed is < 0.5 mb/sec. Before issue windows sharing worked fine independently of server's load.

4. No BSOD's or crashing.

Problem growing day by day.

What I have tried:

1. Chkdsk on all partitions (including system) - no errors, no effects.

2. Disabling Progress Bars - some effect on CPU load (on graphs), but no general effects.

3. Switching off all logging in ApexDC - two or three days it worked fine, after that all began again.

4. Enabling speed limiter - upload speed decreases, but very weak effect on system behavior - it was better before.

5. Decreasing number of upload slots from 25 to 15 - weak effect.

6. Closing all connections in ApexDC - after that system works fine (other apps can be started, windows network file sharing works fine), but it all begin again when users resume downloading shared files in ApexDC.

7. Without ApexDC system works fine.

Plans:

1. Try to decrease number of slots to 3-5 (it is not the solution, just for experiment).

2. Try StrongDC.

[Crise 26]

I'll be seding PM's to people having these issues later today... because I need to be certain of something before I invest any more time into this.

[IVR 0]

I'll be seding PM's to people having these issues later today... because I need to be certain of something before I invest any more time into this.

As for me, I'm ready to try anything you say. :)

[IVR 0]

It seems that upload speed affected by this issue too... Can't say exactly but I see many identically slow connections now (50-100 kb/sec instead of usual lower treshold of 500-1000 kb/sec per connected user).