Bitcomet is not seeing an open port

[Invid_2000]

My Bitcomet client is telling me my listening port is being blocked. I do have a router and and I believe I have my ports properly forwarded. I've used a couple of online port checking tools (CanYouSeeMe.org and others) which are telling me my listening port is open. I've already tried disabling my firewall which did not make a difference.

I'm using Bitcomet version 1.23 and with Windows 7 home. And I have a Linksys WRT54G router.

Does anybody know why Bitcomet is not seeing an open port? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Vasy]

The port status light is an indicator nd it can fail. If something tells you that a port is open, it is.

Start a BitTorrent task and let it run for a few minutes. Select the "Peers" tab from the lower panel and look at the "Initiation" column. Do you see any "Remote" connections?

[lindafails]

Hello Invid_2000, I have encountered this problem in the past and also incurred sign-in problems as a side dish. I was informed by an administrator that situations such as this often arise when some part of the information is not read correctly--either by one of the servers or the application itself. I noticed another member has given some note-worthy information on the subject, and I am in agreement with them. These are intermittent problems and will soon correct themselves. Just yesterday, I repeatedly received this error message, "cannot listen to port," but today everything is as it should be. Remember that you can continue to download your torrents regardless of any port situations.

Have a great day! B)

[kluelos]

That's not quite correct, linda. An intermittently open listen port is a sign of a different misconfiguration, typically a failure to set a static IP address for the computer. As a result of the computer's constantly changing address, sometimes it happens to get the one where the port is open, sometimes it gets some other address.

However, Invid, all of this is all about allowing other computers to be able to connect to yours. If other computers are able to connect to you through your firewall, you have achieved the goal no matter what anything else says. If you have connected peers listed as REMOTE connections (which means they contacted you first, rather than vice-versa), that's the goal.

Consider a gas tank on a motorcycle. The gas gauge says the tank is empty. You take a wooden stick, open the gas tank, put the stick in, pull it out again and see how far up the stick is wet. The stick shows that the tank is NOT empty, no matter what the gauge says. Indicator lights and gauges can fail or be wrong. Maybe it's the sender. Maybe it's the cable. Maybe there's no power. The stick doesn't lie. A lot of older motorcycles and most small engines don't even have gas gauges, just dipsticks . We all still measure motor oil this way.

[Invid_2000]

I left my bitcomet client open all day today and have been checking it regularly. So far, I haven't seen any connected peers with remote initiation. I've also verified that my PCs IP is static and not in my routers DHCP range. And I've bounced my UPnP settings in both bitcomet and my router to no effect.

[Vasy]

If you get a small pop-up message like this: Then it means that another application is using that port. Close the other app and start BitComet again.

The status bar is explained here.

[kluelos]

That strongly suggests that your listen port is blocked. Test it, when you suspect it's blocked. With BitComet running, browse to www.canyouseeme.org and ask it to test your port. Any answer other than "Yes, I can see your service" means you have a firewall blocking the port, which you need to find and configure (if you can).

This may or may not be the firewall in your router doing the blocking. Your connection (which you haven't described at all) may be firewalled. You may have a dozen different software firewalls running on your computer. Any one of them can completely block the port no matter how the others are set.

If you think it's the router's firewall try getting the router temporarily out of the loop -- connect directly to the modem and test again. If it's still not working you know you have additional firewalls to find. If it now does work, you know you haven't configured the router's firewall properly.

[Invid_2000]

Well, I feel a little slow. I thought the problem was more complicated than it actually was. But Vasy nailed it. I have no idea what was using that port but when I changed my bitcomets listening port to something else everything greened right up.

I'd like to thank everybody for their help though

[Vasy]

A virus, maybe? What port was it?

You're welcome. ;)

[Invid_2000]

I was using port 49152.

[Vasy]

To see which app is using that port, open a command prompt (start/run/cmd) and type netstat -o then hit Enter. Look for the port 49152 and see the PID (process ID) next to it. Now open task manager and see witch process has that PID.

[lindafails]

Hello Kluelos, thank you for the extra info because it helps me to better understand the ever-growing magnificence of bitorrent applications and their functions. I only expressed the port problems as intermittent because they seem to come and go, and that was the way it was explained to me by one of the other administrators. If it is okay with you, I will be adding the information you gave me to the notes I am building on understanding the world of bitorrent.

Thanks!B)

[Vasy]

You need to explain your problems in more detail than "they seem to come and go". Do you get the error I posted above? It might be a server error (there are other causes for this) only when you get a gray light as it is stated in the FAQ section I suggested in a post above:

Gray: Unknown

A gray light means your client did not get a response to the connection attempt, from the probe server. The server may be down and unresponsive. The server may be blocked by your ISP, or may be temporarily unreachable due to network conditions. If this condition persists:

1. You might have a network problem. See whether you can connect to anybody, by any means, anywhere.
2. Your third-party firewall might be blocking BitComet. Make sure BC is allowed to access the Internet on all ports. (Do NOT disable your firewall! Configure it.)
3. The probe server might be down. Check the BitComet support forum for announcements of extended down time
4. Software you've installed might be blocking you. Check for software changes which might block connections to IP ranges.
5. Your ISP may block connections to the BitComet server. There is no solution for this. Try alternative methods mentioned below.
6. Rarely, it might just be a minor network glitch. Simply try again later.

Click here for information and alternative methods to verify that your listen port is open - an open listen port is equivalent to a green status light.)