Frequently Asked Questions

The torrent I was downloading stopped with a Red X () next to it, why?

This is a disk write error. For some reason the data can't be written to your hard drive or there isn't enough space for file allocation (BitComet allocates the total space required to save the files in advance).

The causes include:

Trying to download a file larger than 4GB onto a FAT32 partitioned hard drive - but FAT32 cannot support files that big.
Solution: You'll need to convert your disk to NTFS. If you're using an older Operating System that only supports FAT32 (e.g. Win98 or WinMe), there is nothing you can do.

Multiple torrents have a file with the same name and they're both being downloaded to the same directory (trying to overwrite one another).
Solution: Stop your torrents, copy one of the partially saved files to another directory, update the save location in the torrent task (right-click it) and resume.

Some of the files are open in a different application, but BitComet requires full access when downloading.
Solution: Stop messing with files that are downloading.

(Edit to add:)
You don't have write-permission to the download directory.

There's an existing file with the same name, marked "read-only" and you're trying to overwrite it.

There is an illegal/invalid character(s) in the pathname or filename. (This can happen if the torrent was created on a *nix or Macintosh system.) The pathname does not exist and cannot be created for some reason.

There is a hardware error when writing to that sector of the hard disk.


Any other reason that would prevent a program from writing to a disk.

(Edit - Updated Aug.14, 2009.)

What does everything in the Peers section mean?

This is a list of the clients (seeds & peers) that you're connected to.

IP: IP address (followed by the port) of the other client
%: How much of the completed torrent they have
KB/s Dn: What rate you're downloading from them
KB/s Up: What rate you're uploading to them
Downloaded: How much data you have downloaded from them
Uploaded: How much data you have uploaded to them
Initiation: Whether the connection was established by you (Local) or them (Remote)
KB/s Peer Dn: What rate they're downloading at (that you can detect)
Client Type: What BitTorrent client they're using
Error: How many bad pieces you've received
Status: "DUd0u0" means:
-D: Currently downloading data from them
-U: Currently uploading data to them
-d: Requesting data from them (they have data that you need)
--0: The number of times the 'd' request has been made
-u: They're requesting data from you (you have data that they need)
--0: The number of times the 'u' request has been made

In the Peers section I only see Local initiated connections (no Remote), why?

You most likely have port forwarding incorrectly configured or not configured at all. See here for instructions on how to fix it.

A torrent stopped at xx% and is either only uploading or not uploading/downloading at all, why?

Check the Peers section (bottom left of BitComet); if there are no seeds (people sharing 100%) and several other peers are on the same percentage as you or lower, it's a good indication that the remaining data you need just isn't there. You'll have to wait until someone with the data you need comes online, so leave your client open for as long as possible.

Also ensure DHT is enabled by right-clicking the torrent and selecting Properties then the Advanced tab and ticking the "Enable Public DHT Network" checkbox.

If a couple of days have passed and there is no change, try to find the same torrent on a different tracker and resume it. Failing that, you may have no choice but to download the files via a different P2P application/network (re-download them).


Related FAQ topics:
°A torrent task stays at 0.00% (won't start) and is displaying only 'connecting' status icons ( or ), why?
° A torrent is stuck at 99.x% and still downloading (rubbish data), why won't it finish?

A torrent is stuck at 99.x% and still downloading (rubbish data), why won't it finish?

This doesn't always happen at 99.9%, it happens when it has all but the last piece. Piece sizes can vary from 32KB to 2MB, so depending on the total size of the torrent it may be on much less than 99.9% when it's time to download the last piece.

This problem is usually caused by some NAT Routers corrupting the data and affects most, if not all, BitTorrent clients. Make sure you're using the latest firmware (check your manufacturer's website for official firmware and installation instructions). People who get this problem usually get it on nearly every torrent.

If you leave the torrent running long enough it'll probably finish, but it could take a long time and use a lot of download quota. But if you're not willing to wait or want a more permanent solution, stop your torrent and try the following...

Possible Solution #1:

Click Options > Preferences > Advanced > Connection and change "Maximum Connections per task" & "Connections to keep per task" to 1, then resume the torrent.

How this works... To keep the speed up right to the end of the torrent, once requests for all the required pieces are pending, BitTorrent requests them all from everyone that it's downloading from. It then sends cancel requests to everyone else each time one of the pieces arrives. So by lowering the connected peers to 1 it may stop the piece coming in from several peers at the same time and getting mangled by the router and/or BitTorrent/BitComet.

Possible Solution #2:

Select the torrent task in BitComet then click the Files section (bottom left in the main window). If it contains any of the following file types, right click them and select Priority > Disabled:
desktop.ini
thumbs.db

Next right click the torrent task and select Manual Hash Check - this will check the data for errors. Then resume your download and hopefully it will finish.

This may fix it because these files are hidden system files that are specific to each system, so if somebody mistakenly included them in the torrent there will be a constant file overwriting battle between BitComet and windows.

Possible Solution #3:

Make sure the following is disabled in your router:
DMZ Mode (where all packets are forwarded a single machine by default)
Game Mode (very few routers support this function, so you probably won't be able to find this option)

If DMZ was configured and has now been disabled, you'll need to set up static port forwarding (instructions here).

Possible Solution #4:

Disable/bypass your routers NAT and connect directly to the internet - so you can download the last piece of data without your NAT messing it up. Consult your routers user guide on how to do this.
-----

Still hasn't fixed it? It may be time to buy a new router.

Norton Internet Worm Protection keeps prompting me to Permit every single incoming connection for BitComet, how do I stop it?

This is a bug in Norton AntiVirus. It usually starts happening after the version of BitComet is changed when a Permit rule already exists. To get rid of the constant Norton nagging, do the following:

- Close BitComet
- Go into the Norton AntiVirus Options and select Internet Worm Protection > Program Control
- Remove the rule for BitComet and click OK
- Start BitComet and when Norton Worm Protection prompts you quickly select Permit

Norton will now remember the rule... until you change your BitComet version, at which time you'll have repeat these steps all over again.

BitComet can't seem to download files with '?' in the filename, how to I get it to work?

The torrent contains filenames that use non-standard text characters and/or are in a different language (ie Chinese), but this is not supported by your Operating System.

Remove the torrent from the task list then add it again. When the Task Properties box pops up select the Advanced tab and change the Torrent Encoding (it's down the bottom).

If that doesn't fix it...
For Windows 2000/XP see here: http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/h...winxpintl.mspx

For Windows 98/Me, you're out of luck - these old Operating Systems have very little support for international languages.

When I try to start downloading, a box pops up but doesn't display a message, what is it for?

This is usually caused by one of the following:

- Attempting to download to an invalid path.

Right-click the torrent in BitComet and select "Properties" then "Browse" to choose a new "Save Location". Or change your save location in Options > Preferences > "Default Download Location", then load the torrent again.

- The torrent contains filenames that use non-standard text characters and/or are in a different language (ie Chinese), but this is not supported by your Operating System. More info here.

I clicked "Remove Task & all files" by mistake. Can I get my files back?

A freeware application called Restoration is available here or here.

Run the program, type in one word from the title and click "search clusters".

Note to everyone: The longer you wait before you do the 'undelete', the more likely the file will be corrupt and unrecoverable. This is due to the way windows writes files to the drive, and specifically the page file.
So, don't wait and don't expect it to recover weeks of data. -Scythe

Thanks to Metatron for this solution (original thread here)

Is BitLord a BitComet rip-off? and also What is BitComet 1.01?

According to BitLord's owner, it is an approved project. Since it uses the BitComet core but BitComet is closed source, this confirms that it is in fact an officially sanctioned project.

BitLord is a rebadged/modified version of BitComet. But please don't assume any modifications are for the better... the only thing that's different, apart from the name and the green program icon instead of orange, is it's an old version of BitComet with several nasty advertising/referral links (xxx-toolbar, online casinos, UseNeXT etc) on the toolbar and in the menus, so the BitLord owner gets money from advertisers whenever an unsuspecting user clicks one of these questionable links.

BitLord v1.1 appears as BitComet v1.01 in the peer list because they never changed the Peer ID... I can only assume the version naming was done intentionally to fool people into thinking it's newer than the latest BitComet. The latest version of BitLord (v1.1) is built from BitComet v0.58... that was released back in June 2005.

The above was written before Bitcomet' releases actually got above the 1.0 numbers. As i edit, the current BC release is 1.04, with the "real" 1.01 release being a very short-lived bugfix. So this answer was correct, then incorrect, and now should largely be correct again. But don't assume that someone's client ID'd as 1.01 is BitLord.

I'm trying to resume my download but BitComet starts downloading from 0%, why?

Sounds like you haven't hash-checked the data, so BitComet doesn't know you've previously downloaded some of it. To rectify this, stop the torrent task then right-click it and select "Manual Hash Check". BitComet will then Hash Check your existing data (check it for errors) and display the correct downloaded amount.

How can I change download location when my files are partially complete?

- Stop your torrent tasks.
- Go to your current download location (right-click a torrent task and select "Browse Download Directory") then copy the partially downloaded files/directories to their new save location.
- Update your new save location in Options > Preferences > "Default Download Location"
- Remove the torrent task (right click it and select "Save Torrent As") and then add it to BitComet again. Make sure "Resume" is selected in the Task Properties window.

BitComet will then Hash Check your existing data (check it for errors) and resume from where it left off.

BitComet makes Windows run slow, how do I speed it up?

° Disable your IP Filter
Options > Preferences > Advanced > IP rules > "IP filter file: ipfilter.dat (compatible with eMule)" [UNCHECK]
(PeerGuardian 2 is a great alternative that's very easy on system resources.)

° Disable your AntiVirus software from actively monitoring Default Download Location. Just make sure you scan all completed downloads manually before opening them.

° Lower your Disk Cach size
Options > Preferences > Advanced > Disk Cache > "Minimum Disk Cache Size"
Options > Preferences > Advanced > Disk Cache > "Maximum Disk Cache Size"

° Set the following settings to Auto
Options > Preferences > Advanced > Connection > "Maximum Connection per task"
Options > Preferences > Advanced > Connection > "Connections to keep per task"