I tried a few more experiments with FFXP3 & XP SP2:
- I disabled the Windows firewall and installed Tiny Professional Firewall 6.110 in shareware mode. The problem was still present, so it wasn't the XP firewall causing the problem.
- I verified that my NIC drivers were the latest versions. They were, and were certified by MS.
- I installed the FFXP 3 beta build 1022, but the problem was still there.
- I decided to tweak lots of settings that I don't normally mess with (on the basis that if it ain't broke...). I found one that fixes the problem: reducing the Upload Packet Size (in advanced options) to 2048 made the problem vanish. I then tested it again at 3072 and the uploads worked fine also. Resetting it to the default 4096 broke the upload of the problem files I had identified.
-
Weirder still : I then tried setting it to 5120, on the assumption that it was some type of MTU problem and that this would make the problem worse, but no, the uploads worked fine also!
- So the problem is only apparent at the default upload packet size of 4096 bytes! And then it only happens on maybe 1 in 5 MP3 files. I haven't experienced the problem with any other file types, though I do tend to transfer more MP3s than anything else.
Just for badness, I even tried uploading problem files with the packet size set to the obscenely large 16384 setting, and it worked also!
Finally I reverted back to build 1015, and checked that its behaviour was the same as 1022 - it is.
So if anyone else is having weird time-out type problems with uploads from FFXP3 on XP SP2, then try tweaking the upload packet size and see if that helps. I've left mine set to 5012 and so far have experienced no problems.
UglyBunz