Upload large-file hang-up w/ DWL-122

[jgowen]

Mon 2/02/04 4:23 pm. Greetings. Uploading a 6 megabyte file "oshow.zip" (available around http://home.att.net/~owen_labs/rant7.htm#owenshow) to my SSL att&t website, FFXP (2.1 build 925) consistently hangs-up. It appears to actually upload the file properly, but it gets stuck and never shows progress bar. After it gives up, I can reconnect and see the uploaded file. 1. Only does this with USB wireless adapter D-Link DWL-122. 2. Does same thing on both W98 desktop and XP laptop. 3. FileZilla reacts to the DWL-122 by uploading very slowly, like phone modem speed. 4. FFXP works with SMC wireless PCMCIA adapter SMC2635W on the XP laptop (FileZilla as well as ever). 5. The DWL-122 is substantially faster than the SMC and functionally is superior to the SMC so far on downloads -- i.e. doesn't drop the connection, doesn't require reboot, etc. 6. I don't really expect a fix; but maybe if you're delving around, etc.

-- best wishes,

j.g. owen * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
web: http://owenlabs.home.att.net/
email: owen_bda4@yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[bigstar]

You might try limiting the upload speed via the preferences / transfer tab.

How fast is the connection and how fast does the transfer speed appear in FlashFXP?

[jgowen]

Tue 2/03/04 12:50 pm. Thanx for response....

> How fast is the connection and how fast does the transfer speed appear in FlashFXP? <

A maximum of around 135 kB/sec according to DuMeter utility; the transfer speed doesn't *appear* in FlashFXP; the last thing it says is "Negotiating SSL/TLS session...." I did it just now to a test site, and FFXP finished and recovered, but not before locking the whole system -- frozen windows -- for about 10 seconds.

Also I believe that whatever's going wrong screws things up in some lingering way because eventually the wireless link fails and requires a reboot -- which it doesn't do in normal web browsing.

> You might try limiting the upload speed via the preferences / transfer tab. <

("options / preferences / transfer tab", "Obey upload speed limit") Ok I set it to 90 Kb. ... Seems to fix it! It still freezes-up the screen for 5 or 10 seconds now and then. Speeds reported by FFXP were up to "724 KBps"; DuMeter says max of 130 kB/secs. ... Did another test; FFXP was reporting 90 KBps, then froze for 5 or 10 seconds, and then reported an incorrect high number, and then started reporting correct number.

... Oops spoke too soon. I think whatever fault freezes the screen for a few seconds wrecks something else. I.e., in the test in the last paragraph, FlashFXP seemed to complete in a satisfactory way, but then when I closed FFXP entirely and tried to goto www.flashfxp.com in the browser, several pages wouldn't load completely, and it stalled on the forum page. I rebooted, and went back and set the FFXP upload limit to 80 KBps, and then (1.) the FFXP upload test reported the correct speeds and didn't hang-up mysteriously, and (2.) subsequent connection to the internet and your pages worked correctly. Thus by this totally unscientific test we demonstrate something's happening too fast in FFXP.... (Did you callback some code recursively which isn't? I.e.,

void acallback(void) {
static int here=0;

disable_interrupts();

if (here) {
enable_interrupts(); //or however it works.
return; //this stops bad recursion.
}

here = 1;
enable_interrupts();

.... //display update code or something.

disable_interrupts();
here = 0
enable_interrupts();
)

...)

Well anyway it seems to work with the 80 Kb throttle; I'm happy....

-- much obliged,

j.g. owen * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
web: http://owenlabs.home.att.net/
email: owen_bda4@yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[bigstar]

I forgot to ask does this problem only appear when using SSL?

Those results are quite interesting.
My socket routines are designed to prevent recursion.

I've never seen anything like this before and without actually testing under these network conditions it's hard so say what exactly is going on here.

FlashFXP has been tested with a Dell notebook and a Dell truemoble wireless gateway and this behavior was not produced.

[jgowen]

Tue 2/03/04 2:09 pm. Greetings.

> I forgot to ask does this problem only appear when using SSL? <

Well here is a test you can conduct around the house that demonstrates *a* failure mode if not necessarly *the* failure mode. Get hold of the free Xitami server, put it on a local ethernet somewhere like I have, and then upload to it. It is of course not SSL, and following are my results.

UPLOAD LIMIT UNCHECKED. During upload, *no update appears* except at the very tippity end the yellow bar flashes on for an instant. However it seemed to execute properly, and says

227 Entering Passive Mode (10,1,1,2,0,201)
STOR oshow.zip

[this is where FFXP freezes up. nothing
printed, no yellow bar, and the FFXP
window won't repaint. However, the entire
system didn't freeze-up as happened with
the actual DWL-122/SSL test. So after 30"
or so, it then flashes the yellow bar
momentarily, and prints this.]

150 Preparing to transfer binary file
226 Closing data connection
Transferred: oshow.zip 5.68 MB in 32.58 (178.51 KBps)
TYPE A
200 Command okay
PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (10,1,1,2,0,201)
LIST
150 Preparing to transfer ASCII file
226 Closing data connection
List Complete: 66 bytes in 0.39 (0.06 KBps)
Transfer queue completed
Transferred 1 file totaling 5.68 MB in 35.56 (178.51 KBps)

I don't think any weird browser behavior subsequently occurred; at least I could raise the Xitami welcome page without error.

So then I set UPLOAD LIMIT TO 80 KBPS. The yellow bar appears as it should, all is well, and FFXP prints

227 Entering Passive Mode (10,1,1,2,0,201)
STOR oshow.zip
150 Preparing to transfer binary file
226 Closing data connection
Transferred: oshow.zip 5.68 MB in 01:15 (77.15 KBps)
TYPE A
200 Command okay
PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (10,1,1,2,0,201)
LIST
150 Preparing to transfer ASCII file
226 Closing data connection
List Complete: 66 bytes in 0.37 (0.06 KBps)
Transfer queue completed
Transferred 1 file totaling 5.68 MB in 01:17 (77.15 KBps)

i.e. exactly the same except for longer times. This behavior is definitely a repeatable bug; FFXP should update when it's transferring a file over local ethernet that takes 30" with no upload throttle.

FFXP is running on W98; I rebooted wihtout DWL-122 connected so it couldn't sneak in and contaminate things.

... So I then plugged-in the DWL-122 (you can plug it in in W98, but not remove it without rebooting), and got to your page without fault, so whatever FFXP is doing above, it's not as bad as whatever it did with the real unthrottled SSL site.

So fix this bug what I can do on my ethernet -- which is quite repeatable -- and maybe they'll all go away....

-- Best wishes,

j.g. owen * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
web: http://owenlabs.home.att.net/
email: owen_bda4@yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[bigstar]

I tested Xitami Server 2.5c1 and 2.4d10 running on Win2k and I was unable to reproduce these problems.

FlashFXP was running on Windows XP.

100mbit network using a netgear router.

[jgowen]

Tue 2/03/04 6:17 pm. Hello again. Got the same effect -- no update, no windows repaint -- when I use FFXP on XP laptop.

So now that we're getting serious, I removed some tray programs and for a change it *wasn't* MacroExpress ... and the winner is -- the fairly obvious ZoneAlarm version 4.5.538.000, TrueVector security engine version 4.5.538.000, Driver version 4.5.538.000 -- this is the free version, I think it's the latest update.

If I turn ZoneAlarm off, then (1.) the Xitami test works correctly (2.) the upload to my SSL website worked correctly. However I'm going to stick with the 80 KBps throttle for now rather than run without ZoneAlarm, which I am fond-of.

One noticeable anomaly in the SSL upload: with no ZoneAlarm, no 80 KBps throttle, the highest speed reported in the update was something like 95.7KBps, and it completed in 1.08 minutes. With ZoneAlarm, 80 KBps throttle, update reported speeds as high as 134 KBps -- but still completed in a slower time, 1.23' or something. And I *think* I could see the erroneously-high KBps reports coinciding with a delay in the update, i.e. something's still squirly in there even with the 80 KBps throttle.

Whatever; I hope this is one is reproducible.

j.g. owen * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
web: http://owenlabs.home.att.net/
email: owen_bda4@yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[bigstar]

ZoneAlarm has been known to cause all sorts of compatiblity issues, some of which are very bizzare. The behavior of ZoneAlarm seems to vary between PC's and problems are almost always impossible to reproduce.

That being said...

I downloaded the lastest version of ZoneAlarm and installed it onto my PC (same version you're using) and conducted the same tests. I was unable to reproduce the problem you experienced.

The speed reported by FlashFXP during a transfer is not exact and it's slightly less accurate when using speed limiting. You need to use the speed shown in the transfer complete message.

[jgowen]

Wed 2/04/04 11:43 am. Ah well such is life. I will only point out that my wretched little JGUP here -- which doesn't do SSL since those lazy Indy guys haven't gotten around to it -- *does* do the local ethernet Xitami test with no problems whatsoever, even in passive mode.

To briefly summarize this adventure:

1. I had an all SMC wireless system, with which FlashFXP would upload to my SSL at&t site with no problems.

2. Then I got the significantly faster D-Link DWL-122, and bad things happened.

3. I think it is reasonable to conclude this is simply because the DWL-122 is faster, and exposed this FFXP + ZoneAlarm conundrum.

4. However with the throttle fix FFXP's *still* faster than with the SMC set-up, so I will be content....

-- Best wishes,

j.g. owen * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
web: http://owenlabs.home.att.net/
email: owen_bda4@yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[bigstar]

3. I think it is reasonable to conclude this is simply because the DWL-122 is faster, and exposed this FFXP + ZoneAlarm conundrum.

I'm not quite sure speed is the factor here, when I conducted the tests on my lan I was getting between 8-10MB/sec and 20MB+/sec on my firewire network connection. I tested SSL using serv-u and ioFTPd. Speed wise ioFTPd blew serv-u away in the SSL test.

[jgowen]

Thu 2/05/04 11:28 am. No no I agree that obviously my systems behave differently than yours, and neither of us knows why. That's hardly unusual. I'm just guessing that the fault that appears on my systems is probably related to a moderate speed increase.

That is, one difference between our systems is you presumably don't use the D-LINK DWL-122 adaptor, so maybe that's it, and indeed I only noticed this problem when I started using it. It's just my guess that's not the case, since FFXP showed defects when uploading to my local Xitami server across the LAN, no wireless adaptors involved. So I think there's (1.) something screwy about my systems that isn't in yours and (2.) it causes FFXP to behave erratically above certain upload speeds, but only when ZoneAlarm is active. Ce la vie....

j.g. owen * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
web: http://owenlabs.home.att.net/
email: owen_bda4@yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[bigstar]

Out of curiosity have you ever made any network tweaks, the type used to improve performance like changing MTU, Window Size, etc? Stuff like you'd see on dslreports.com?

If you did perhaps these settings don't work well with your new hardware.

[jgowen]

> have you ever made any network tweaks, the type used to improve performance like changing MTU, Window Size, etc? <

Fri 2/06/04 1:56 pm. Well yes of course doesn't everybody? Actually I used something called TCPOptimizer.exe recently.

> If you did perhaps these settings don't work well with your new hardware. <

But I did that *after* the new (usb wireless) hardware, and exactly the opposite happened; download speeds, according to totally unscientific tests, were higher (like 207 to 370 KBps).

But look I'm perfectly satisfied that ZoneAlarm somehow screws-up FFXP; it is after all a free firewall, and their topic A isn't going to be uploading ftp sites.... And just for the heck of it, I just tested FTPVoyager, and it works of course under same conditions where FFXP faults -- but when I throttle-down FFXP to 80KBps and it doesn't do weird things, FFXP still uploads the file noticeably faster compared to FTPV. I'll take it....

-- best wishes

j.g. owen * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
web: http://owenlabs.home.att.net/
email: owen_bda4@yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *